never heard a millwall fan yet sing,but only seen them 10-12 times.Mind you don't suppose I ever will now as you will never be more than a mickeymouse league 1 or 2 team for ever.
Like West ham,we hardly know you exist,if it wasn't for you keep going on about one year you got a draw at Leeds
Had a long standing commitment so was unable to attend today's game. Almost unbelievably I managed to go the whole day without knowing the score and have just watched the match as live. So with deference to those that were there here are my observations, Monk is still very much learning how to manage...playing Phillips in the Hernandez role was a huge mistake, he doesn't have the touch, vision or speed to play the role. Managers don't want to change things before the hour mark as it shows that either the player (if substituted) is having a stinker or the manager got it wrong. Green was at fault for the first goal. However Jansson could have done much better, he allowed Gayle a free run on our keeper instead of simply stepping across the line to block him. Jansson also picked up a costly booking for dissent which added to his booking for celebrating scoring means a one match suspension. Not very clever and totally avoidable. Good performances from Ayling and Taylor. Sacko should have been on from the start as he has the ability to scare defenders whereas Roofe and Doukara do not. We didn't play well but we were in the match at all times, remember this was against a quasi premiere league team that will surely win this league. If we keep up that work rate, add a couple of players in January and have a bit of luck with injuries then we'll finish top six. Oh and Elland Road doesn't hold 38,000 anymore as I suspected.
Doukara was arguably our best player first half, second half late on we switched to 4-4-2 and I was surprised to see him taken off ahead of Roofe. Vieira and Phillips I thought were poor today although give Vieira his credit he was putting in some decent corners, a shame the same couldn't be said about Phillips when he took over the duties. I felt Newcastle were easily the better team but they didn't really create that many chances, we gifted them the first, we could have had a penalty and O'Kane and I think Doukara (header) had two very good chances. 2-0 was harsh, a draw would have been good but I think Newcastle edged it with the quality of play, they certainly didn't create any more chances than we did. We actually had more corners than them, more possession and more shots, they had one more on target so we were certainly not completely outshone.
I felt we matched them for the most part, didn't get the rub of the green and quality shone through on the day. They were half a yard faster, more precise, more clinical, but we were still unlucky to not get anything from the graft. Stone waller not given. Couple of bounces didn't go our way on half decent chances. We did cut them open on occasion but couldn't put the ball where it counts. Not the worst loss in the world. Rotherham are practically down already and I'd be surprised if they don't take the punishment for this loss today.
My thoughts on the game (having not read anyone else's) They clearly have a better set of players than us. They were more clinical and looked more dangerous going forward. Having said that they did ride their luck a little. A howler from Green for their first goal and I thought it was definite pen for Colback's handball (his hands are above his head and he is moving towards the ball, dunno how thats not a pen). Their second goal was superb. Thought Taylor and Jansson played well, as did Ayling (although coulda been in a better position for their second). Bartley was a bit poor though. The midfield trio started really slowly, O'Kane and Vieira grew into the game but for the most part outplayed. Phillips was poor and I don't think he picked his performance up either. Personally thought Doukara was our best player first half but completely out of the game second and Roofe picked up his performance in the second half. Wood had no service. It wasn't a bad performance by any means (52% possession to us, 12 shots to their 10 and 10 corners to their 6) we could definitely have gotten something out of it. Their keeper is better than ours and that was the biggest difference imo. I think what impressed me the most about Newcastle was their ability to always just get a foot in when we started to gain momentum. They broke play up really well and forced us to play quicker than we were comfortable doing. Off the ball they were fantastic imo. Anyway, we never expected anything from this game so its not the end of the world. Just need to bounce back now.
According to stats Phillips was great with pass accuracy, but to me he looked like he wasnt having a great game. Viera also not at the races, but on the whole we did well against a team who had players not on the bench and on the bench who were better than ours. They spent £55m and will fly up so a bit of a quality gap between the teams. No worries we lost and are still 7th and most teams will be rolled over by Newcastle, which just shows the unfairness of the present parachute system. At some stage Monk needs to have the players to play 4-4-2 which means striker and quality midfielder required so that Sacko & Dallas can supply the bullets because we need goals
I agree with most of what you said Josh, I think Newcastle's passing was better than ours which probably made the difference. Newcastle seem to play at a fast pace, and agreed, they were a little complacent on occasions, but always seemed to wake up pretty quickly. For most of the game, and their passes, they always seemed to know where their team mates were. in general, I don't for one minute believe Greens excuse about not wanting to carry it over line, he fumbled it, you could see that on the close up, he could've tipped it over bar, he could've caught it, he was too far out from his goal line to begin with, and got caught out. He's suppose to be a professional keeper and should know where his line is at all times, it's second sight for a keeper. Stats say we had 12 shots to Newks 10, also says Newks had 5 on target to Leeds 4, but Newks managed to make 2 of those shots count, and won the game. Stats can show Leeds had 50 shots to Newks 5, but they're meaningless if we don't score. We have other bigger teams to play yet.
Colback used his arms to jump, the distance between the ball and the player was minimal, it was a natural position and his arm was close to his body. could he have moved his arm out of the way? No. Did he move his arm towards the ball, No. Overall we got the 1-0 lead and knew we didn't have to do too much but hold you out, slow the tempo down and at some point score a second without overly exerting ourselves. Professional performance. We were far the better team. We were far the better fans, you could only hear the Newcastle fans on the telly. I know you guys don't think you sold out because of us, but I'll come back for the next few weeks and update you on your attendances and compare them to ours yeah. Oh and before someone comes back with some sh!tty reply like, Waahhh you bought the league whinge whinge whinge, we operated at a profit, we sold a lot more than we brought in all the parachute bollx I read on twitter is proper sad, you lost to the better team with the better manager and the better fans!
If you read a load of bollocks on twitter I suggest you vent yourself on twitter not this thread. 90% of Leeds fans on here have admitted Newcastle were better and deserved the win. If you haven't seen penalties given for those type of handballs you haven't watched much football. If you had been at home and that happened against you then you would all claim and it would have probably have been given. We have often discussed how the Premier League has been ruined with Sky money, the unfairness of the parachute money and how some teams like Norwich use it to their advantage bouncing in and out, not spending big taking a gamble to stay up, instead being one of those teams surviving on parachutes. Nobody on here has pointed a finger saying Newcastle have brought the title, just pointing out how hard it is to compete against teams with added parachute payment wealth.
You have managed to come across as a proper ****er on a thread that all of us are saying Newcastle deserved the win. Well done
