Well we are virtually at Halfway we have Stoke City to play at then we have had a go at everyone in this League. Where have we faltered ? What needs to improve? Played 22 Won 13 Drawn 6 Lost 3. League Position: (2nd) 3 Points off 1st. Home Form: 10 Wins, 1 Draw, 1 Defeat. Current Top 10 At Home: 4 Games. 3 Wins Sheff Utd,Watford,Boro, 0 Draws, 1 Defeat Burnley. We currently have only played 4 teams in the current top 10 at Home at the halfway mark. Our Home Form is keeping us where we are We have practically smashed everyone that has come to Elland Road. Scoring 29 Goals the highest in the division and conceding only 6. which is 5th best in the league. 3 were our 1st game of the season. Elland Road has been a fortress we really should be on 11 wins personally would say 12. Portsmouth came 1st game and we should of had double figures in a game that people came away scratching their heads in how Pompey scored 3 goals in a bazaar game. Burnley the only team to beat us in a proper smash and grab. Nobody apart from Boro have came to ER and wanted to go toe to toe. Away Form: 3 Wins, 5 Draws, 2 Defeats. Current Top 10 Away: 5 Games. 1 Win Sheff Wed. 2 Draws West Brom, Sunderland 2 Defeats Blackburn, Millwall We currently have played 5 teams in the top 10 away from home. Our Away form is very up and down Scoring 12 Goals which is 7th best in the league and conceding 9 Joint 2nd best in the League. I'm a Leeds fan like us all and I'm trying not to be biased but apart from the West Brom game we have been on top in them all even the ones we have lost. The draw at Sunderland was a individual error The draw at West Brom was a good point the losses at Blackburn and Millwall weren't because we were outplayed we just conceded that 1st goal and both teams went into the low block and tactically slowed the game down in any way they could the Blackburn game was an absolute horror in stop starts. My Halfway Summary: Hand on heart out of all the teams we have played nobody apart from Boro have had me worried. We have out possessed every team in this league. ok possession doesn't win you football games but we have so much possession because teams fear the hell out of us. we go into nearly every game Home or Away with fellow Champ teams playing the low block against us. This League is there for us. its ours to lose Destiny is in our own hands. Yes we aren't going to win every game there will be off days, Red cards changing games but every other team has the same problem. I've personally got it down to 5 teams including us for the 3 slots. Leeds, Sheff Utd, Burnley, Sunderland, Boro. not one of them are better than us. If any of those teams strengthen Jan we have to seriously take note because we got to keep that one step ahead. Sorry for the long post but I'm bored. Whats your thoughts of the 2nd half of the season?
I wonder who will hold on to players in January and who will strengthen. We would like a striker but it won’t happen, if they’re scoring goals the club won’t be selling, if they’re in the PL they won’t be dropping or affordable I feel we’re a long way ahead of our rivals, any player we sign, who are we going to drop. Keepers and Strikers seem to be in short supply, maybe a new LB would be welcomed
think you’re spot on in your assessment of the first half of the season their fella. Re our away form, I wonder how it would have been with the Ampadu/gruev axis we started the season with. Tanaka and rothwell have been great, but it’s not a partnership that gives as much defensive solidity. The defeats as you say have been largely smash and grab so I’m not saying it has been a factor, just a thought. Our losses have come since those injuries. Maybe Amps’ steadying influence and leadership might have helped?
For me, if we score first we’re nearly home and hosed in the majority of games we’re gonna face. Those games we lost at Millwall and Blackburn, we win. The games at Bristol and Preston we win. If we concede first we are then faced with buses very much parked. Think we’ll do ok in the away games at Burnley and Blunts. It’s some of the supposed lesser away games I worry about. I still think we’ll get promoted but not sure by which route, automatic or playoffs. MOT
Maybe he will mate. But another factor is when we do concede its quite often on a counter. we press and attack very hign because teams sit in their own half and when we do lose the ball our fullbacks and midfield are so hign up its basically a run at our 2 Centre Backs thats why teams always find it easier to hit a shot on target when they never in the game. Think it will be like this till the end of the season. Game of chess aint it . I totally agree with Leedsrover also we score first and 9 times out of 10 we win the game. Most teams wait for that 1 chance against us and when they get it its always a very good chance with our overloads. Thats another problem away from home we concede first giving them a double cushion of the low block.
I remember Leeds players saying that when or if they conceded a goal under Bielsa, he’d be mad as 9/10 he’d told them beforehand how they would score, what they’d do to beat us. We all know we’re weak to a counter, usually when we lose the ball in the final third or a poorly taken set piece. This is where I question Farke, does he not look at the opposition and pick out which 1 or 2 players would be capable of damaging us with that tactic and tweaking how we play to negate theme. We lose or struggle to teams who are well drilled in defence and are sniffing for the lost ball knowing it’s often one chance one goal
yup same under Bielsa, same under marsh. What people sometimes don’t get is it’s not as simple as ‘making a few tweaks’ - you can try and mitigate some risks but the tweaks you have to make impact on the way your whole game plan works. Like with Bielsa, plan B was to do plan A better.
Good assessment. We still struggle to defend corners and to score from them. We now have a number of players who are 6ft +, but I always get nervous at our ability to close down their tall CBs and strikers at corners and our ability to get to our own corners. We don't have a natural dead ball specialist either. In a way we were lucky v Oxford as they fluffed a few clear shots and headers.
Sorry mate. We weren't lucky against Oxford. They had one clear chance in nearly 100 minutes of play. Maybe one half chance 2nd half. We had **** loads.
Agree with you. One of the most one-sided games I’ve seen this season. From the second goal they looked like they wanted to get on the coach home.
