Sounds was a warrior in his day and man enough to admit he was wrong....so no argument there. Agbona-wrong is neither of those
Berardi has been a warrior for this club. The one thing I demand from a player at my club is that they give 100%. Berardi always did that and I am thankful to him for that. I'm glad the club has stuck by him this year and I hope he finds a good contract elsewhere. He has certainly improved his overall game under Bielsa. A great signing for someone. As for Pablo. He is the best player we have had since we were relegated from the PL all those years ago. Worth the entrance fee alone. We would not be in the PL now if it wasn't for him. The goal against Swansea will always be remembered and it was a very emotional moment for me personally as that was the day I knew we had done it. Pablo is one of those players who make me watch football. It was a pleasure to watch him play for my team. He gave us some wonderful moments. I wish the pair of them and their families all the luck in the world and I hope they know that they will always be welcome in Leeds. A perfect day this weekend would be a moment of magic from Pablo to win the game and a late red card for Berardi.....just for old times sake!
It's just a shame there won't be a packed Elland Road to bid them farewell and thank them for the service they have given to our great club. I think I may go down to Elland Road straight after the game hopefully it will be just like last season when we won promotion and the players came out to celebrate **** the government and **** the batflu
Revealed: The staggering amount by which Leeds United outrun the rest of the Premier League Peter Rutzler and Tom Worville May 21, 2021 please log in to view this image 91 please log in to view this image Everyone knows that Leeds United run a lot. That’s like saying water is wet. Irrepressible energy is one of the first things you notice about any Marcelo Bielsa team. It is a cornerstone of his footballing philosophy, the one trait that has resonated wherever he has coached. “Running is a very meaningful value because it indicates sacrifice,” Bielsa told Sky Sports in January. “There are times when the metres you run help to achieve your objectives, and there are times when they don’t. But they show the effort made to do things in a certain way.” Whether it be through their pressing, recovering or counter-attacking, running harder has been a key reason Leeds have so comfortably achieved a top-10 finish this season. But even now, after a season of blowing teams away and running others into the ground, it is still possible to be surprised by just how much running Bielsa’s side does. When laid out in black and white — or red dots on a graph, to be precise — the gulf between their hard yards and that of their Premier League opponents is staggering. Leeds don’t just run a lot. They run overwhelmingly harder than everyone else, to the point where they force others to run hard, too. These are not just observations based on what feels like a “Bielsa given”. With the help of data from Skill Corner, it is possible to visualise just how much further and quicker Leeds run compared to their top-flight rivals and what effect their style of play has on opponents in matches. As this first graph illustrates, they sprint longer distances and more often per game — by an enormous margin. please log in to view this image Despite all we know and can see on a weekly basis about Bielsa’s Leeds, the sheer extent of their dominance in running metrics remains something to behold. Teams renowned for their off-the-ball intensity, such as Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp and his gegenpressing style, or Southampton and Ralph Hasenhuttl, barely touch the sides compared to Leeds. Collectively, they are putting in almost double the number of sprints per match than the more defensive Wolverhampton Wanderers. There is more. For Skill Corner, a “sprinting distance” roughly translates to the distance covered above 7.0 metres per second (25.2 km/h). Below that comes a “high-intensity distance”: the distance covered above 5.5 metres per second (19.8 km/h). In and out of possession, Leeds again are putting in more high-intensity runs than anyone else. please log in to view this image (TIP: team in possession; OTIP: opponent team in possession) A lot of this, of course, comes back to Leeds’ playing style. They are unique in their man-marking approach in the top flight — they shadow their counterparts up and down the pitch rather than sitting in a defined shape to “mark” the space. This is reflected in the volume graph, as most of the teams tend to be bunched together in terms of the distance they cover at a high-intensity speed. So regardless of possession, whether it’s Burnley or Chelsea, most teams broadly cover similar distances overall. Meanwhile, Leeds zealously follow opponents and use multiple players when they press, which means they don’t have the luxury of jogging or walking to protect space when tracking a player. This may also explain why they are so far ahead of everyone else because players are sprinting in positions that otherwise they would not usually be required to do so. For example, it is likely that their centre-halves and holding midfielders, typically positions that don’t necessitate a lot of high-intensity running, will have a far higher output. For most teams, if a centre-half is sprinting, they have messed up. But for Leeds, that’s the plan. Another illustration of this comes from their accelerations and decelerations. This graph shows how often players on a team are changing speeds. For a team like Aston Villa, it likely means they are conserving energy for more extended periods and then going on long bursts. For Manchester City, more decelerations than accelerations likely indicates they are slowing down when pressing, but also perhaps their movement off the ball in attack, where movement into space often requires a greater need to slow down when space is found. Leeds don’t particularly stand out here, which is notable given the pure volume of high-intensity runs both in and out of possession. This may indicate that they do plenty of long-distance running at higher speeds instead of constantly going up and down. Think Patrick Bamford pressing all across the forward line, in one big run, rather than lots of little ones. please log in to view this image The fact Leeds are working so hard with and without the ball is not a surprise. It reflects how the whole team moves collectively upfield when they turn over the ball, and then the same trend applies the other way when the ball is lost. If they all run upfield into attack, they all need to run back to defence too. It also probably helps having Marcelo Bielsa boom “move!” at you from the touchline for 90 minutes. It is also not a surprise considering the work they do in training, from sessions such as the infamous and much-discussed “Murderball”, an 11-v-11 training game where the ball rarely goes out of play, to a studious approach to sports science. Speaking to the Pacey Performance podcast earlier this month, first-team fitness coach Benoit Delaval outlined the importance of Leeds’ intensity in training and why they don’t play small-sided matches. “We don’t use small-sided games very often in our training weeks,” he said. “We play at least once a week 11 v 11. We try to train in the most specific way. If we have 10 players available, we will prefer to use the under-23 to do 11 v 11, instead of five v five with only first-team players. “Since the start of the season, our Premier League matches have lasted, on average, 96 minutes but the average effective playing time is 54 minutes, which represents 56 per cent. In Murderball, effective playing time is equal to the time of the game. We take throw-ins quickly, very few free kicks, no corners. For this reason, the intensity is high. “If (effective game time) is 54 minutes, when we have a session with 25 minutes effective time, we know that we have done half a game in our session.” The result is not only a fitter team capable of a pulsating press, but a quick one, too. Very quick, in fact. please log in to view this image Bielsa’s side just pips Dean Smith’s Villa as the quickest in the top flight. The graph shows the number of individual high-intensity runs made and the average top speed of the team based on sprint speeds made consistently across a long enough distance. Notably, there is only about 1.0 km/h between the fastest and slowest sides, which does not seem like much. Multiply that across all 10 of Leeds’ outfield players, and suddenly you have a significant differential. If a team are a step slower, then they are more likely to get outrun. Unsurprisingly, Leeds’ immense running capacity has an impact on their opponents. Other Premier League teams have had to raise their intensity when facing Leeds to try and compete, as this graph illustrates. please log in to view this image For some, this has worked to great effect. Manchester United increased their high-intensity running at Old Trafford earlier this year and ran out 6-2 winners. Chelsea also secured a 3-1 triumph in December by upping the ante, and so too did West Ham when they won 2-0 in March at the London Stadium. Others have tried to shut up shop with success as well, such as Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester in November and Graham Potters’ Brighton earlier this month. “They want to really attack the game,” Rodgers said afterwards. “They play with wingers and stretch the pitch. They’ve got great mobility and rotation. Ideally, they want a basketball game where it is up and down the pitch. You have to ensure you don’t get involved in that.” For the most part, Leeds United’s energy-sapping impact has yielded points, helping them skip over the Championship gap to the Premier League with consummate ease. Fundamentally, their unique brand of hard-running football has not only secured their top-flight status comfortably but also made everyone else work harder too. And it can still surprise us.
I think this demonstrates why some football club owners/chairmen have a right to be fked off with the performance of their team at times, and that means the manager. When you look at how hard we work for points compared to the rest, Bielsa gets much more bang for buck. Some of those teams may as well have a pipe and slippers. In what other world can you only try a bit and get £10m per year. Yet a Championship team can work hard and get much much better results
Well said Doc. I want to use Scott Parker and what he has done at Fulham as an example. It was never going to be easy for them this term. They should have been a team that Parker should have made difficult to break down, and would grind out the odd result with blood, sweat and tears. What have we seen? We've seen Scott Parker poncing about on the sidelines in his designer clobber encouraging his side to try to step up. It was never going to work. They needed the likes of Berardi and Alioski - players that will give their all week in, week out and give the opposition constant headache's.
People keep telling me Parker should get the Spurs job hes great. Parker had a Prem team who he was manager if relegated. Yes he only took over in January but had half the season to stop the rot. He had a Prem squad who all stayed in the Championship on Prem money. He got promoted by the play offs and was lucky, but those lazy twats hardly moved all season. This season they are shyte and he even added some decent players, but the underbelly is lazy and he was the manager who allowed it
Going to be a bit lonely tomoz as it seems I will be at the match as I got all 12 tockets I asked for, but not many of the lads apparently to have a beer with. Oh well......
Go to BBC football World Cup FIFA Ever heard the phrase slowly slowly catchee monkey Set of money grabbing barstewards it's as bad as the ESL
