This game didn't live up to the hype that was giving this game a pre match buzz, then again, both teams didn't play up to levels they both have had in past. Could it be that Karma came back to haunt us, or, decided to even up both games. First game saw Sheff U make a mistake and we scored, second game saw Leeds make a mistake and they scored. Going on comments on, and off this forum, I think we all agree we played well in first half, and to some extent controlled the play, but not quite in the second, until we went one behind, you could then see the urgency we were playing with......What's wrong with showing that same urgency during game where we're not behind, or 1-0 up. Here's the downer. There's no point in controlling the first half and not scoring, unless we control the second half and score.........A good first half without scoring loses it's value if we don't keep it up in second half and lose or draw from behind.....This was another game of 2 halves for us, and we've been having these well before Bielsa arrived. By all counts we should've had 2 goals in first half, but shooting boots were left in dressing room again. Bamford is too lightweight and casual in his approach, even when he runs you can see he lacks pace. He had a great opportunity to score from virtually point blank range, but kicked the ball at a defender. He was bundled off the ball so easy on one occasion at the edge of their area.........while I've said he's only a close quarter striker, he's occupying a position that should be occupied by a better striker........If Roofe had been playing, I believe we would've been 1-0 up at half time, but he wasn't due to injury. Roberts had 2 great opportunities which he didn't put away, a good header and a shot off the post. While both looked good, near enough ain't goals. He had a great coming of age game against WBA, but has failed to carry that same performance forward since. He hasn't been bad, but he hasn't created the same / or similar performance. Our team are carrying passengers, which include players that don't really fit in. Bamford is not a cog that fits into our machine. Roberts can be, but he needs to be consistent. Harris (look at me I'm Eddie Gray) he does some occasional good dribbling to get round players and defenders, but he likes to take on one too many and mostly loses the ball, a waste of time if there's no good end ball. Ayling, another one who thinks he's Eddie Gray and doesn't produce a good pass or cross a lot of the time. He gets caught out of position when he pushes way to far forward too often. Phillips, I'll put my helmet on for this one, guaranteed there'll be flak.... Phillips doesn't do it for me (no secret) imo he's a passenger in nearly every game cos he creates no impact and doesn't bring to the game what Forshaw does, which is probably why Forshaw is Bielsa's preferred player out the two. During this game Phillips went missing, until he popped up with their goal, and Kiko's sending off. The highlights don't even mention his name. Cos a certain few have a go at me about Phillips, I counted his sideways and backward passes. While he made a couple of forward passes, not enough, he also made 21 sideways passes, and 6 backward passes, these include passing back to a player who just passed to him........He doesn't drive forward with the ball, or create anything that leads to an impact on the game. Douglas is missing a lot still. He has his good days, but his consistency is lacking. While there's still 8 games to go, and 24 points to play for, we have to keep winning to keep up our chances of auto promotion.......I think Norwich and Sheff U will slip up in a couple of games, but that's not to say we won't either. Match highlights 10 mins. Short highlights giving a wider, and clearer view of the lead up to the goal, and, the close up mistake by Phillips which lead to Kiko being sent off. Short highlights showing both Cooper and Phillips made mistakes. Can Cooper be forgiven slightly cos he was back peddling........you decide. Bielsa's post match comments wainmanjoe comments Chris Wilders comments LS11 comments Bamfords comments Bonus.......Alioski has a song. ..
