Leeds won't wake up, it takes positive play to wake a team up and Colin prefers to play negatively, leaving out the only two wingers we've got when our strength is in wing play.
Without Thomas I'm not really sure that it is anymore...the only natural winger we have now is the relatively unproven Hall. Diouf can play wide but I'd hardly call him a natural winger, he no longer has the pace, for one.
Hall is only unproven because Colin refuses to play him. Diouf isn't great on the wing. I don't know why Thomas isn't involved, his comment on twitter implied he would be available and wouldn't return to West Brom until afterwards.
I don't doubt McCormack and Diouf can play wide, but that midfield shows no forward thinking whatsoever. Who out of Green, Norris and Austin is going to show for the ball and win it from our defenders, link with the wingers and supply the strikers? All they're capable of doing is pressing the opponents' midfield, misplacing passes and going with the safe, easy option. Yes, Byram and Green can overlap, but you might as well just relegate Green to fullback if you want to push on rather than relying on the odd burst from Sammy B which typically ends in him legging it to the corner flag and looking confused. We need either another winger or a new attacking mid, so we can play the 4-2-3-1 properly, which is the only formation that's been successful for Leeds United in this division.
Of course he is, I'm just making the point that we can hardly say our strength is in wing play when our only natural winger isn't exactly proven at this level, despite flashes of what he's capable of. Thomas has gone back to West Brom as far as I'm aware? Could be wrong.
4-2-3-1 was good away, we did well with 4-4-2 at home. But we had the players to do either of those formations 2 years ago. We do need a proper winger and a proper attacking mid, I agree.
Don't think Tonge would be the whole answer, but I do think he linked the midfield to the attack much better than any of our other midfielders, and I would like to see him alongside a fit Austin.
The fact that Tonge looks lethal in front of goal and does like to steam forward is enough to prove to me that he's a decent attacking midfielder. He's got an eye for goal, he's only scored absolute screamers for us so far.
I always thought we looked vulnerable in 2010-11 at home when we tried Howson and Johnson together in midfield with no-one ahead of them but two strikers. Too easy to bypass when the opposition have two rows of midfielders. But that's all irrelevant to today. He did, but he's still nothing more than an average midfielder for this division. Sign a team of players of Tonge's ability and we'll get no further than 10th in my opinion. He's not different enough or classy enough, even if he did score a few (which even Paul bloody Green has managed to do in his absence).
please log in to view this image TOT: Lufc Blog ‏@TOT_Blog @Thomkirwin @MOTForever Hardest match report I've had to write in a while.
I think he does a hell of a lot more than you think he does defensively as well. If we went 4-2-3-1, I would like to see Tonge and Austin in the middle with a decent attacking midfielder in the Howson mould. I do like the look of Kenny McLean at St Mirren, but no doubt he'll go to the premiership or Celtic...
Hope Warnock didn't let the lads get pissed and stay up last night. Him letting them off training on Christmas Day when almost every other club were, proved that it's a liberty too far when we got colonoscopied by the mere likes of Forest and Hull.
A set piece is the only way we're going to score by the sound of this. It is dire. I have a feeling it could turn out like the Brum match earlier in the season.
