Yep real six pointers all of them. It's why it's a great league if you're up at the top end challenging.
It's all ifs and buts. If we had taken our chances in the first 10 mins we may have run riot. Remember QPR were beaten by Hull at home. We beat Hull away. It'll be like that till the end of the season, everyone taking points of each other. So I'm delighted and don't care how we get the points. It's pay back time for all the **** we've put up with over the years.
Form has been average for a while... but we’ve made ourselves difficult to beat. Cardiff did that for a whole season. Where would Norwich be without a succession of last minute winners? It’s football fella. Yeh we’re in a run of playing average sides, but it’s not a false position - we’ve played most of the sides. People have said our record against the top sides hasn’t been good enough but if you look at the table we’ve played all the top teams and only lost to West Brom. Also we’ve won away from home at the 3 sides nearest to us. But yeh, we have a very tough game at villa to come and a tricky start to January.
Talking of playing at home the pitch was shocking yesterday I know there was heavy rain but it's starting to look a bit boggy. As we play such a good possession based passing game why don't we have some of those heat lamps most clubs (PL) seem to have to encourage growth even during the winter. I've seen some championship clubs have them too so they should certainly be affordable and I would have thought necessary.
I agree we need to use the facilities more to get extra revenue, but recently there has been 2 big events including a Rugby league game which rips the pitch up. Bad weather recently hasn't helped its recovery. I think we either need to invest in new pitch technology or don't bother using it for other events.
Nope it's not football...it's bad tactics and players getting sloppy with their decision making. We've fallen into the habit of slowing the game right down as soon as we take the lead...it gives the initiative back to the opposition and once they've had chance to re-group it leads to a final onslaught when they have nothing to lose. It nearly cost us against Reading and it could have happened yesterday which would have been 4 points thrown away. Don't wait for the inevitable to happen if you can see something is wrong. Fix it now by pushing on and making sure we've secured the win before any drop in tempo.
I'm hoping it is all down to our defence and by that I don't mean the defending, I mean the build up. For me it hasn't quite ticked since we tried to accomodate Phillips, Klich and Forshaw into the same team, Ayling is a massive miss on the right hand side, at the start of the season it reminded me of when we had Dorigo and Speed one side and Strachan and Sterland the other, you couldn't predict which side we were going to break and attack down as both were an equal threat. Our injuries and the loan players not being up tyo expectations has also hampered us, if a game needs changing (or an injection of pace to replace tired legs is required) with Bamford injured it leaves us little in the way of alternatives as Baker and Harrison just haven't been up to standard either. Last season we played excellent for one 20 minute period in an odd game then 3-4 abysmal games. This season we have quite often put together 90 minutes of fantastic football and when we haven't managed to do this the football hasn't been poor, just average. Izzy Brown, Bamford and Ayling are all nearly back to match fitness, they will be a big boost and I think Bielsa is playing with the "we don't need a new player in January," he knows what will happen to prices if we declare an interest. Add to this the other teams being alerted by the fact Bielsa has recognised a decent player, I think we will see a new face or two.
And where did I say the performances were good and you shouldn’t try and improve them? You said you couldn’t explain 4 wins but poor form, so I explained it for you fella Sloppiness is form, possibly fatigue, partly sides negative tactics making life difficult for us. But Form fluctuations are part of sport and results don’t always reflect performances. Reality is we still deserved 3 of those wins on balance and were probably worth a point at the blunts. Making yourselves hard to beat and getting results when not at your best is the sign of a decent side.
Did you not notice the gale and torrential rain then,it's a great leveler and makes it very difficult to play football.
Games aren't played on paper,if they were there would be no point us playing,Stoke,Villa and WBA would already be promoted.Lets give the lads some credit,next time you watch Leeds,expect to see Leeds not Barcelona.
Leeds United v QPR 8th December 2018 at Elland Road Yesterday was a poignant day for Leeds United fans with the 21st anniversary of the death of my hero Billy Bremner. My thoughts were also with his family as often we forget that as well as a footballer, he was also a dad and a husband. I’d also seen a photo I’d taken at Brighton a couple of seasons ago appear on my timeline thanking me for taking it. Sadly one of the Leeds fans in the photo died this week, but I’m glad I was able to capture the photo with some happy memories. RIP Gary. Unfortunately after making plans to go to The Duncan today for the unveiling of the plaques in memory of Chris and Kev, I had to change my plans after a 16 hour day yesterday looking after family. Sadly you can’t always do what you want to do as I was looking forward to recording it all. I’ve heard though that it was rammed and everything went well so I’m glad to hear that. With another storm around with heavy winds and rain, we arrived at Elland Road to see a rainbow which at one point looked to be over the ground. After seeing two separate magpies then this, I thought it was Billy saying we would win today. With a visit to the Peacock first, there was a good atmosphere in there as the singing crew were in full voice. I’d been asked to share the song words below: I’ve seen Leeds win the proper title Under those shining diamond lights I’ve seen us plough our way through Europe I’ve seen us turn to f***ing ****e Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise I’ve seen Leeds win the proper title Under those shining diamond lights I’ve seen us plough our way through Europe I’ve seen us turn to f***ing ****e Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise I’ve seen Leeds win the proper title under those shining diamond lights I’ve seen us plow our way through Europe I’ve seen us turn to f***ing ****e Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise I’ve seen Leeds win the proper title Under those shining diamond lights I’ve seen us plow our way through Europe I’ve seen us turn to f***ing ****e Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise I’ve seen Leeds win the proper title Under those shining diamond lights I’ve seen us plough our way through Europe I’ve seen us turn to f***ing ****e Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise Go tell the mancs n scouse Biesla’s in our house Leeds Utd on the rise We got into the ground having missed all the showers but sadly those at the front of all the stands were very unlucky to avoid it during the game. The team: Peacock-Farrell, Jansson, Douglas, Shackleton (first league start at Elland Road), Phillips, Roofe, Klich, Hernandez, Alioski, Saiz and Forshaw. Subs: Halme for Saiz (81) and Clarke for Hernandez (86). Leeds won the game 2-1 with Roofe scoring both our goals. The second one from a penalty!! The first one since September 2017 that has been awarded to us. Attendance was 33,781 with approx. 300 QPR fans. I hadn’t any preconceptions really about the game but it was good to see Saiz back in the side from the start. The crowd was in a jovial mood with plenty of singing. We had a couple of great chances in the opening minutes but failed to put the ball into the back of the net. We continued attacking and putting QPR under pressure before they broke away and brought a good save out of Peacock-Farrell. Then against the run of play QPR took the lead. From a bad pass and then the rub of the green twice when the ball ran in their favour, they got the better of Phillips and Jansson to put the ball into the net. For once I didn’t think we’d go a goal down as we hadn’t been playing badly. QPR time wasted so much it antagonized the crowd, but the referee didn’t pull them up for it. When three minutes of injury time was put up I said come on Leeds let’s get a goal before half time, although not with any conviction. It took us all by surprise when we did get the equaliser just before the whistle went which was very welcome especially with the timing of it. At half time it was nice to catch up with Trampas and I’d only just been talking about him to my friend Carole when he turned up. As I came back up into the stand the teams were already on the pitch and Leeds had started attack towards the Kop. Our long wait for a penalty was finally over as their player hand balled it. Roofe stepped up to take the kick and put it into the right corner of the goal from where we were stood in the Kop. He was unlucky not to get a hat trick later on but the flag went up for offside and Klich brought a great save out of their goalie too. Although QPR put pressure on in the final moments, for once I wasn’t too worried as I thought we were coping well with their attacks. We had Peacock-Farrell to thank for tipping the ball over the cross bar to keep them out though. We’d been too casual a couple of times which had caught us out, but on the whole I thought we played well today and deserved the points. When some started singing we were top of the league I said nooo… don’t sing that until the final whistle blows, especially when someone said Norwich were losing. Well of course, they scored in the last minute again to stay top. That said, anyone can beat anyone in this division and as long as we are picking points up and staying in the mix, that’s all we need to do at this moment. We were lucky going back to the car as the rain stopped again just in time but the road outside McDonalds was completely flooded. Luckily the weather eased off on the way home, especially as I was heading straight out again with the other half. There was a fund raiser at Green Hammerton Club for the British Heart Foundation in memory of Leeds supporter Keith Horner who died recently. Ian Smith a Leeds fan played Soul and Motown music from vinyl records and it was a great night especially as just before we left, Marching on Together and the Ballad of Billy Bremner were played in Keith’s memory. See you next week at Bolton, LUFC – Marching on Together! Heidi Haigh – A fanatical Leeds United supporter of over 50 years Author of the following books: Follow Me and Leeds United Once a Leeds fan, Always a Leeds fan Co-author with Andrew Dalton of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Leeds United The Sleeping Giant Awakens, Leeds United 2016-17 OUT NOW! Back to Reality, Leeds United 2017-18 please log in to view this image
All photos are on my Facebook page Follow Me and Leeds United. Unfortunately I'm still working on my website reducing the database so cannot post it on there for those not on Facebook so apologies.
And there I was yesterday thinking how well the pitch had stood up to the weather! I never saw water slowing the ball down as we have in the past with puddles all over it so thought they'd done a good job. I would never play rugby on it ever again though!
Dodgy penalty, what's one of those? When it's the first one given since Sept 2017 I'm happy to take it thank you. Anyone can beat anyone in this division and all I want is to keep getting the points and keep in the mix then see where we are in a couple of months.
Your inference was that the vagaries of football such as scoring/conceding last minute goals etc are all part of parcel of the game and should just be accepted as thus. My view is different in that if you are clearly the dominant side then you should use that superiority to secure the result long before the randomness of the final knockings. After scoring 2 goals in 8 minutes to come from behind QPR were there for the taking and we chose not to. Instead we slowed everything down to a walking pace, passed the ball from the defense into Forshaw who passed it back or square and repeated the process until QPR released they could now press us higher as we weren't interested in getting on the half turn our and driving forward. This then resulted in us then playing long aimless balls forward which were golloped up by their centre halves and a traditional British game of football took over and our superiority was surrendered. Now this has nothing to do with form but has everything to do with tactics or mental approach to leading a game. So when I said that even though we're winning it feels like a sticky patch I guess it's because were not playing flat out for the full 90 mins and letting inferior teams back into the game. Absolutely nowhere did I say we are in poor form...more that I couldn't put my finger on why I was feeling things weren't quite right. I've remembered now Bielsa saying earlier in the season how the players needed to work harder towards the end of matches to retain the control and I guess he'll be working on that with them again in training. So thanks for helping me fathom that out fella.
I for one are very happy atm, since the West Brom debacle, we've played 4 won 4, scored 6, conceded 1. I know we're not playing outstanding football but with a very much scratch defence, we are really showing a very different side to our game from earlier in the season, it's a good sign when you're not playing well but can still grind out results, it shows a togetherness, a great team spirit. I said previously, that if we're still top 6 come January, I'll be more than happy, we look like we can better that and be top 2. Long may it continue.
