Hell, that's two weekends in a row that it's been bad news on Sunday morning. I'm not liking it, 2nd is not a bad place to be but last year we were top at Christmas, although only 6 points above third and 9 above 4&5. The other fact I don't like is I think this is the first time we are behind last years points tally, OK only by one point but..... I'm convinced we need an alternative goal scorer and probably a defender. Not that there is anything wrong with the ones we have but as Nick pointed out White and Bamford aren't going to be available for the whole of the remaining season. I would really like the players we use to be rotated a bit, I know Bielsa isn't going to do this but sometimes I feel we put forward the same solution and the questions aren't always the same. Maybe this is Bielsas philosophy not to worry about other teams and get them to worry about us and after all he is a top coach and I'm not . Anyway second it is and in 23 games time if we are still in 2nd I'll be happy with that.
Just watched it again... at that range sometimes the close to the body ones are hard to get to... if he was going to save it, it would most likely have been with his foot. Looked to me like a ‘might have saved it’ not a clear mistake.. the clear mistake was White’s. I’d agree he doesn’t spread himself as well as some keepers on one on ones. But he’s got good reflexes and is a good shot stopper. I said this with BPF I don’t think Leeds are an easy team to keep for. Nothing to do except receive back passes under pressure, but when chances come they’re a free header or a clear opportunity. If you want to look at stats fairly you need to look at expected goals against which judges the quality of the chance the opposition have. Leeds have conceded 0.6 goals per game. Our xg conceded is 0.8. At the other end of the pitch we have scored 1.6 goals per game. Our xg is 2.0. stats are just stats but they say the problems are at the other end of the pitch. we should be out of sight at the top of the table... but we don’t take our chances. West Brom get outplayed quite often... in fact in all 3 of their last games... but they take theirs. Same story with Norwich last year.
Only if your a 3 stone fairy See your lot were fooking awful today, always like that after your cup final ay. Ooops thought you were Cardiff, all the same to me these mid table taffy teams.
Ayew keeps improving his worth for your American owners, I bet they were pleased to see him score. So just into double figures for games won and only 23 games played
We could also be top and clear, I'm hoping we'll be top and clear or I will be breaking my New Years Resolution early.
In my opinion, Caillas poor for the money he’s earning but probably good enough to get us over the line. Every time Pablos missing we create little. Same today. He needs to be near his best for at least 15 more games this season and I honestly doubt he’s up to it. Hope I’m wrong
Now that makes more sense, almost, I still think you have spelt Casilla wrong. I was wondering who you were referring to with the Cadillac reference. I thought it must have been KP - great in a straight lines but can't take corners. Then I thought you rated him so I was totally confused. So Casilla instead of Cadillac makes sense, even though I don't necessarily agree and perhaps you are still spelling his name wrong
Starting to feel the negativity creeping in again. And yet: - we're only 1 point worse off that we were at this stage last season. - our goals scored has improved as the season has progressed, & we're only 3 behind last season now. - our goals against tally is 5 to the good compared to last season. - our GD is therefore 2 better! At +21, it's only bettered by the Baggies (22). Nearest after that is the Wendies - on +13. And please don't start this January signings pish. We have a record of signing very few in January, & most are disasters. They also tend to be signed right at the end of January, so only come into real Bielsaball contention round about April, so is it worth panic buying? These u23 kids sitting on the bench & getting nibbles of game time are there for a reason. Bielsa believes they are our future. If he believes it, I believe it. Can any of you really claim to be able to pick a player better than Bielsa? If so, then LL has just the meds for you!
The negativity was always going to creep in if we started to drop off around Christmas and the New Year. It reminds us all of last season. Hopefully we can get on another run soon and stretch away again.
That’s food for thought, I think Casilla is one of the best in the division but I forget the wage he is sucking up but we did get him for free. When you think of the standard and quality of even the third choice keepers in the PL it doesn’t take much to realise just how poor in general the quality is once you hit the Championship.