So why didn't we start with smith in a 4-4-2 We usually understand a managers thinking, so far not one of us has been close.
McD obviously felt the need for three centre backs against those two giant strikers, keep the game close and hit them on the break with wing backs defending a bit higher up the pitch to keep their full backs from overlapping ... EXCEPT ... Austin and Mowatt lost the midfield battle allowing their midfielders a free run at our centre backs which always meant they had a man spare on the edge of our box ... Pugh and Peltier were a sorry sight, and once Wendys realised this their full backs started to run beyond them and that was that ... McD changed to 4-4-2 and then the bullsh1t red card ended that and we never got to see if it would have worked ... had McD stuck with the starting formation I would have scratched my head, but he tried to change things and got let down yet again ... we need new players, and unfortunately we need PLENTY of them ... Bates has damaged this club badly, really badly, and we suffered his coup d'grace when he brought Colin in ... we were staring relegation in the face when Haigh booted the Blade out, and thankfully McD managed to scrape the required results to keep us up ... yes, it was bad, very bad, when McD came in, but at least he is doing positive things for the club, he just needs quality players to come in now so that he can put a proper team together ... I'm distraught at losing 6-0 to a team managed by Stuart Gray, but I'm not despondent, because McD is still a fine manager and I trust him to sort things out, its just that the problem is bigger than we all ever imagined because his ability to have pushed us into contention halfway through the season has camoflagued it ... I said at the start of the season we'd all probably have been happy to be nine points off the playoffs come 31st December, and then some signings to push us on a burst to get into the top six late on ... well, one point off and it felt like we were in the autos ... I really hope McD can get another two in at least, but after a defeat like that it makes it a bit more difficult to convince players to come Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
It is also vital that Haigh and new cronies are left in no doubt by the fans what is expected, whether it be on twitter, email or whatever. I've a feeling Haigh is a nice guy who knows little or nothing about football. Doesn't comprehend how bad our current lot are and the sums of money required to put it right. His idea of investment and supporting the manager is to allow a couple of loanees or give Ross a pay rise. All admirable gestures but not within a million miles of being enough. The guy possibly genuinely thinks he's doing enough where in reality he's only flushing good money after bad while we are arguably falling further off the pace each season
Billy- I would like to thank you for probably the best break down of yesterdays atrocity. I agree with everything you have said. Normally I have a strong opinion on any game Leeds play in but yesterday has left me speechless and actually unable to compute what I saw. This post has started bringing me round though. As it says on the key ring my nephew got me for xmas- keep calm and support leeds united.
If highs new outfit don't have the resources to accomplish what virtually all of us can now see is needed, I would prefer they walk away or at least defer the takeover until such time as they can bring in owners either with them or instead of them with the proper clout. The last thing I want to see is another decade of Mickey Mouse wheeling and dealing unsettling everyone
but you also want instant success and don't seem to comprehend that success (and even failure) doesn't happen overnight. Yesterday's result came about as the aftermath of the mismanagement we've suffered for years and it's not going to be fixed overnight. How much do you think it knocks the confidence of the talented players knowing there's so many who aren't good enough or just plain past it in the squad? Players that can't be relied upon to cover for the first teamers if they don't perform? You say "what if he's not the saviour?". I say you're not prepared to find out, instead moving onto the next manager hoping for instant results that are never going to come. It seems to be like "enough" would be in the automatic spots by now with a squad that just is not capable of doing that, even while overachieving.
Doesn't mean your opinion is constructive, of any use, or even welcome. The right to an opinion does not equal the right to have that opinion respected, especially if it's not helping anybody or just moaning for the sake of it. Hitler believed the Jews were at fault for all the world's problems. He had a right to his opinion, would you respect that?
I'm not saying McD is not our saviour. By the way, no I'm not prepared to wait indefinitely for success either. My age won't allow for that. Different for the young lads that have never seen any success in the first place. Takes all sorts and that's my outlook. Doesn't make me childish as previous posts of yours suggested or I should support someone else. McD deserves time to turn this **** around but not an eternity. I've been reading this building from the youth stuff etc for years while we've stood still or worse. I have my suspicions of what's going on re owners etc and hope they're ultimately wrong
Calling a Tory boy a Tory boy s a statement of fact and not invoking any law. The law of stupidity applies but I wasn't the one invoking it.
Please stop blaming Bates, he left over a year ago, he wanted Warnock out months before he was sacked but part of the T/O deal was GFH insisting that Warnock was kept in charge. I can see us being in this same position in 2,3,4 years time and still a few referring to the mess Bate has left us in. Yes he was probably the worst chairman in history but GFH brought us, GFH satated we were debt free and they allowed Warnock to make several signings, we all thought Warnock was right for the job at the time of his appointment, yesterdays result has nothing to do with Bates, let's please move on...
You're not being asked to wait indefinitely, you're being asked to wait long enough for a manager to actually have a chance to make an impact. 1 season is not long enough. 2 seasons isn't really long enough either, especially considering the mess our set up is in. Changing the manager now will not help anybody. It takes time to build a squad, especially since the plan is to use our own academy even more than we have been doing.
So why didn't we start with smith in a 4-4-2. We usually understand a managers thinking, so far not one of us has been close. Fair point Glory. Only BMD knows for sure. Clearly it didn't work. But let's hope he learns from that mistake.
First of all I like the post and find it a reasonable attempt at digging into the mess. Secondly I have witnessed some poor results and some dire displays over the many years supporting this club. However this last 4-weeks has made me sick to the stomach and if last week was not bad enough yesterday was the most embarrassed I've ever been following Leeds. Without even having the 2 new lads we should have beaten the wendies easily. BY putting the new lads in and playing an untried and untested line-up BMcD failed miserably. He should have left the new lads on the bench and introduce them later on and then have a week to prepare the team with his new tactics so that everyone knew what to do. For the last 2 results Brian I'm holding you responsible
Doc .. yes, McD is responsible and he accepts that, but fcuk me the players were culpable yesterday of the murder of Leeds United ... even if tactically things go wrong, there is no excuse for jogging around in a high tempo derby match ... I really believe there are a number of players who know they will be gone regardless of promotion, and it shows ... think we are in for a few more tough results before it gets better, but it will get better because we surely cannot sign dross like we have in the past ... as for the TO and Colin, GFH were right to ask for no managerial change at the time if this is the case because they would have had their own replacement in mind, just imagine who Bates would have appointed ... GFH didn't approve Warnock's signing of Morison, Bates did because he wanted Becchio out ... anyway, the key thing is we support McD and let him reconstruct the club, he is a capable man who transformed Reading Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Agreed 100%. The blame lies with McDermott. He has no tactical nous, and his formation yesterday bewildered not only 99% of the fans as soon as the team was announced, it no doubt had the same effect on the players. It looked to me as though they knew they were going to be in for a torrid time from the first whistle. It was never going to work and they knew it. The only person who thought it would was McDermott.
Must be a youngster,mine would be after losing 6-2 at Stoke in the mid 80's Billy Bremner saying the season after,that won't happen this season.It didn't we lost 7-2.Took many years till my Stoke m8's let it go.
