Alrite lets do the negatives from the game first.
Im unbelievably dissapointed, we looked a shadow of the team we were last year. Not really being able to be composed and pass the ball nicely along the ground and things like this. I think O'Dea is probably the ****test player in the history of football and to see him make his proffession out of it is a joke. O'Dea was constantly out of position and hence made kisnorbo practically play LB for him which pulled a man out of CB for us. I do believe it was his fault for the second goal (although O'Brien could've done better by showing him the outside) and most of there chances was down to O'Dea. The first goal i am putting down to a mixture of clayton and Lonergan. Hammond was Clayton's man and he and Brown went and marked the same player and let him get through. Lonergan should've been at least a pace or two to his right hand side and he would've saved it if he was, basically out of position but i cant fault lonergan in any other area really today, he did okay. There third goal i would put down to Brown in truth, however i think you have to give them, that it was quite good play to southampton and a good finish from connolly. We let them play there game today and not enough tackles from brown and clayton. Andy O'Brien didnt have a good game either and thats another reason we lost in the way we did.
That is prbably the worst i have ever seen snodgrass play, his passes were terrible and he was unable to keep possession far too many times. His set pieces were constantly terrible as well and i was expecting a far better game from him. I think McCormack didnt really do enough either, maybe made a nuisance of himself every now and again but not really enough from him. Didnt work hard enough for me, wasnt chasing the ball down enough although he wasnt really getting the service i still think he could've put there defenders under a bit of pressure. I remember seeing howson often running past McCormack to put pressure on their defence.
When Paynter came on, it was pointless having him on the pitch. McCormack cant win headers but at least he can play on the floor. Paynter didnt win any headers, worked even less than McCormack and then misses a glorious 1 on 1 chance which should've gone in all day long. For a striker to miss a chance like that suggests they cant really score goals, doesnt matter who the keeper is or how well he does the striker should always 10 out of 10 times should score that.
Gradel worked hard as usual but often lost the ball and made the wrong decisions. He got some good crosses into the box, however something i have noticed about him is he doesnt pick out players in the box rather just kicks the ball. I think he didnt have any composure today.
Worse player that game would definitely be O'Dea, i cannot describe in words how bad he actually is. If you disagree, thats fine..... but your wrong
Positives
I think Howson did rather well through the game although he didnt do enough to shift the way the game was going which is hard to ask from one player in truth. He worked very hard and often won the ball and kept possession, played through some good passes and when he went back and played the defensive role it really shored up the team massively, Howson rather ghosts into positions and often is unmarked, just we were unable to execute the passes required to play him in, they were'nt hard passes but the team just was unable to do it. I think apart from the first goal clayton looked like he could be a decent player for leeds, certainly towards the end of the game, he doesnt look comfortable in a defensive midfield role, but has an excellent range of passes, i thought he had a decent game when we went 4-4-2. Kisnorbo looked very good and often was cutting out passes, winning headers, winning tackles, beating players for pace and making last ditch tackles on occasion as well. I think it is a shame that he basically had to play in two positions as i think if O'Dea wasnt such a liability i think we would've looked about 10 times better with kisnorbo more central when it counted. Lonergan made some good saves but i think it was more a less out of his control. Connolly had a okay game, nothing good, nothing bad just did his job and got on with it. Although he could've covered a little bit more and helped snoddy a little bit more as well. Nunez did okay when coming on but just okay, sam didnt do that well though
The player of the game for leeds would probably be howson or kisnorbo, i would probably go with howson.
On that performance the team that i would start with next week would be:
-----------Lonergan----------
Connolly--O'Brien--Kisnorbo--Parker
Snoddy---Howson--Clayton--Gradel
--------McCormack--Nunez--------
or if he insist on playing 4-5-1
-----------Lonergan----------
Connolly--O'Brien--Kisnorbo--Parker
---------Howson--Clayton---------
Snoddy-------Nunez---------Gradel
-----------Sign a Striker-----------
Im kinda stuck with that LB position, im considering Lees playing there, Bromby, Parker, Bessone and White. I think we did better in 4-4-2 and i've always said this. You can work your way out better when your playing 4-4-2 and also it works when your not in control of the game. The only time 4-5-1 is when we have a good striker who can win headers and when we are in control of the game.
I would also consider dropping O'Brien as well who didnt have a great game but i would probably give him the benefit of the doubt as he has just come back from injury, not really had a pre-season and there was a hell of alot of pressure on him particularly during the game. In hindsight, it was a bad choice to play him above bromby.
Keep the faith though guys, the first game of the season always throws up results that we dont expect but i reckon we will bounce back, we have the players i just think grayson priority needs to move to a striker and honestly i would call up all the top clubs in england and just say to them, we need a striker, who do you want us to give games to for a month or two who isnt making your team, they'll be a 24hr recall clause. WE NEED A STRIKER GRAYSON!!!!
Im unbelievably dissapointed, we looked a shadow of the team we were last year. Not really being able to be composed and pass the ball nicely along the ground and things like this. I think O'Dea is probably the ****test player in the history of football and to see him make his proffession out of it is a joke. O'Dea was constantly out of position and hence made kisnorbo practically play LB for him which pulled a man out of CB for us. I do believe it was his fault for the second goal (although O'Brien could've done better by showing him the outside) and most of there chances was down to O'Dea. The first goal i am putting down to a mixture of clayton and Lonergan. Hammond was Clayton's man and he and Brown went and marked the same player and let him get through. Lonergan should've been at least a pace or two to his right hand side and he would've saved it if he was, basically out of position but i cant fault lonergan in any other area really today, he did okay. There third goal i would put down to Brown in truth, however i think you have to give them, that it was quite good play to southampton and a good finish from connolly. We let them play there game today and not enough tackles from brown and clayton. Andy O'Brien didnt have a good game either and thats another reason we lost in the way we did.
That is prbably the worst i have ever seen snodgrass play, his passes were terrible and he was unable to keep possession far too many times. His set pieces were constantly terrible as well and i was expecting a far better game from him. I think McCormack didnt really do enough either, maybe made a nuisance of himself every now and again but not really enough from him. Didnt work hard enough for me, wasnt chasing the ball down enough although he wasnt really getting the service i still think he could've put there defenders under a bit of pressure. I remember seeing howson often running past McCormack to put pressure on their defence.
When Paynter came on, it was pointless having him on the pitch. McCormack cant win headers but at least he can play on the floor. Paynter didnt win any headers, worked even less than McCormack and then misses a glorious 1 on 1 chance which should've gone in all day long. For a striker to miss a chance like that suggests they cant really score goals, doesnt matter who the keeper is or how well he does the striker should always 10 out of 10 times should score that.
Gradel worked hard as usual but often lost the ball and made the wrong decisions. He got some good crosses into the box, however something i have noticed about him is he doesnt pick out players in the box rather just kicks the ball. I think he didnt have any composure today.
Worse player that game would definitely be O'Dea, i cannot describe in words how bad he actually is. If you disagree, thats fine..... but your wrong
Positives
I think Howson did rather well through the game although he didnt do enough to shift the way the game was going which is hard to ask from one player in truth. He worked very hard and often won the ball and kept possession, played through some good passes and when he went back and played the defensive role it really shored up the team massively, Howson rather ghosts into positions and often is unmarked, just we were unable to execute the passes required to play him in, they were'nt hard passes but the team just was unable to do it. I think apart from the first goal clayton looked like he could be a decent player for leeds, certainly towards the end of the game, he doesnt look comfortable in a defensive midfield role, but has an excellent range of passes, i thought he had a decent game when we went 4-4-2. Kisnorbo looked very good and often was cutting out passes, winning headers, winning tackles, beating players for pace and making last ditch tackles on occasion as well. I think it is a shame that he basically had to play in two positions as i think if O'Dea wasnt such a liability i think we would've looked about 10 times better with kisnorbo more central when it counted. Lonergan made some good saves but i think it was more a less out of his control. Connolly had a okay game, nothing good, nothing bad just did his job and got on with it. Although he could've covered a little bit more and helped snoddy a little bit more as well. Nunez did okay when coming on but just okay, sam didnt do that well though
The player of the game for leeds would probably be howson or kisnorbo, i would probably go with howson.
On that performance the team that i would start with next week would be:
-----------Lonergan----------
Connolly--O'Brien--Kisnorbo--Parker
Snoddy---Howson--Clayton--Gradel
--------McCormack--Nunez--------
or if he insist on playing 4-5-1
-----------Lonergan----------
Connolly--O'Brien--Kisnorbo--Parker
---------Howson--Clayton---------
Snoddy-------Nunez---------Gradel
-----------Sign a Striker-----------
Im kinda stuck with that LB position, im considering Lees playing there, Bromby, Parker, Bessone and White. I think we did better in 4-4-2 and i've always said this. You can work your way out better when your playing 4-4-2 and also it works when your not in control of the game. The only time 4-5-1 is when we have a good striker who can win headers and when we are in control of the game.
I would also consider dropping O'Brien as well who didnt have a great game but i would probably give him the benefit of the doubt as he has just come back from injury, not really had a pre-season and there was a hell of alot of pressure on him particularly during the game. In hindsight, it was a bad choice to play him above bromby.
Keep the faith though guys, the first game of the season always throws up results that we dont expect but i reckon we will bounce back, we have the players i just think grayson priority needs to move to a striker and honestly i would call up all the top clubs in england and just say to them, we need a striker, who do you want us to give games to for a month or two who isnt making your team, they'll be a 24hr recall clause. WE NEED A STRIKER GRAYSON!!!!
