Match Day Thread Leeds Utd v Middlesbrough

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Scoreline: Leeds Utd v Middlesbrough (2VOTES EACH)


  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .
Last night Coops did well to restrain himself.

They obviously had clear instructions to GET as many free kicks as possible. They were throwing themselves to the ground at every opportunity, and had a most receptive referee. Arseholebongobongo was the worst of the lot, & dirty with it. The ref fell for far too much of their cheating.

On one particular occasion Arseholebongobongo was all over Cooper, kicking & grabbing him, right in front of the linesman, making no effort to get the ball, instead just keeping Coops away from it. Somehow the blatant fouls (note the plural) never got noticed, but when Cooper threw him to the side, as part of the same 'struggle', as he was being held back from going for the ball, the whistle went immediately. That was their plan all along. Defend in depth, & play for fouls or long throws. None of this scoring a breakaway goal malarkey. If not for Cooper & Berra being right on top of it & walking on eggshells, they may well have had a lot more fouls.

There was off-ball stuff going on too, all designed to rile them up, given their 'red' past. Pontus would have fared little better. Perhaps worse, as he has a temper too (remember the end of the Germany match?). But the difference is that we played 2 complete Bielsa players, in that they can defend AND carry/distribute to start attacks. With Pontus, you only get the defender, so even if he defends 100%, Coops & Berra only have to produce 51% in either discipline to keep him out of the team (well, you know what I mean). Yes, he's a better defender, but more is required in this system, and he just hasn't got it. I can't believe that people don't see this.

Note that we won't play a taller team than Boro, so last night we put one major worry to bed.

(Btw, this rant is in no way aimed at you, Shaks, just used your post to reply to).

So what your recent posts seem to be saying is that we might as well close down the forum as we can’t express an opinion about a player Bielsa picks??
 
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For me Cooper has absolutely no positional sense whatsoever, which is why he has to resort to wrestling with their forwards. Pontus is much better with this part of the game so why he wins so many headers and interceptions. Berardi was great with his tackling but needs to play to his strengths and keep it simple. His distribution isn’t good and in nearly every game he has passed to the opposition forward right in front of our last defenders, we’ve been fortunate they haven’t scored.
calamity is calamity
 
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Good Morning to the sheriff and his posse from a very sunny Cote de Bardsey
Well I must say Sheff U were well worth 4 goals against Villa Bruce cant buy his way out of this by signing yet more players .He must have 45 on his books now and to lose so easily well he may not see out Sept along with Clements at ReadingNow to summarise the first 6 games
Brentford sell their best players yet like a magician the manager brings on new players equally as good stand up Dean Smith as you will be soon going I feel to manage is boyhood club Villa maybe next week
Other clubs doing well against all odds are Bolton Blackburn and Sheff U all unfancied before the season started
Clubs struggling Brum have they scored a goal yet maybe Monk needs a new monastery Reading Qpr and Forest for all the players and money they spent are playing very poorly
So all is well in the Leeds camp and over the horizon I see a big ex England CB who could do a good job for us now he has sorted his personal problems out and we can get him on a free as he has left his club Oh his name Stephen Chalker what have we to lose WJ
 
Good Morning to the sheriff and his posse from a very sunny Cote de Bardsey
Well I must say Sheff U were well worth 4 goals against Villa Bruce cant buy his way out of this by signing yet more players .He must have 45 on his books now and to lose so easily well he may not see out Sept along with Clements at ReadingNow to summarise the first 6 games
Brentford sell their best players yet like a magician the manager brings on new players equally as good stand up Dean Smith as you will be soon going I feel to manage is boyhood club Villa maybe next week
Other clubs doing well against all odds are Bolton Blackburn and Sheff U all unfancied before the season started
Clubs struggling Brum have they scored a goal yet maybe Monk needs a new monastery Reading Qpr and Forest for all the players and money they spent are playing very poorly
So all is well in the Leeds camp and over the horizon I see a big ex England CB who could do a good job for us now he has sorted his personal problems out and we can get him on a free as he has left his club Oh his name Stephen Chalker what have we to lose WJ

Why has Caulker left Dundee? Chances are that he cannot fight his demons but I hope I’m wrong and hes been tapped up by us. There is a £15m player there as long as his head is sorted out.

On the subject of Villa and Brum and Reading etc I expect to see Big Mick, Big Sam and Moyles starting new jobs by October we may even see one ex England manager replace another ex England manager. Bruce will walk straight into another job but the end of the line for the failure that is Monk
 
A lot of comments on favourite players performances, and against other players, yet this team has been playing together since start of season; I think it's becoming obvious what Bielsa is doing, and trying to do.............and it looks very similar to the way The Don picked, and got his players playing, even though it may be a coincidence, or The Don's spirit has possessed Bielsa's body.

Suggesting bringing in other players is being creative, and imaginative, but what we have to understand is, how long will it take them to play the way Bielsa has the team playing at moment, and, will they actually fit in. Bielsa is improving this team week in week out, he's watching the games not only for performances, but also for obstacles and stumbling blocks we come up against, and then sets his mind to working out how to overcome them.

Even if Bielsa does bring in 1 or 2 more players, I doubt they'll walk straight into side, unless someone goes off track or gets a long term injury. Let's also not forget that, just cos a player is playing well, doesn't mean he's not a weak link.

We've come up against 2 stumbling blocks so far, Swansea playing the same way as we do, and the Boro 5 man back line, both obstacles caught us off guard a bit, but have been noticed by Bielsa.

This team is going to get stronger and better as the season wears on, slotting others in would only upset the applecart, which could be detrimental to our performances, and to the performances of players around that / those players; lots to think about, and take into consideration.
 
The tweet below is all thats important and we will always have healthy debate about why we think the managers wrong etc, but at the moment its all hot air and Bielsa being a jammy git doesnt get to feel my anger yet <laugh> hes bound to slip up soon so that I can tell him where hes been going wrong

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The tweet below is all thats important and we will always have healthy debate about why we think the managers wrong etc, but at the moment its all hot air and Bielsa being a jammy git doesnt get to feel my anger yet <laugh> hes bound to slip up soon so that I can tell him where hes been going wrong

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How many bookings are we top of the league
 
Just for information, one of the reasons Bielsa doesnt want a new CB is because he has one. Young Aapo Halme is so well thought of at Leeds and Finland that he has today been called up for Finland U21 team. He was a regular and going into the full International set up when he got injured. He hasnt even played yet besides a few minutes as sub. Cant wait to see this kid