Good Morning. It's Friday 12th May, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road The blame lies at Leeds’ own door Elland Road journalist Phil Hay pulled no punches, when asked about Leeds survival hopes earlier this week. Big Sam has just over two weeks to pull off the Great Escape, yet Hay remains optimistic that Leeds can get a result from West Ham a week next Sunday; giving the Whites hope going into the final game of the season, against Spurs. Unsurprisingly, he highlights the Leeds defence as his main cause for concern, and for good reason. They have leaked 69 goals this season, in the league alone, more than any other top flight club. Off the pitch, the club can only be described as clueless. Four head coaches (since February 22) including Skubala, a man who has never managed a league team, unbelievably poor transfers and a lack of confidence, deep with the core of the club. According to Hay:- "[Most winnable fixture and why?] All eyes have to be on West Ham away on May 21. West Ham should be safe by then but more pertinently, they’ll be deep into an intense run of fixtures culminating in a Europa Conference League semi-final against AZ Alkmaar three days earlier. David Moyes will surely plan to prioritise that tournament if West Ham are already safe." "As for Tottenham at home, Leeds’ final game the following weekend, you wonder about that. Spurs might well have nothing to go at and they’ll be desperate to park this season at the first opportunity. But even so, you can still see Kane, Son and others getting change out of this Leeds defence." "[Biggest problem to fix?] The defence. Put simply, Leeds have not had a clean sheet in 12 league matches. They’ve conceded 31 goals in those fixtures so the club are in the realms of having to score two or three times to have any chance of earning any form of positive result." "Allardyce was quite open in saying fixing that would be his priority, but he has precious little time and he is inheriting a squad who have been poor defensively for most of the season and, realistically, he cannot wave a magic wand." "What he needs to do is narrow the percentages so that Leeds are in close contention in as many of these three games as possible. If the defence continues to leak as it has until now, they’ve got no chance." "[Unlucky or deserve it?] Oh, deserve it and I doubt any of the clubs involved would get away with claiming they’ve been victims of bad luck if they go down. As a basic starting point, consider the fact that since February 4, four different coaches have taken charge of Leeds games." "Consider the fact that the club signed the best part of an entirely new team for this season, give or take, and they’ve got 30 points after 33 games. Consider the fact that they’ve sacked their director of football and have lost six of their past eight matches. The blame lies at Leeds’ own door and chickens have come home to roost." "[Reason to be cheerful?] Because one way or another it will finally be over in a little over two weeks’ time? All joking aside, you can cling to the idea that under Sam Allardyce, Leeds might be better defensively and more competitive than they were latterly under Javi Gracia. Perhaps that means they have a win in them." "It’s also the case that other clubs have difficult run-ins and none of them are in any way assured of hitting a decent final points tally themselves. It’s impossible not to draw hope from something like Leicester’s defeat at Fulham on Monday. But then Everton rout Brighton and Forest beat Southampton. He giveth, he taketh away." please log in to view this image We must use fear of relegation to spur Leeds to safety Speaking at his pre match presser, Leeds interim Manager Sam Allardyce has warned his squad, they cannot afford to lose against Newcastle Utd on Saturday, and must use the fear of relegation to spur Leeds to safety. He admitted that his goal is to get to the final day of the season with a chance of survival, and a draw against Newcastle and a win at West Ham would give the Whites the most realistic chance of staying up. Allardyce also told reporters that his claim that he was 'up there' with Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp was just a tactic to take the pressure off his players. “To give ourselves the best chance we’ve got to try and get a point on the board but more importantly three if we can,” “But I have said to the players and I will say it now: ‘When we come off the field on Saturday, we can’t afford to lose.’ “We must get something. The biggest thing that can happen on Saturday is that we don’t lose." "Then we’ve got a point on the board. I want to still be in it when we play Tottenham. But the fear of relegation needs to drive them on. The fear of losing their Premier League status should make them fight hard.” “All those who criticised me sounded a bit thick when all I was doing was diversifying off the players on to myself, which was a great tactic that I picked up from Alex Ferguson. So there was no pressure on the players because I took it all – I took all the stick. But there’s none of that this week. It’s simply focusing on Newcastle.” please log in to view this image
Im curious. Should we survive, where will the finances or expertise come from for what is basically a total rebuild. Defence rubbish, GK going backwards, one senior striker, a bang average midfield, too small a squad as Sam said and we've all been saying for years. Also curious who's going to oversee it? Radz Magathe? Neither know anything about football. Its as big a mess as it was before Marcello took over, maybe more so
Me and me mate Milky have been saying we need a new back 4 for months. All ****, the lot of them. Wober looks a decent Championship defender as does Cresswell. We have no left back and Dramah looks well suited to Championship football next season.
Morning all I really appreciate the breakfast debates and the weekend ones, I am glad we have them, I read them daily but I have to admit, I'm finding it hard adding anything of any substance at the moment, I am almost fed up and bored with the football for the first time in my life. I think it is because what we had was so nearly there, it needed tweaking and we just smashed it all up. Like everyone else I scratch my head for the answers and just wish the money men had brought Leeds United instead of Newcastle
Think its worse than that mate really. We dont have DoF or head of recruitment. These are the guys who direct the club going forward and bring in players to suit a system of play. Then the new manager needs recruiting who will coach his team in the said system. Leeds we’re doing it right with Bielsa but then blew it up by employing the yank and then bringing players to suit Marsch. Inside 15 month everything gone right down to how the academy teams play Do we have any idea about a new DoF New coach What is the plan going forward as we need one whichever division we’re in Will we ever get a statement from a Director
What I'm Iooking for tomorrow Doc is a performance and if the result goes against us then so be it and as long as the lads give their all then no complaints from me. Keep fighting until the bitter end, never give up and don't shirk the challenge. Last season we seemed doomed and then the injury time Struijk equaliser against Brighton suddenly offered a glimmer of hope, we just need something like that to go for us, something to cling onto for next week, something to build on.
The fans wanted Orta out though Doc and they know best Now some of them are wondering who's going to be doing the recruiting with no manager/coach and the summer transfer window only weeks away.
Pretty sure Firpo would be excellent in the Championship. Take your point about the PL but following relegation we should have a great back four for next season. Drameh, Cresswell, Wober, Firpo.
I see you've the fishing pole out out. I'll give you a little nibble to keep you happy. Orta was a dof in title only. A plonker in reality. Only positive thing of the season was his dismissal
Just let me know when the new guy has found a Summerville and a Gnonto for about £5M combined and then we can talk about it
it's a funny old game.......and basically a simple one, listen just go out and WIN a ****ing football match ....you know it'll make everyone including you feel better, there sorted
we now have a coach who’s legendary for sorting out defences - will be interesting to see if he can get a tune out of them. I suspect he’ll keep protecting them with extra midfielders, so we might tighten up a bit, but the games will be like the Alamo - as we hoof it back to the opposition. For those that look at performances over results, marsch had seemingly tightened up the defence a bit before he was sacked but it was offset by us often carrying less of an attacking threat in those games. It’s often the way. Javi said he was prioritising the defence when he came in but by letting the opposition play more he actually ended up exposing them more. In fairness, marsch had Adams, and gracia didn't… he’s been a huge miss.
For what it’s worth, whilst we’re strong favourites to go down I don’t think we’re done yet. Unlike Phil Hay I think we haven’t had the results our performances deserved. Probably only the wolves game where we got points our play didn’t deserve - whereas flip it the other way and we’ve lost loads of games we could have drawn and drawn ones we could have won. You can’t blame ‘luck’ if your defenders keep making mistakes and your strikers missing sitters - because that’s the most important part of the game… but in terms of play and chances created the team has been better than the league position. It’s fine margins. Everton scored with all their shots on target at Brighton, while Brighton missed chance after chance. forest once again were largely outplayed but took their chances against Southampton. That kind of result has happened in our favour once this season. We need our last three opponents to not bring their shooting boots while we fluke a shinner and a deflection. It doesn’t look likely, but hey it’s Este straw week on not606.
On the subject of Phil Hay, his job is selling subscriptions. He lost his ‘in’ at Leeds so got no inside info at all - he just has an audience for his ever diversifying opinions. Given he has nothing to protect /lose he’s happy blaming the management and is probably enjoying a bit of payback at their expense. I recall him rejoicing at the calm measured approach of our play under Gracia’s first games… the strategic and tactical know how we’d been missing. Blah blah. Changed his tune on that one.
Not sure what the obsession is with the owners being knowledgeable football people either tbh. Has Amanda Stavely got her coaching badges? The Yanks at Chelsea, Liverpool or Man United? What about Citys' Arabs? My guess would be, they take advice as all people in business do and then recruit who they think will do well and act if it doesn't work. Overall, if you looked objectively, you would have to say from a business perspective, the curve for Radz has been upwards, his investment has grown even if we get relegated or grown substantially if we don't. I don't think any of our competitors spent north of £ 50 million in the January window on two players like we did (and that is not including McKennie)? Come to think of it, I don't even think the likes of Brighton or Brentford did, so, as an owner, did he back his horse? Yes, absolutely he did. Was it the wrong horse? Unfortunately looks like it and he acted (probably too late but, heh ho). Ristac's post above sums up how I feel at the moment too. I have got the keyboard out and then just thought, no, I can't be bothered, I may as well go to the library and get the same book out I had last week!! Ben is looking forward to his trip up tomorrow as ever (although a little muted now it looks like he will have to drive because of train strikes ). I will watch and hope we win as I always do but won't be crying too much if we lose either. It is only football, I am a bit out of love with it at the moment and, genuinely know that will come back when I am excited by the thought of a new season, whatever division that is in. Funnily enough, we watched the first half of Real Madrid v City the other night and turned off at half time, it was almost as though it was so perfect it was sterile. Give me Plymouth away on a Wednesday over last Saturday's game, a bit of blood and thunder and passion and a chance to win a game or two
Agree with the vast vast majority of that except the first bit If owner has no knowledge of football and he appoints a dof, how does he know if he's any good. Surely leaving himself wide open to a potential spoofer blowing tens of millions of transfer money. You would at least base your appointment on his track record. In our case for example Boro, his previous employer, were delighted to get rid of Orta
Genuine question - How long do you need to own a football club before you switch from know nothing about football to knowing about it. Radz has been our owner for 6 years now. Maybe Radz has got fed up of asking Orta for the last 4 years “why are we signing this player” and receiving the same two replies “because Bielsa wants him” and “because Jesse wants him”. Orta had to go…
