Good Morning. It's Tuesday and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Dan James back on song Despite being a little ring rusty, Dan James gave the Elland Road faithful a glimpse into what he brings to the party, with a dominant performance against the Pilgrims last weekend. James, 27 this week, is on the road to recovery after three months on the side-lines with a hamstring injury. His 13 goals and 7 assists in just 2700 minutes of game time last season, shows all we need to know about what he brings to the squad. As Nancy Froston points out in a rare piece she has penned in 'The Athletic' yesterday, it's easy to get carried away 'by the promise of shiny new arrivals'. Many have taken the easy route and already labelled the young Welshman as an impact sub given his speed and versatility but I feel he deserves a much bigger role, and will be a contributing factor as to where Leeds end up next May. According to Froston: "For anyone who needed reminding, Dan James has shown once again why he is one of Leeds United’s most valuable players. There are flashier attacking options in manager Daniel Farke’s squad. There are players in that squad who have been at the club for far less time than the Welshman yet have their own catchy songs — in some cases, multiple tunes — sung in their honour from the terraces. "But in Saturday’s 3-0 home win against Plymouth Argyle, James produced a performance to reassert his status as the player who is the heartbeat of this side. When Leeds have needed him, in far tougher tests than the one posed by Wayne Rooney’s weekend visitors, James has stepped up. "He was one of the few players not to wilt under the pressure of the occasion at last season’s Championship play-off final and he still bears a scar on his forehead from a collision with Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters in that game. "This campaign has been a clean slate for Leeds to build something new under Farke after the monumental efforts of last season and its agonising end, as automatic promotion slipped away and was followed by Wembley defeat. James’ class has never been in doubt but it is always easy to get carried away by the promise of shiny new arrivals. "Those came in the forms of Largie Ramazani and Manor Solomon, both brought in to add depth out wide in the final week of this year’s summer window. Meanwhile, Willy Gnonto has looked most likely to inherit the departed Crysencio Summerville’s ‘main man’ title with a number of standout performances making him certain of a starting place. "With injuries disrupting his start to the season — six league matches missed due to a hamstring complaint from August to October — it was easy to overlook James and his importance to what is a youthful Leeds side. But against Plymouth, he showed what he adds from the off, despite being a doubt due to a return of his hamstring issue before the game. "James, who turns 27 this week, was a menace to Plymouth as they camped 10 men behind the ball in an attempt to shut Leeds out. There was little hope of that approaching paying off as he sent crosses into the area and produced a moment of magic for the opener on the half-hour. Leeds’ 23 shots to zero dominance over the course of the game reflected the gap between the two sides, particularly in the first half." please log in to view this image You knew it was coming!!! There is a distinct possibility that Kalvin Phillips could become available on loan in January with fitness issues continuing to rile Ipswich Town gaffer Kieran McKenna. The former Leeds saviour's fall from grace after leaving Elland Road in 2022 is well documented, as is his apparent desire to return to Elland Road. The general consensus is that the 28yo is overweight, and does not have the fitness levels necessary for a top flight player. The Tractor Boys looked to be on course for their first three points of the season; that was before Phillips was sent off thirteen minutes from time, during which time Crystal Palace managed to rescue a point. This incensed the Ipswich gaffer who looks set to send Phillips packing in the new year. Many believe Phillips has been unlucky. One tabloid even wrote 'if Kalvin Phillips won the lottery, he would probably lose his winning ticket'. When on form, Phillips has proven to be one of the best midfielders in the World. That may seem like long time ago now, but given the opportunity, should Leeds take the gamble? We were happy to offer Manchester City £3m (in loan fees) for a young and improving Jack Harrison back in 2018, so there would be no monitory reason why Leeds and Manchester City couldn't negotiate a deal! please log in to view this image
Morning all. Forget Philips, his career at any high level is done. But he's a multi millionaire so I wont lose any sleep. As for Dan James, he's my favourite player easily. What a brilliant attitude. Right from the day of his first failed attempt to sign for us, returns later and is then treated poorly by loaning him to Fulham. Has never had a moan and is a pivotal player virtually every time he takes the field and yet he doesn't even have a fans song yet I believe. Wish a lot of our recent rats had his attitude or even something close to it. One question re Philips though, so many of our players have gone backwards after Bielsa. Is it because they miss his coaching or are they banjaxed after the Bielsa training regime. Not many have gone on to flourish
some interesting points Eire. James isn't my favourite player, from an ability perspective, but he's a very useful asset at this level and his attitude, i agree, is first rate. Re players going backwards after Bielsa. Think there's numerous factors. - Some of the players were getting on under Bielsa so are just past it now. - If he genuinely improved players rather than just got them fitter, then they wouldn't just 'forget' the improvements - but the team was always more than the sum of the parts under Bielsa. The space/opportunity created by the system and team overall fitness levels helped make average players look better - it is always going to be hard to look as good elsewhere. - did he physically finish some players? The training regime did push the boundaries, Rob Price admitted this - it was side before self.... so it's not unreasonable to assume that its taken a mental and physical toll on some of the players Phillips struggled with weight discipline earlier in his career. Bielsa was brutal on weight. Many inside the club felt too brutal. But the fitness levels and system both helped KP - he seems to have now reverted to type. I like to think he just wants to play for Leeds.
Morning all The Ipswich coach dismissed the KP story as nonsense made up by the media and rehashed by many, we don’t need him back, his time has been and gone. Bielsa took an average bunch who brought into his ideas and transformed average into good. Remember how quickly he shipped out our best player Saiz at the time as he had the wrong attitude, later on Pontus. Raphinha and Ben White certainly shone under him and went on to improve, possibly Jack Clarke, many reached a ripe old age, Cooper, Ayling, Berardi, Pablo, Klich, Dallas of who I can remember. Bielsa relied heavily on KP and Bamford for what they did off the ball, we all said in a non Bielsa team they’re far less influential. Dan James, never seen moaning or throwing a tantrum, leaves the field looking like he has always given 100% never rocked the boat asking to leave despite us loaning him out when in the PL, as a club we’ve treated him terrible, he’s a great player to have around
This isn't necessarily pointed at you, but many fans have a skewed inflated view of Bielsa. He made as many awful signings that he did decent ones and his 'over the top' training sessions shortened the careers of half his squad.
You mean those players who would never have played premier league football at all if it wasn’t for Bielsa?
No other top flight club would be interested in Kalvin if Canon fodder like Ipswich don't wont him. Citeh will want him to be playing consistently, and at a reasonable level - Leeds can offer that.
You're talking about players who can fill a void for a few seasons like dozens of championship players have done in the past in the top flight. Just an example. Bielsa made Cooper difficult to beat and got the most out of him. At best he was a £5m player. No top half team in the Prem would never have gone anywhere near him.
Billy Morris, Leeds Books@Yorkshire_Tales Habitual Drunkards of the city of Leeds 1903. Surprising how small they all were, tallest one was 5’5 and Peter Outhwaite was only 4’10. Lots of scars and very few teeth seemed to be a common look too… #LeedsHistory#LeedsPubs please log in to view this image
James has probably been one of our best players over the last two seasons. Should be the first winger on the team sheet with his effort and commitment. Scores and assists, isn’t greedy and helps out the defence out massively. Defends from the front. I honestly think once Ramazini is back we could see our wingers being Ramazini and James. I think Phillips have got very unlucky, Ipswich should’ve had a pen before he got sent off and then the second yellow he got probably wasn’t a yellow. Think he’s a lower half PL player but just needs to keep fit and play in a certain system. Don’t personally think you should really go back to ex players and I think we have enough in CDM, even if we went up.
As far as I can remember, Orta always presented 3-4 choices to Bielsa, Bielsa never asked for any particular player. Without Bielsa we would not have been promoted. I just can’t get my head around how anyone can discredit anything he did in getting us promoted and being every neutrals favourite The fast flowing attacking football of his first two seasons was just magical
Bristol City fall apart at the end meaning we go 3rd Sheffield equaliser on 86min City have a player sent off in injury time then 90+8 the snatch a winner
Sadly, I suggested other promotion rivals would likely better our result against the Robins away. Pity I was right, on this occasion .
Yes then the players over celebrated by jumping on the wall, fans falling on the seats that were covered, very dangerous situation, did the ref book them for doing it….NO, but if it was us then yellows flashed all over the place. The standard of reffing is crap, the FA are corrupt and love making us an example of, c’mon Farke start rattling the cage ffs and complain we are being targeted.
