Match Day Thread Playoff Semi-final 1 | Norwich v Leeds | Carrow Road | Sun 12:00

I wondered that, is this just wishful thinking?

 

All square, Elland Rd on Thursday.

Can we do it?
I still believe we can.

 

All we have is hope

 

Interesting that Núñez was Sky's MotM, more for his defensive work and distribution at the back. He's looking a lot like the ball playing DM and deep playmaker we've been wishing for. We'll need all of that in the next game.

 

Thought you started the better, we controlled the second half without looking dangerous. Blatant penalty not given on Gnonto in the first 5 minutes and the ref was pretty poor all round.

Our disallowed for offside was very close, hope we don’t come out as nervous looking at ER

 

WhoScored ratings:

 

Completely disagree about the penalty - the foul (if it even was a foul) was outside the box and the Leeds player committed a foul first.

I thought the offside was close, but pretty clearly the correct decision.

The referee was absolutely shocking though, letting Leeds get away with so many cynical fouls stopping breaks without giving a yellow card.

Two team both looking pretty low on confidence.

 

Well, that second half performance can best be described as turgid.They were the better team then,we were the better first half.

 

Not sure why you are so harsh on Van Hooijdonk he's barely had any minutes.

The horrible run of results where we got to 17th Idah was playing most of those games

 

Godd afternoon.

Just had a read back for the Norwich perspective. One thing I picked up on was that you lot thought the ref was biased. From a Leeds perspective it looked like "if in doubt, give it in Norwich's favour" type of reffing. Alot of 50/50 stuff going your way. I suppose it's just a football fan mentality of everything going against you regardless of which side you are on.

We weren't anywhere near our best today BUT that's probably the best we've played for a few weeks. We didn't look like conceding loads of goals. Hopefully (for us) today was the start of an upturn in confidence and form.

See you all on Thursday.

 

Baggies v Southampton also goalless.

 

Most Leeds fans felt the ref was totally in favour towards your team, as Emu mentioned, I guess it’s how fans have a bias towards their own.

I’d accept an argument inside or outside the box, but as the ex pros in the Sky studio agreed on, it was a foul.

I was surprised at how Norwich went into their shell second half, I was pleased with our second half performance, not great but better than we have been playing.

See you on Thursday, I’m hoping if we go through we get WBA what about you guys

 

Yeah it was more that IMO Gnonto fairly obviously fouled Sainz first. And then the second clash where Sainz fouled started well outside the box.

Agreed it’s about perspective, I think the issue for us is there was no balance in the cards being dished out. Eg I think it was Byram who cynically disrupted a great chance to break and despite him having given away several fouls in the first half didn’t seem to get a yellow.

The trouble with that sort of approach from the ref is that it caused the game to be really disrupted, as Leeds players realised they could commit small cynical fouls and Norwich players ended up having to make a meal of it. So the ref would have looked like blowing up for small stuff from your perspective whereas from ours we needed the ref to control the game and help it flow properly. Instead his weak refereeing made it a stop start game.

That was partly why the second half wasn’t great from Norwich, as it became increasingly frustrating and then as you say they shrank into their shell. Also, I thought Norwich players looked a bit more tired, which didn’t help - I guess the heat - maybe the Leeds players were a bit fitter. Certainly we had a couple of starting players who have recently returned. And of course Leeds having weathered the Norwich attack in the first half probably is a marginally better halftime team talk.

I’m not sure it makes too much difference to us which we play if we get through - we will be happy with just being at Wembley! In my mind West Brom are a bit of a bogey team for us, but no idea if the stats back that up. Saints obviously have the better squad though.

 

West Brom 0-0 Saints

 

We also have used a much smaller squad, this season, where Leeds have better strength in depth so players may have a bit more in their legs

 

I get that he’s had barely any minutes but on the few occasions when he has got minutes I can kind of see why he’s not been used.

Granted a small sample size but have you seen anything which indicates he can do something?

When the ball is in the air he seems to lose track of it, when he gets the ball he looks weak for a big lad, he looks laboured when he runs and doesn’t appear to be great on the ball (from the limited amount of time I’ve seen him - and yes I’ve watched every game). I’ve got no idea what his shooting is like as I don’t believe we have seen him take a shot?I don’t like to be critical but Idah looks a far more competent and potent striker

 

I would need to see him start a few games before writing him off.

Idah has had plenty of opportunities but failed to impress for me .

He's probably desperate to join Celtic being an Irish international so hopefully his transfer fee is more than Van Hooijdonk's asking price .

 

I think Idah has done well from the bench this season, win us a few points in his own and showed he could affect games by offering a threat behind, he’s obviously not as good as Sargent but offered something from the bench with his pace and physicality. I agree he didn’t do enough in Sarges absence to make a claim for starting over him but he could certainly do a job with 10mins to go or to provide respite for Sarge - certainly more than Van Hooijdonkey has done. I was excited when I watched his highlight reel but also concerned when I saw and heard how much he had been playing over the past couple of seasons - clearly there has been a reason for that.

Yes it may be harsh to form an opinion on him from his brief minutes but he’s not showed me anything at all that would make me feel happy about signing him, I’d be giving Aboh minutes over him at the moment.

Idah left on loan because he wanted to start more games, that hasn’t really happened at Celtic as far as I know but he is a Celtic fan so I am sure he would be keen for the move

 

I’d really love to be proved wrong by the way and see him steer us to the PL in th away game vs Leeds and at Wembley but currently I’m severely worried about Sargent missing out. If Barnes makes it back he doesn’t work as the lead striker either

 

Maybe he just needs time like Sainz