Good Morning. It's Monday 23rd October and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds complete epic comeback to go third Boos rang out upon the final whistle from large sections of Norwich fans, as Leeds, led by their very own Steve McQueen, (though he happens to be German) completed their very own 'Great Escape' from Carrow Road. It's not very often that teams recover from a two-nil deficit, let alone end up winning, but almost two years to the day since being given his marching orders, General Farke returned to Carrow Road to knock the Canaries of their perch. The Whites had found themselves with a mountain to climb at half time, after Shane Duffy and Gabriel Sara had given the Canaries what looked like being an unassailable lead. Farke's troops had more than enough chances to be on level terms, but unlike the home side squandered their opportunities in front of goal. Leeds needed a bit of luck, the same fortune that had deserted them during the opening half, and it came in the form of Shane Duffy. With just over an hour on the clock, Rutter led a 60 yard charge, before releasing James down the right flank. The Welsh International had just about enough pace to cut the ball across goal before it went out of play. It somehow deceived Gunn who looked odds on to make the save, hit Duffy on the knee, and into his own net. From that moment on, Leeds started to turn the screw. As the home side began to tire, Leeds were able to call on the services of Ayling, Cooper, Bamford, Anthony and Gnonto. The changes made a massive difference to second half proceedings. With 13 minutes to go, Summerville curled an exquisite effort past the despairing dive of Gunn from the edge of the 'D', from all of 30 yards. Most teams would have been satisfied to pick up a point having been two down, away from home, but not Leeds. With five minutes remaining on the clock, Rutter (on defensive duties) released Summerville as he charged past the half way line. After weaving in and out of traffic, he release a ferocious drive from the edge of the area, sending the travelling contingent delirious. please log in to view this image Would you swap Farke for Bielsa It's not yet four months since Daniel Farke took the reigns at Elland Road, and with his fairy-tale start to the campaign, many fans have already turned to social media to compare him to Marcelo Bielsa. It's easy to state that Farke had better players and more money at his disposal, but we must remember he was still in the throws of rebuilding his squad when the season began. Not only did he have to find the right kind of players, but had to make them gel in an extraordinarily short amount of time. Even after losing their two best defenders during the Summer (Koch and Wober), Leeds have still managed to keep five clean sheets from their previous eight games, with the inclusion of Spurs reject Joe Rodon. It's not as if Bielsa wasn't backed. Any player bought in during his tenure, had to get his seal of approval; this includes £9m in loan fees for Jack Harrison, £15m for Costa and what could still turn out to be £45m for Jean-Kevin Augustin. Many will disagree about Bielsa's tactics, and his unwillingness to deviate; but it worked, and we saw some of our best football since the O'Leary era. Had he kept his job, Leeds may still be in the top flight now! Whilst Bielsa's connection with the fans may always be unrivalled, if Farke manages to deliver this season, what it took the Argentine two seasons to achieve, will the German be held in the same esteem? Given the chance to go back to pre-season, and re-install Bielsa, would you do so, or do Leeds have the right man for the job already? please log in to view this image Agents advice to Summerville paying off Crysencio Summerville's valuation is set to rocket, after another man of the match award at the weekend, his fourth this season. Upon relegation, 'Jimmy' was expected to be one of the first players out the door this Summer, but has shown a new maturity which has endeared himself to the Leeds faithful. He had extensive talks with his agent during the Summer regarding his future. They advised him that a season in the Championship could be of benefit to him; and it looks like their advise is paying off! He is enjoying life as an inverted winger, cutting in from the left, giving him free licence to play as a third striker. With four goals and two assists already this season, the future looks White for the 21yo. please log in to view this image
Still buzzin after Saturday, and now can't wait till Wednesday, when footballs that good it makes you feel good. Comparing Bielsa to Farke, both are world class coaches, Bielsa had a certain persona/aura about him which imo Farke will never have, but farke has more than just one dimensional football in his repertoire and is able to adapt, i just count ourselves lucky i guess (if you can call it that) to experience the both of them
Morning all. Yet another thoroughly enjoyable Championship wile two hours earlier two giants of world football Liverpool and Everton served up a borefest or at least the twenty minutes I bothered with. Happy with either Bielsa or Farke at the reigns, both miles ahead of anything we've had for past two decades. As for Pablo Summerville, he has that brilliant knack of lighting up a game that Pablo senior had. Rapha did it occasionally, but most of the others are fairly predictable with their goalscoring attempts
Morning everyone was i the only one who wondered where 8 mins injury time came from. Their second goal was a farce as no one tried to block him and meslier failed to cover his goal. Too many times our goalie is beaten and i don't think he will improve.
For me the difference that Bielsa made from pre season to the opening Championship game against “favourites for promotion”Stoke was imo mind blowing. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. I loved the football he played, but wished he had tweaked it when major injuries hit the squad. Wasn’t overly keen on Farke when he was chosen, however now feel it was a terrific piece of business by the 49’s. I love that he’s brought stability to the club, that he’s seemingly managed to create a good team spirit throughout the club, and shown class both on and off the pitch. Whatever happens this season, I’m glad we got him.
On the 8 minutes, having seen the whole of the 2nd half, thought 4 or possibly 5 mins at most (subs plus our goal celebrations). Thought 8 was ridiculous, just glad we held out. On Mes, I’m not convinced by him, but he’s been pretty much first choice for 3 yrs, so obviously the managers can see something in him, either that or our back ups are crap .
Think I made my views clear on Mes over the last few years. On this occasion though both goals were from close in and came quickly. He was probably a fraction out of position for the second… he does show a lot of his near post compared to most keepers and concedes a few too many there… maybe sides target it?… but think criticism is harsh on this occasion. Great comeback win well done DF and the boys. And a big heads up to cousin Jesse for recognising Jimmy’s talents as in inverted winger
The Bielsa V FARKE debate is summed up by the fact that Bielsa had Cooper, Berardi, Ayling, Forshaw and made them into a unit. He changed Kalvin Phillips into a quarterback that directed play as well as putting him in as a CB. He made Struijk and taught Bamford to be a hold up No9, he introduced wingers that scared defender and made an old player into a worldy (Pablo) another winger used as an effective LWB but the best was seeing something in one player that nobody else saw and that player made it all hang together for over a hundred consecutive games. Klich…… way too early to put FARKE in the same category
Morning all For the sake of fairness I have to say Ell you are being extremely harsh on Gunn there, it would have taken a superhuman effort from any goalkeeper in the world to stop any of our goals from his position
Afternoon all Bielsa is a better coach with a Bielsa team, Farke is better with his kind of players, right now, at this very moment in time, I wouldn't swap because Bielsa would be inheriting the players assembled for Farke Summerville and Piroe would struggle for game time, they wouldn't work hard enough for Bielsa, Bamford would start ahead of Rutter. This squad is head and shoulders above the team Bielsa took over, we were second favourites for promotion going into the season, we were lesser odds for relegation than promotion when Bielsa took charge. I don't think you can make a fair comparison, I'm grateful for both
Morning all, The reason why Bielsa will be held in higher regard is twofold for me. One he was the one to end 16 years of misery. There had been little to no hope in a long time and he restored that. He also did it while being an amazing human being. Two he did it with players of a lesser talent. He came in and made ordinary championship players into decent Premier league players in a short space of time. I like Farke but when he gets us up he will go down as a great Leeds manager. Bielsa is a legendary one, in our top three of all time.
Bielsa is lauded by other coaches and former players who've played at the highest level, farke isn't yet in that domain but he is without doubt a proven manager and certainly the BEST we could have got ......off to the Algarve tomorrow for hopefully some and already sussed out the nearest hostelry for the match and I'm very hopeful that we can pick up another three points and keep the momentum on an upward trajectory...I don't want to spoil Mrs Old's evening when she's ready to paaaaarty
Adams out till the new year, Sinisterra couldn’t make the match day squad, the coach who turned us down on the brink of the sack, Bournemouth in the bottom three. At least they bought players from us who give their all in a relegation dogfight
