Good Morning, The rollercoaster of the Cup is over for another year. The way I see it, we worked hard and chased the ball, then ran out of steam and were picked apart at will in the last 30 minutes. I look at the clubs that have been promoted in recent seasons. Sure, these teams have added to their squads in the pre seasons, but most have kept the nucleus of the players whereas I think we went up to the Prem we would only keep 4 or 5 players. Agree? Although the scoreline did flatter Chelsea, you could tell that we were struggling for the last half hour. Why did Warnock wait so long to make the substitutions? Again, I was not impressed with McCormack when he came on, though it was great to see Somma on the bench. Shame it wasn't a full house, but just under 34,000 for a midweek game in the pouring rain, a week away from Christmas, not disasterous... Do we need other signings in January apart from making our loanees perminant, and one big striker? Which players would you replace for Saturday? How easy will it be to pick up the pieces and carry on our winning spree in the league?
Stockdale has been recalled by Fulham, so Hull will be weakened at the back as they won't be able to replace him til January...
David Haigh ‏@haighdavid Shame not to win last night but lots of excitement to look forward to. Will reveal all asap #LUFC #MOT
Morning all. I actually thought we gave them a decent game for the best part of 80 minutes. That said & having noted that much of the build up to this match was in our favour, in the end we were beaten by a top 3 side that's worth over £100m. We missed Tate at the back, & not having Austin to beef up the midfield didn't help us. McCormack's efforts on goal weren't too bad. He'll be pushing for a starting spot come Saturday. & yes, seeing Somma at least making the bench is a big positive. Hope he'll get a development game asap. Better side won. End of. So we move rapidly on to 'Boro on Saturday. I'm sure Kenny will return in goal, but I think Ashdown will continue to push him hard. If Kenny has anythng other than a decent game, Ashdown will be in there & will take some shifting. As to who else plays, I think it's time Drury played LB, Peltier, if he has to play because he's captain, plays RB, & either Green or Byram plays RM. Thomas plays LM. Perm 2 from Norris, Tonge, Brown, Green in CM, leaving Becchio & Diouf or McCormack up front. Think it will be a difficult game. But if we have designs on top 6 as a minimum, its a game we must win, especially as we're at home. Having Tate back will help.
Morning all The result last night was as expected, except for the 5 we conceded. Even then you know 5 was flattering and the result may have been different on 2 counts. For the first half hour we were battered and run ragged, and lucky to still be in the game. The last 15-minutes of the 1st half saw us get into it and we actually played some good stuff. We scored a great goal and if Lees had directed the ball down a few inches we would have gone in at half time 2 up. Secondly if we came out 2 up and hadn't let in that silly goal for them to level, game on. I still thought we gave them a game and at times we were as good as them, but fair play to Chelsea as they were obviously up for it and there was a gulf in class. I thought Brown was lucky not to be carded, and can't understand why he was played if as Warnock says he was up all night being sick. Why isn't Thomas fit yet because at times he just stands around, but looks great when he gets on the ball. EHD was good, Becchio was good in parts but is too slow and like a cart horse at times. Young Byrom didn't pull up any trees last night, and why the hell was pelts knocking it back to the keeper every time he got the ball,he was passing it back from inside their half at times. I'm glad its over and hope we didn't pick up any knocks, as we have a really tough Xmas coming up. If we can grab max points against Boro, Hull and Forest, we will be right in amongst it, and with the deal hopefully being finalised on Friday, we can hope for a brighter future under a new regime, with thatold**** out of the picture.
The Tweet from Haigh is interesting. Let's hope it's the squad they'll be improving & not just the ground. Anyone know if other parts of the ground were empty as well as the big segregation area behind the goal? Looked depressing on TV. But given our shared history & what's gone on in other matches elsewhere recently, West Yorkshire's finest were clearly not going to take any chances
Morning all - On sky they said on police orders Chelsea had their ticket allocation reduced by 3,000 and building work prevented parts of the ground not being used so 34,000 was the maximum available I believe? We did run out of steam, it looked like us who had flown back from Japan, think it was the amount of chasing we had to do. It has been a nice distraction and we did claim two premiership scalps. Scary thing for me is that if we do get promoted over half the squad is not good enough for the premier league, here is hoping we sign a couple of players who are good enough and of the right age group come January.
Ristac, the current squad is certainly capable of 17th or slightly better in the PL. But you're right, we certainly would struggle to compete against the big boys. That said & allowing for it being a one-off match, we still turned Everton over. The one thing about last night that was interesting was that against decent opposition, we play a lot less hoofball. Probably because we know that we have to keep it on the floor so much more than is the case in the championship.
Morning all. Lets's call a spade a spade. We already knew the bulk of our squad are not good enough for the Premiership. They were never meant to be. they were assembled on a pittance and without the help of GFH, we would still be without the last four additions. What worries me, is that at one point the new owners to be, mentioned promotion to pl would be worth 60 million per year. It's technically not. In leeds case, all or most of that would be required to rebuild the squad and pay pl wages. I hope these guys don't think if we get up, they just get to pocket the megabucks. Also saw that tweet from Haigh this morning. Looks promising. The Stoke comparison is correct. It will be a slow rebuild for us rather than a quick fix by throwing huge sums of money at it. Poor consolation for those of us in our fifties that haven't as long to wait as some of you young bucks. What was Bates on about in program notes, still looking for investment and would make a further statement in early January. Is he in denial or senile?
Worrying comment to make and I for one have still not ruled out Leeds fans being disappointed with proceedings come the end of the season. GFH are not in it for the long term, I don't believe so anyway, they want to get us promoted, survive season one in the PL on a tight budget and then cash in. If Bates notes can be believed or if you can read anything into them then I would imagine he is also suggesting GFH are just an interim while we find another buyer.
Varney, no idea. A bit hold & cold... with too much cold. earce, seems reasonable. Pelts, clearly not an LB. Will see more of him if he plays RB or CB. With the imminent return of Somma, not sure where all of the ingoings & outcomings leaves Gray. If he's not going to play, then move him on. Same with Kisnorbo, although as someone hinted yesterday, maybe a coaching role is being lined up for him. He can still play in the development squad helping to bring on the youngsters, as well as keeping the bench seat warm for the day when he's needed.
