After yet another one sided encounter which must defy most statisticians, lets have a look at what can be changed to get back to wining ways. i) We all like a settled team, but shouldn't Bielsa throw a curve ball once in a while, and change our starting XI - even play a different formation? ii) Bielsa revealing the team / injury situation, 24 hours before the game surely gives the opposition an advantage. Worse case scenario, it doesn't benefit LUFC. iii) Week in, week out we dominate the stats in all departments apart from...... Heading. We we need a height option? iv) We had 13 corners today. How many of those looked dangerous? We had free kicks in dangerous positions, what did we do with the delivery? How important is it for Leeds to get a quality set piece taker? v) Long throw specialist. Why not? It can be as dangerous as a corner! vi) Is Kiko good enough? Week in, week out we see opposition keepers make save after save yet on the odd occasion the Leeds goal is troubled, the opponent has a 33 percent chance of scoring! vii) Is our defence strong enough? Is Cooper the weak link? If so, awarding him a 5m contract (over the next 5 years) is as stupid as handing Tom Lawrence his car keys. viii) Are the players over training. The times Leeds look unbeatable, they have played with incredible intensity. How long can the majority of the same XI keep that going week after week? Until today Leeds had not conceded a goal until the 77th minute (in the league). That means Leeds have relinquished four goals in the last 13 minutes of games. Are they getting tired? ix) Its all very well scoring the perfect goal, but there are times when a time needs to show a gritty resolve grind out a result. Do Leeds know how to do this? x) At the end of the day, the only person that can influence all these things is Bielsa! Does he have it in him to change? Does he need to?
What others think:- Top 5 issues I have 1 - Patrick Bamford's lack of pace and positioning - We're best playing one touch football and fast break, right up until we get around the box..guess who's not around much threatening a goal chance 2 - We're not attacking corners, either in defence or attack - Nothing to do with height or strength, there's just jostling in the box when we take corners and we seemed to be focused on other things other than the ball. 3 - Trying to walk the ball into the net and when that doesn't work - We hit and hope from a distance and we're picking the wrong choice 4 - We need too many touches in their box..hit it first time guys, trust the instinct 5 - Sometimes a hack clear is neccessary - We don't need to play the ball out of defence with clever passing all the time. Not sure what you should do then kick the ball as hard as you can One of the biggest issues though and one we have no control over is teams realise they cannot live with us so play an anti football to combat us, so 10 men behind the ball, use the ref as a 12th man by doing everything possible to draw fouls. Thought Kalvin was stopped playing football today by foul means not fair. And finally we need to pray to lady luck coz we ain't getting any. And i) We all like a settled team, but shouldn't Bielsa throw a curve ball once in a while, and change our starting XI - even play a different formation? Nothing wrong with the selection apart from we need more goals from the team. I don't think our striker(s) are the problem as Bamford has done okay and so has Eddie. The rest of the team needs to chip in. We have had 2 goals from Pablo and 1 each from Harrison, Alioski, Dallas and Klich(penalty). That isn't good enough. I highlighted during the summer that the title winning team probably got 20 to 30 goals from midfield, had 2 strikers both contributing and also had goals from across the back 4. The only selection might be to throw someone in like Bogusz to add more goal threat from midfield. ii) Bielsa revealing the team / injury situation, 24 hours before the game surely gives the opposition an advantage. Worse case scenario, it doesn't benefit LUFC. I don't like him naming the team but equally other teams will know anyway, and they don't need spies to find out. iii) Week in, week out we dominate the stats in all departments apart from...... Heading. We we need a height option? Having people good in the air would certainly help from set pieces. Equally though we haven't conceded a goal direct from a corner. Even today Kiko made a save and it simply rebounded in off the head of a Charlton player who knew nothing about it. We aren't conceding goals from headers. iv) We had 13 corners today. How many of those looked dangerous? We had free kicks in dangerous positions, what did we do with the delivery? How important is it for Leeds to get a quality set piece taker? I don't think we are good at set pieces but equally we also have the height problem too. v) Long throw specialist. Why not? It can be as dangerous as a corner! You either have someone in your squad who can throw long or you don't. It isn't really something that you can coach, yes you may get a couple of extra yards from coaching but you won't suddenly convert a player into the next Rory Delap. vi) Is Kiko good enough? Week in, week out we see opposition keepers make save after save yet on the odd occasion the Leeds goal is troubled, the opponent has a 33 percent chance of scoring! Kiko is fine. Today's goal he made a good save however it then hit the Charlton player and rebounded in, nothing he could do about that. He has made some excellent saves. vii) Is our defence strong enough? Is Cooper the weak link? If so, awarding him a 5m contract (over the next 5 years) is as stupid as handing Tom Lawrence his car keys. Our defence is fine. What is that now 5 conceded in 9 games and 3 of them were scruffy goals. Only game we looked poor defensively was Barnsley. viii) Are the players over training. The times Leeds look unbeatable, they have played with incredible intensity. How long can the majority of the same XI keep that going week after week? Until today Leeds had not conceded a goal until the 77th minute (in the league). That means Leeds have relinquished four goals in the last 13 minutes of games. Are they getting tired? No problem with over training or fitness, key is finishing the match off and if you are level or only 1 ahead then the opponents will take risks nearer to the end of the game, you won't simply think, 'yeah let's play out the remainder of the match and settle for just a 1-0 loss.' ix) Its all very well scoring the perfect goal, but there are times when a time needs to show a gritty resolve grind out a result. Do Leeds know how to do this? Not sure we do. Again we need different players providing a goal threat and providing different goal threats, We need someone who can blast it in from 30 yards, a Tom Cairney type, so that the opposition don't just sit deep and pack their area. x) At the end of the day, the only person that can influence all these things is Bielsa! Does he have it in him to change? Does he need to? He doesn't need to change the way we play but we do need to provide more actual goal threat. 20 shots and 4 on target is a damning stat week in week out.
It's not the system or the way we play that is wrong it is the personnel. We are a side made up of mid table championship players. It is purely a lack of quality. Bielsa has worked his ways and is getting maximum out of a fairly limited squad. We are better than we were last year. It's a matter of signings turning up. How many of the current squad would get a game in the Premier league? I'd guess probably Phillips, Klich maybe.... I'm struggling after that to be honest? It's a lack of quality and money to be honest. We are fooked by FFP this time next year with the new contracts and signing on fees we have to pay. This squad will be broken up and there won't be the cash to replace players. Bielsa is getting the max out of this squad at the moment. He could tweak things but who knows .
1) The line up needs to be changed. It's been obvious for weeks now that Eddie is better than Bamford. You look at the stats between the both of them and Eddie has had 50% less game time Eddie must realise that with the way he's playing and if he can get a club where he gets a chance to start then Southgate with come knocking. 2) It baffles me this naming of the team in the press conference. Unless it's some sort of mind game then it's just bizzare. 3) You can prove anything from stats lets be fair. Yes we need height in the team and you hope that Orta and Bielsa actually find some Basketball height players out there. 4) 13 Corners mean nothing if you can't make them count. From what I remember we've were useless at Set pieces last season as well. 5) - 6) Kiko is an idiot,I'm sorry to say it. We should have got rid over the summer and brought in Darlow. I think it's time to see what the french kid can do. 7) We should have got rid of Cooper years ago. I get he's improved since Bielsa has take over but we do need a 3rd CB to come in and give him a push. Yes he's the captain but maybe we should look at another person to rally the troops. 8) How can you over train? 9) I agree with need to get gritty goals not goal of the month goals every Saturday. 10) Yes he needs to change. He's starting to remind me of Wenger over his last few years at Arsenal. We've got enough talent out there and there's a fair wack to bring in. He needs to take a look at where we've been going wrong and change it. It stops with the manager and if this farce continues then that very quiet Bielsa out voice on twitter will get louder and louder,
I see and understand what you're saying. Lets take Dallas and Cooper as examples. Bielsa has made both play to their peak, so if Bielsa were to leave both players form can only drop. So, awarding both with huge contracts could be a mistake?
Going off the original 9 points I actually think transfer wise we've had a **** summer. Yes we offloaded the deadwood but we've not actually signed decent quality. The fact we didn't Replace Pontus still worries me.
We replaced Pontus with calmer and better, just not as big or needy. It's the only thing I don't worry about. https://thisisfutbol.com/2019/09/blogs/hay-gives-white-vote-of-confidence/ Costa is quality, Nketiah is quality. It's now up to Marcelo to get the best out of them and get us up. A footballing philosophy which ultimately fails to deliver is flawed. Only promotion will do.
It could be yes. Phillips's contract is good news. He is the one commodity that would pay for another tilt next year. As for 'regular' players like Cooper and Dallas then that could be a millstone round the clubs neck as I don't believe they are upper championship class so are unsellable with the wages they are on. I think Bielsa leaves this season if we don't go up. He may even leave before then if things go south. The current squad might not be good enough to go up and its gonna be tough getting an improvement on the current manager. Therefore, we may already be at last chance saloon this season. Just a thought.
I've just watched the highlights, and apart from Kiko doing something that I'm sure can't be in the goal keeping manual we seem to have created quite a fee chances but why do our shots on goal appear to lack the accuracy or intensity of most of our passing. Crisp fast accurate passing and weak hit and hope shots? It's almost like the team is drilled into not losing the ball, to which 72% possession is testament, but not that losing the ball to back of the net is ok.
Emu, I think it's a given that without promotion we'll lose Bielsa and probably Radz. Thing is, it's Marcelo's job to ensure that doesn't happen, and after last year the squad is quite good enough if he can get them firing. If he can't, after 2 years of glorious and attacking football which is great to watch, he'll have failed. No ifs or buts, Marcelo has to deliver promotion this season .
Me personally.... I’d like to see a LB and RB play in their natural position, Leif or Douglas starting at LB and Ayling at RB. I’d like to see just Forshaw or Klich starting not both, or not Klich and Shackleton and I want to see a number 10 playing behind a striker. Last years formation was better, I don’t care if it is Harrison or Alioski wide left, Alioski filled in the emergency LB roll fantastic last season but it was ‘needs must’, he isn’t a LB Dallas likewise, he filled in great but he isn’t a RB. I feel Bielsa is trying to show loyalty to a few and he is just maybe overlooking some who are more skilful
I'm on board with everything above. After the last few games I'm starting to think about what happens next summer if we fail. A new chairman and manager will be stuck with a £15 million bill for Costa and some players who are on big money for the division and on long contracts. FFP will be tough if Radz doesn't put in the max of £35 million which he won't if he wants rid. Therefore anyone of any value will be sold. Phillips, Klich, are the only ones who could fetch decent money. We could end up in the hole in 12 months time with no magic man in Bielsa to get performances out of a weaker squad. I think the club have gone all in on this season.
FFS, here we go again. Get rid of Cooper. Get rid of Kiko. Dallas useless as RB. No decent LB. AND YET!!! We have conceded only 5 goals this season. Less than any other club. And with a playing style that seriously exposes the defence. And still people moan about this? Most clubs would sign our defence up as a job lot in a heartbeat. The Baggies & PNE are in the top 6, yet conceded 10 each!! Is logic being applied here? Or something more sinister?
I don't think it's anything untoward. It's starting to dawn on folk that maybe there are flaws in both the management side of things and the squad of players that will prevent us from achieving our objective of promotion. Suppose we fail to get promotion this season and Bielsa leaves! Will it be considered as a failure or did he achieve the best he could with what he had. It's all about opinions at the end of the day and that's what keeps us all coming back to voice our thoughts. I was thinking this evening about how under Simon Grayson our defence wasn't particularly great and yet we seemed to have no trouble finding the back of the net. And yet under Bielsa who is some kind of tactical genius, we sometimes hardly muster anything despite having loads of the ball. Ultimately, we failed under Grayson (and Bates) and my hunch is we will fail under Bielsa and Radz. That doesn't make my thoughts or like minded posters thoughts sinister. I understand what it takes to be successful at the level we are competing at and there are too many flaws at Leeds now as there were under previous regimes to have serious doubts that we will be successful in terms of promotion at least. It is unfortunate that sometimes certain individuals seem to cop more flak than others because no one individual is the sole reason of failure.
Don't know if that was aimed at me? My point is from a financial perspective. I hear Cooper is now on close to 20k a week. Preston might want him but can't afford his wages and Cooper isn't going to want to drop 10-15k a week to move. So we are stuck with him. Premiership clubs won't want him. That's fine, he is doing a decent job at the moment for us. Will he still be as good under a different manager? Add in a few other big earners like Kiko who we probably couldn't give away due to wages. All I'm saying is we have to pay 15 million for Costa next summer and we might start struggling a bit financially. I want this squad to go up playing the football we do. I believe they can. But what if they don't? Where are we left?
The team, or the majority of the team have been playing together for at least a season and a quarter since Bielsa took over, they've had plenty of time to gel. On a good day we play fantastic football and the team gel, with a few exceptions. When the team gels the few cogs not turning in unison with team can be invisible as the rest of the cogs take the focus away. Doesn't matter how many games they play, the likes of Harrison, Bamford and Phillips aren't going to improve. What we saw against Charlton were the 3 invisible cogs becoming very noticeable because the other cogs were hindered and slowed. From what I've seen, opposing teams tactics are to pack their goalmouth when we're on attack, then hope for a quick counter at some stage resulting in a goal. Last season we took all teams by surprise with the way were playing football. After the first half of season some teams worked us out, their tactics weren't how to beat us, but how to stop us, and some teams stopped us. Bielsa refused to change tactics or formations, and subbings weren't too brilliant. This season seems to be how to stop us playing, and packing their goalmouth is one way that's working against us; again, Bielsa doesn't seem to want to change tactics or formation. We're losing a lot in midfield. When we had Alioski, Saiz, Klich and Pablo as our AM's, we had the best AM's line in league, then Saiz left and we had no one to replace him at his standard / level; then problems began to sneak in. When Pablo doesn't play we see problems, when Forshaw got injured we saw problems and a slight drop in Pablos form, maybe cos everyone was looking to him as the playmaker and he had too much on his shoulders, but he always battled away. 2 strikers aren't the answer. Bielsa is correct when he says he loses value and impact in the AM line, and / or reducing the defence to 3 men. I think it was Ell and someone else who touched on the fact we don't need to play the ball out from defence all the time, a good clearance, or a good long pass (that finds its target) can put us on a quick break. I agree, we are wasting to much time playing out from the back, even when the clocks ticking towards end of game we still do it. For me Harrison needs to be dropped, he wants to be a hero and dribble around everyone, including himself, and his crosses aren't the best. Harrison puts his head down and tries to dribble his way into box instead of looking up and looking for a better positioned player to pass too. You'll notice most of time Alioski crosses quickly after looking up, yet Harrison hasn't even learnt from that. He brings our attacks to a halt when he loses the ball or tries a 3 pointer. Bamford doesn't fit in with Bielsa's astyle of play, he's not strong enough, vicious enough or tactically adept, and his nearly shots and headers are going to mostly be nearly shots and headers. Phillips needs replacing with someone who can read the game, boss the midfield, can get back quick enough, is prepared to push forward like Forshaw did, can take good corners and make passes that reach their target and start a quick counter. Most of the players can do the job, replacements can fit in to Bielsa style football, but we need to sort out the striker and left winger positions as well as the midfield, many players are out pacing Phillips leaving us vulnerable, and our defence under pressure. Ayling is another who is slow to get back after pushing up down wing. White is doing a great job replacing Jansson, but he doesn't have Janssons height, either in defence or attack, I wouldn't change him though. Defence cutting passes can send Nikita past most defenders in this league, same with Costa, we need to capitalise on their speed during games without burning them out too early though. I think with many players it's a psychological thing, especially during last third or quarter of game. Could it be Bielsa's style of play is being rammed down their throats to the point some players being brainwashed, or totally controlled by his school room talks........Food for thought.
I've got nothing against any of our players, though I do believe all three players you have mentioned have limitations, though through Bielsa are playing at maximum. IF we don't go up, Bielsa will leave (as confirmed earlier in the week by Phil Hay). Two points: i) I don't believe another Manager will be able to get the same out of these three players ii) All three are on huge contracts. Dallas and Coopers obviously just been extended by 4 and 5 years respectively at the cost of circa 9m
You make very important points & I'm largely in line with your view. BUT! My point is about the unwarranted widespread criticism of our defence, not their place in whatever the future may be. I'm talking about the present, and the fact that we should be lauding their performances & achievements. But no, they somehow STILL draw criticism. The most exposed defence in the league, yet with the best defensive results (to date).
Agree with most of this except i do not think rads will sell until the prem. Then his big gamble will have paid off. These guys are self driven and have big egos. This P. R. stuff is all a front too. As for cooper ive never thought he was a good player. I wanted a quality mid plus a big defender and a target man. We got fast eddie but dont use him right. Bielsa is not that good a coach and believe he over trains the squad.
