Most enjoyable game since we we were promoted in my opinion. Dominated a top eight side. Kept a clean sheet away from home. Superb effort all around
Sorry got to disagree with you there. He never stopped running and kept winning tackles by never giving in. I thought he played well.
I certainly didn’t see him winning many tackles and constantly felt we were being left exposed down the left. I looked up his stats in tackles, he has just a 47% success rate this season, he made 4 successful tackles against Everton. In trying to find these stats I also found Sky Sports player ratings they too scored him 6. But I don’t see him as a LB maybe an emergency one when needs must but certainly not starting there. I also felt his link up play with Raphinha was off, maybe not solely his fault but Raphinha seemed stranded when out wide on that side.
This will cheer you up Doc... Paul Merson said he now believes Leeds are one of the better top half teams and when other teams get tired towards the end of the season he expects Leeds to steamroll them as we’ll stay fitter.
@ristac Alioski was great yesterday. Stats are a good indicator of how the game went but there are some things that stats don't see. There were times when Everton countered where if they switched the play then we were in real trouble and every single time a white haired lunatic was busting his gut to cover the angle and forcing the play to eventually break down. That is a guy I want in and around me when I played football. Those types are the big team players. Kalvins strengths are not his passing, or tackling or his control of the game it's his ability to recognise danger and position himself in the right place for the team. Alioski has matched that in the last two games. The unselfish running he does to create space for others. If you rewatched yesterdays game Alioski constantly stopped the pass before it happened because of his positioning. He made a few interceptions on top of his tackles. Fired in a few crosses, played some lovely balls in the channel behind the full back and really pushed Evertons right hand side backwards with his energy allowing us to dominate the possession in the Everton half. In short he had a great game. That's two on the bounce and although I agree that he might lack a little bit at this level he is currently bang on form and is in the team on merit.
I just didn’t see it myself mate but there are enough on here who did. I was full of praise for him last game, I like the lad, I want him to get a new contract but I scratch my head wondering why I saw it different to the rest of you on here.
What all these players do which is why Bielsa picks them - is work so hard off the ball to make themselves available to the player in possession. Klich is probably the king of this, ayling not far behind but alioski is up there and very good at making himself an outlet... and is always ready to bust a gut on the overlap and then bust it again to get back. He’s too slow really to be a winger or a fullback at this level but he’s delivering as a team player. I’d have let him go but now I’m glad we have him.
I also felt Dallas had a stinker and is wasted in the middle however... When I was reading a few match reports they all suggested he was sacrificed to do a man to man marking job on Rodriguez and that he was very disciplined in following Bielsas orders. I guess that’s the beauty of Leeds United at the moment, it is a team effort and you just don’t know what Bielsa has instructed them to do. Phillips certainly had oodles more space than I’ve seen for a while.
maybe it’s just expectations fella. He wasn’t perfect, lost possession a few times, missed a really good chance. Just felt the team as a whole were really good yesterday and he was a cog in the wheel.
True ristac, I’ve seen mixed thoughts on klich yesterday. I saw him give possession away a few times. If that sticks in your mind together with some missed shots at goal you can think he wasn’t at his best. Or you can see the shift he put in (as he does every week) how he links almost every move, how many chances he’s directly set up, how big a nuisance he is when we on’t have the ball and think he’s a shout for MoM on his off days! It’s hard to watch a game and appreciate the involvement of all 22 players in one watch- so I think we all tend to have a few moments that stick in our mind and colour our player ratings.
I’ve been reading an Everton fans forum. It included the usual tosh but interesting a lot of them - before the game - saw us as the sort of side that could upset them.
Absolutely. Klich in isolation had a very solid game yesterday but in comparison to his normal performances he was below his usual high standards. He was still probably top 3 or 4 players in the team.
Think we can all agree that as a team everyone scores a 10 Where it gets difficult is really down to the quality of player involved. Alioski pulled his plug out but should have scored and a player from one of the top 6 clubs would have scored the chance, or would have completed more crosses or did more tackles. We dont have the quality of player and we need to remember that the bulk of our players were mid table championship players not long ago. We dont have a Sterling or a Mane or Salah or Haverts or Cavani or Pogba or Rashford. Our players do it as a team and we dont see many who are outstandingly bad in any game, we just see a lack of end product in things like goals or crosses or pass completion etc.
what sums klich up was in the last minute when Pickford blicked Costa’s shot... he could have jogged back to halfway but sprinted full pelt to the corner flag forcing Pickford to put the ball out. Making sure we got the ball back.
Yes me too, I keep up with all the oppositions forum and it's quite striking how they all appear in general to follow the same pattern. Hubris, their premiership stars will deal with the championship upstarts. Disbelief, that their side isn't quite matching up to the hubris script and neither are the championship upstarts. Denial, that their sides weaknesses have been exposed by a quality side dictating the match, dominating them and imposing their game plan. It's their manager, their crap players, their fitness.............................. Anything but seeing that this has been a plan in the making at Leeds for the last 2 1/2 years.