Good Morning. It's Friday 8th November, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Joffy eyes loan move Joe Gelhardt is keen to leave Elland Road on loan in January, with West Brom already leading the race for his temporary signature. Joffy 22 has fallen way down the pecking order over the past couple of seasons after a promising start to his Elland Road career. Lack of game time has severely hampered his progress, and now finds himself fourth choice behind Piroe, Joseph and Bamford. The amount of talent that slips the net is shameful. We're not expecting every fledgling talent to become an Archie Gray, but at-least give them that opportunity; if not at Elland Road, then elsewhere, on loan. He had somewhat of a successful spell with Sunderland towards the second half of their 22/23 campaign, even though he got asked to play out of position after an injury to Ross Stewart. Despite a lengthy injury list, the likes of Joffy, Debayo and Crew are rotting on the bench, with a rare cameo appearance here and there, as apposed to playing every week in the lower leagues. please log in to view this image Guilavogui pulled out all the stops to win a new contract Whilst the majority of footballers spent a relaxing Summer living it up in exclusive sun drenched resorts, Leeds new boy Joshua Guilavogui was enrolling on a rigorous training and fitness program in Dubai, hoping his hard work and dedication would be enough to win him a new footballing contract. The versatile 34yo won over the trust and confidence of Daniel Farke and coaches during a week long trial last month, after long term injuries to Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev left the Whites midfield short of numbers. He has already gained more league minutes than Joffy, Crew and Schmidt. According to renowned elite training and fitness coach Nicolas St Maurice: “They all have different starting points,” “Josuha, when he started working with us, he had been working in the gym and doing running by himself. But he’d done less time on the pitch because, by yourself, it’s more complicated. "Depending on what they need and the stage they are at with their fitness, some guys will come to us and go out on the pitch three or four times a week. Some will do less but more in the gym if they are coming back from injury and they might do treatment with our guys, too. The pitch sessions are becoming more popular because it’s more fun to train with other players. “It’s more competitive and better for everybody. We keep the groups small in general, between four and six players. On this occasion, we had all first-division players looking for new teams working together, all from different countries. It’s more fun for them to work together and because of the friendly competition, when they’re doing sprints or drills, they push a bit harder each time. When they’re doing the aerobic and cardio work, they get better results.” “He is a serious professional player,” says St-Maurice. “He was already at a good fitness level. He’s tall, when you look at his body type — similar to when I worked with Antonio Rudiger at Real Madrid — when you look at them, you don’t know how strong they actually are. But when they’re pushing people around and moving weights in the gym, you realise how strong they are. "I was surprised, we do sprints at the start of each workout to get everything fired up and he was winning the races. He was against seven other top players including some who are in season and playing games who were training with us during the international break and Josuha was beating them. I was impressed that he was right up there after a few months just training by himself.” please log in to view this image The cost of ball retention Unsurprisingly ball retention rates pretty highly on the demands Leeds gaffer Daniel Farke puts on puts on his players, but at what cost? I'm sure we'd all agree that punting the ball 50 yards up the pitch is not the way to go, but surely, neither is continual sideways or back passing. Millwall showcased what a long hopeful ball from the half-line semi circle can do - it may be ugly, but it's effective. Even as the minutes ticked down on Wednesday evening, Leeds refused to deviate from plan A! Why is this? It's not as if Leeds are deadly at ball retention in the final third. In-fact, Leeds have been dispossessed 157 times this season so far in the final third, more than any other Championship side (though its fair to say that it doesn't take into account the unprecedented amount of times they have attacked in this area). This prompts the question, why don't Leeds have a plan B, and more importantly, can they win promotion without it? please log in to view this image
Morning all. Didnt get chance to watch that shower of ****e game, and from reading it all on here, I still dont! Win again tomorrow against QPR and we will all have forgotten about this Millwall debarkle. Its a funny old game!
Morning all. Quite simply, we don’t have the type of player to play the long hopeful ball and particularly not against Millwall, where Cooper would have eaten them up all night long! So that’s the issue. Some were complaining about the “sideways and backwards passes” and at the same time questioning why we kept hitting corners into the penalty box where they kept winning the headers. The problem is always the same and that is scoring goals more frequently from the chances we create. Had Gnonto scored that could have been a completely different game.
Yes we've missed chances but every team does (unless they're playing us)... i think our problem this year is we haven't created enough chances to guarantee goals... whilst our opposition continue to score with their limited chances. That's football folks. Well it's Leedsy anyway. As for posession for possession sake? I understand the frustration, it's meant to wear down the opposition and eventually the chances will come. They just haven't been. For all his goal scoring record is good, Piroe doesn't stretch defences, the alternative - Joseph - does that ... but has struggled to convert chances. Likewise a fit bamford (were such a thing to exist). Truth is lack the guile to open up packed defences consistently enough if Willy isn't on it (and with Largie crocked). But we're still dominating most games. Leeds and Boro are the best teams in this division, and they're midtable, so it could be worse. We'll be fine.
If Millwall keep playing like that they will nick plenty of points at home. Boring to watch but efficient on a shoe string budget. As for Joffy, he can go as far as I'm concerned. Not sure loaning to a rival is a good move though
On a similar note, do we know if Crew and Debayo are still playing for the U21s or are they endanger of their development going the same way as Joffy?
Both played in the 1-0 win at Forest on 28/10. Both missed the 3-1 defeat at home to Newcastle on 1/11. So not really getting much game time.
At least were playing another rubbish outfit like Plymouth tomorrow so we can go back to believing were Barcelona for a few more days
It’s too early to say it’s a 3 horse race. But, if it becomes one, we are in third again and destined to lose to some ugly team in the playoffs
We've been saying that many a year. Being honest, if were not capable of finishing in top two of this rubbish league, then were better off staying put
