Leeds returned to winning ways after the defeat at the hands of Wolves, and with a clean sheet, by all accounts, we should've beat Barnsley, and we did 2-0. We started the game on the front foot, but was a bit scrappy in places, probably due to the fact the sun was in our players eyes. Someone decided to help out Wiedwald by lending him his cap, and for his thoughtfullness, he ended up with Weinwalds shirt as a reward. Wiedwald returned as keeper due to a couple of bad displays by Lonergan, and Wiedwald kept a clean sheet; he didn't have a lot to do, but what he did he did well. Maybe we should play Wiedwald for about 6 games, and then Lonergan for 3, then back to Wiedwald, results prevailing of course. We pretty much controlled most of the first half, and although Barnsley didn't seem to be playing in top gear, they did cause us some problems, but the defence dealt with their attacks as we know our defence can when all players are on form. Saiz's goal was the result of good link up play between Alioski and Saiz, Alioski passed the ball to Saiz, who was just forward of the halfway line, he ran about 10 to 15 yards and let fly with his left foot which put the ball in the left side of the Barnsley goal, we were 1-0 up. Alioski scored our second with a good curling shot into the bottom left side of goal leaving the Barnsley keeper with no chance, that goal reminded me of Antenucci and some of his goals. Alioski and Saiz link up and play well together, Saiz got back to his scoring ways, and Alioski has found his shooting boots. These two players are going to be causing most teams defences a lot of problems for the rest of season. We also saw Pablo and Saiz linking up well together, the 3 of them seem to be in radar sync with each other, and all 3 need to start every game, we cannot afford to split them up at this stage. Most will remember the beautifull defence splitting pass by Pablo to send Ekuban through on goal, had Ekuban put it away it would've been a great goal and assist. Pablo's quick brain and eye for those type of through balls and defence splitting passes are some of the reasons we need him to start every game, even if he has a bad game occasionally. I said back when I thought Pablo, Saiz and Alioski would be a good attacking mid combination, it happened, and it's proving to be correct, but, we do need Pablo and Alioski to be on ball every game. Second half, we upped a gear and played to keep our lead and clean sheet, but Barnsley didn't give up either, they went on the attack when they weren't defending, and went close a few times, but our defence stayed solid and weathered each and every attack. Berardis name kept cropping up regularly when it came to clearances and thwarting Barnsley's goal attempts, he played a good game, the type of game we have come to expect from Berardi, he never gives up and always seems to give 110%; he even crossed the ball with his left foot. If teams are targeting the LB position, they're picking on the wrong player in Berardi Stats show we had 19 shots and 4 shots on target, with 2 ruffling the back of the Barnsley net. Barnsley had 53% of possession, we're giving the opposition too much room through our midfield. One position that needs changing, and strengthening is Phillips, again he was a passenger and contributed very little to the game. I don't know if he's swallowing or not, but he seems to get started every game, and never gets subbed, but other players have been dropped and subbed when playing better, and contributing more than Phillips, his position will continue to be a weak link either till he's replaced, or he picks his ideas up. TC subbed Alioski about 2 minutes before regular full time, I personally couldn't understand why, and I wouldn't have subbed Ekuban after he was putting in a good physical display. Saiz got MOM, which he thoroughly deserved, I doubt there'd be anyone who would argue against Saiz being our best or better player to date, he never seems to give up trying to either create a goal or score one. Enjoy. Extended but somewhat choppy highlights TC's SL11 post match interview TC's Sky Sports interview Alioski and Weinwald post match interview Leeds fans at Barnsley
bit of a glitch there but wanted to say thanks once again for the links.also and i know it will not go down well with some but phillips is the weak link to me.he just drifts out of the game.
anyway most barnsley fans are traitors to the white rose of yorkshire as they are man utd fans and love the red rose like they colour of their shirts , so it was with GREAT PLLEASURE to rub their TRAITOR noses in the dirt on saturday 0-2 ha ha i bet their manager loves leeds now !! ha ha
