Good Morning. It's Thursday 6th October, and here are the Good Morning. It's Thursday 6th October, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds lack quality in the PL Former Liverpool and England star Michael Owen believes Leeds should be concerned about the lack of fire power they have up front, and are destined to be fighting for survival, come May. Speaking candidly to 'Premier League Predictions', the 42yo named the Whites as being 'one of the teams that lack quality in the Premier League' and shared his concerns that lately Leeds 'don't really look like scoring'. “On face value, you think, ‘oh, you only just survived last season and now you have lost your best players’. “Now they have recruited, but who knows what they will turn out like? They don’t score enough goals. Under the previous manager, they scored and conceded loads of goals." “But nowadays, they don’t really look like scoring goals. So, I would be quite concerned. They have had a decent enough start to the season, but I will be concerned for their future. “They are one of the teams that lack quality in the Premier League and they could be one of them battling it out for survival at the end of the season.” please log in to view this image Is Bamford the answer With 193 (senior) minutes under his belt so far this term, it is hoped that Patrick Bamford's injury woes are finally behind him, and normal service can once again be resumed. His latest ailment (a knock he picked up in training) kept the 29yo out of the starting line up against Villa last weekend; fortunately, it was not serious. On his day, Paddy can be prolific, and mix it with the best in the Premier League, but after an injury plagued (last) season, many are suggesting that his best days are behind him. In 560 minutes of game time (last season), he netted twice, and provided two assists, a far cry from the 17 goals, and 7 assists the season before. Did Michael Owen make a valid point that Leeds don't look like they're going to score? Marsch has a host of young talent coming through the under 21 ranks, but as we have seen with Gelhardt, making the step-up to the first team is far from easy. Former player, now pundit Paul Scholes believes Bamford must stay fit if Leeds have a chance of survival this season:- "The atmosphere is brilliant at Leeds. Once you get them fans going, it’s a really tough place to go." “Has he got the team this year to survive? I don’t know. On the evidence against Aston Villa, they didn’t look great, they didn’t look like they had much of a threat up front. “Obviously, getting Bamford fit will be a big bonus for them. But the lad just can’t seem to stay fit for long. If he stays fit, then they have a chance because he scores goals, but they were lucky against Aston Villa and it was only Villa’s bad finishing that got them the point.” please log in to view this image Raphinha - More smoke than fire Italian media have slated Raphinha after his latest performance, as Barcelona slipped down to third place (out of four) in the Champions League group stages. A first half injury time winner from Inter Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu left the Catalan outfit with an uphill task of qualifying for the knockout stage, having already lost at Bayern Munich 2-0 several weeks ago. Barcelona's money concerns have been well documented, and whilst they are flying domestically (six wins and a draw), a European Cup run is necessary to bolster their empty coffers. Since arriving in Catalonia, Raphinha has only found the back of the net once. After his lacklustre performance last night, 'Corriere Dello Sport' ripped into the Brazilian criticising him for "struggling to get past Matteo Darmian all evening", labelling him "more smoke than fire". The most scathing report came from 'La Gazzetta Dello Sport', who pointed out that Raphinha "never bites, cuts in without purpose, doesn’t shoot and never finds the end product". please log in to view this image
Morning all Week one and Barcelona fans were raving about Raphinha, now they are on his back. I want him to do well for them so that we hit our financial bonuses but I have got to admit, apart from week one and now today I haven't looked up how well he is or isn't doing. It's the same as Phillips I have zero knowledge if he has started a game or not for City or how many minutes he has played. Someone on here posted a few weeks back that he has hurt his shoulder, that's as much as I know When watching Soccer Saturday, I will take note of ex-players or loan players names popping up if they score a goal. Michael Owen is just repeating what most Leeds fans are fearing and feeling, what we were also feeling last season and the dismay of not signing a striker in the transfer window, I can't hate him for stating the obvious and you have to take it into context, he probably never just blurted it out in a let's hate Leeds moment, he would have been asked who will be in trouble this season and he picked us, who wouldn't Bamford - No he isn't the answer, he never has been, one good season when there was no pressure of the fans and his lengthy injury has allowed us to forget how many clear-cut chances he has missed.
Sounds like we’re doomed lads. Anyone got any spare towels to chuck in? We’ve scored more goals than half the league, conceded less than half the league. We’re midtable, with a zero goal difference. Can we save the crisis talk until we’re in one?
Good Morning to everyone from a dull chilly Bardsey I see that Charles de K played fro AC but was hooked after an hour I think that we saved ourselves a great deal of money and wasted a lot of time trying to sign him' I agreeabout BaMFORD WE should give Gonoto a chance to shineif hes good enough to play for Italy hes good enough for us
It looks like Gnonto is also a very intelligent player, and unlike some of our players,won't lose the ball cheaply. I would ask whether Gelhardt, who is nearly 2 years older, has been given a proper opportunity yet?
Morning al. All ifs buts and maybes and all about opinions. A lot of Owens comments make sense but string three wins together and well leave the bottom six a long way behind. Probably though well be relying on three teams being worse than us again. However we have Palace away and Fulham at home in next few weeks. Sorry to say but in my opinion they are must win games if were to avoid a struggle again. Is Bamford the answer? Of course he's not. Raphinha, lets see what he produces in the World Cup before writing him off. Too soon to write off players after a handful of games
Bamford is unfortunately turning into a one season wonder. He is frustrating at times. I can't fault his workrate, but he's needs 3 or 4 chances to score and then you have the injuries. The average Leeds Utd supporter knows we lack the goal power up front, I don't need these ex pro from other teams telling me this. I do think we have a good keeper, a decent defence and midfield and if we get our forwards up and running we certainly should be safe this season. Not bothered about phillips or raph. Greener and grass come to mind. Our next two matches are tough and we've struggled in the past against them.and we owe Palace a bit after the aussie trip.
My opinion on Raph was always that he was a world class talent on his day... but pretty inconsistent... and his willingness to 'try' stuff in risky places made him a bit of a liability on his bad days. He always worked hard so at our standard the pluses clearly outweighed the minuses but i had some doubts as to whether he would be the world star some have suggested. Playing with better players around him maybe that consistency will come. For now its a new club new system etc, may just take a while to settle.
The most interesting thing about Michael Owen was that tweet he got from someone saying "if I were on a desert island with you Michael and a tin of beans, I think I would eat you and talk to the beans"
Owen - nobjockey However Im starting to agree as we didnt bet the marquee signing we all knew we needed. We all knew Paddy was broken, we were hoping Rodrigo would deliver and in fairness he did score 4 goals but then got injured. Joffy wasnt getting a go and now 4th choice we need goals
Agree with you, but one thing you missed out was he had a bad attitude, also if things don’t go his way he used to sulk, not upset he’s gone tbh, also noticed him and Koch never cuddled prior to a match, so atmosphere in the camp.
Wolves manager sacked, Brendan Rogers under pressure as is Steve Cooper as is Steve Gerard, we are only three points off the bottom three and survived on the last day of the season last year. It’s best to avoid a crisis than go into one and then talk about it. JM needs to start picking up wins, end of.