After Wednesdays debacle many people were suggesting Phillips and Roofe were on their way out, 3 days later and they have both said they'll be at Leeds next season which in my book is as good as it gets, seemingly Bielsa is also staying on. So the only question mark really is over Jannson, does he go? does he stay? Several other players will be sold (or at least attempted to be sold) i.e Grot, Ekuban, Sacko, Kane, De Bock and Saiz. If those are sold that would surely free up £10m plus any % from Spurs' sale of Danny Rose, plus maybe £5m for Jannson if he does leave and also another £5m for Bamford. So my question is if Radz gives Bielsa all the money from those sales (somewhere close to £23m), would that be enough to get the players in that we need for next seasons promotion attempt? And if so who would you buy?
Matêj Vydra (already in for him with initial £5M bid) Luke Freeman Jonjo Shelvey (rumoured to have already inquired about him) Dan James
For me we need a top midfielder No10, a top winger who converts as well as creates and a top striker. We have some top kids coming through for defence especially as we have 3 young CBs who will play International football soon. shacks Clarke, Edmondson, Davies, Stevens all coming through too. But we must convert more chances or we will be where we are now next season
I’d be over the moon with James and Vydra if it happened. I’m not sure where they’d all fit in with Alioski, Klich, Shackleton, Phillips and Pablo but a nice problem to have. Move Bamford on and get someone to replace him, new keeper and a replacement for Berardi if none of the U23s are ready and it’s sorted
What's the word on Vydra then? People seem to be in the know but i haven't heard/seen anything recently that would indicate we are interested again.
If he doesn't (find some form) and we don't get rid, that's an awful lot of £££ tied up in a headless chicken.
As stupid as this sounds, do you realise that both Pukki and Bamford averaged the same number of shots at goal, ie 3 per game, and also Pukki scored a goal every 1 in 4.9 shots and Bamford scored a goal every 1 in 5.3 shots. The biggest issue with Bamford is he is injury prone, and doesn't have the type of movement that our style of play requires, but of the top ten goal scorers in the Championship only Sharp, Gayle and McBurnie had a significant better strike ratio, scoring a goal with every 3 shots they had. Bamford's strike rate was better than Rodriguez, Maupay and Wilson, who all scored 20 plus goal, but managed to play twice as many games as Bamford Roofe averaged 3 shots per game, but only scored a goal every 6 shots, although his style of play suits us overall as a team better
Agree about our needs. And I think they need to be incomers too. I don't think there's anyone in the u23s ready for those roles - apart from Bogusz, perhaps, but I've not seen enough of him to pass a reasoned opinion. The one addition to consider is the 'keeper role. If Forza is right & Casilla is moving on (please God!), then we need another incomer. I don't think we can rely on BPF. Despite what anyone says or thinks, he's an odds-on rebuild case, as I think he'll carry his hurt & dented confidence into next season. Who will fill these roles? I have no idea. Only Bielsa knows that. Hopefully he'll get it right. As for the u23s, wow!, that's another story. Defence Whatever happens with our #1 'keeper, BPF will still be #2. FBs. Don't know what's going to happen with Pearce or Coyle. I like them both, but I don't pick the team. I've got a funny feeling that it's over for them. Pity if true. Hosannah isn't ready yet imo. Davis is ready, and better all round than Douglas imo, but I wonder if he might be kept back to develop him as a CB if one or more of the established u23 CBs moves up. CBs. I've always been a fan of Struijk, but it's taken him until the end of the season to get some bench time, whereas Halme has had plenty, plus a few starts. I honestly believe if one of them gets a chance, he'll be all in for a good run of games. Bielsa won't want to start someone occasionally in such a key position. Either or both could break through in this manner. Cooper has the capacity to ease them though a game. Genuinely don't know if Berra has that skill (if he stays), but pretty sure that Pontus doesn't. And that's why I think his time is over with us. If he was as good as he thinks he is, he'd have walked straight back into the team after his various injuries. He didn't. I think he was being reminded that it's all about the team, not Pontus. I won't be upset if he goes. Diaz I just don't know about, if I'm honest. Of the 3 regular CBs, he's prolly played more games, but I just don't think he's as good as the other 2. May well be proved embarrassingly wrong. Hope so! MF. Shackers has grabbed the opportunity offered to him. He might not make a position his own next season, but I think he'll be getting a whole lot more game time. I truly believe that. Clarke? Hmm. Still got it all to do to prove himself. Proved himself as an occasional game-changer from the bench. Failed miserably as a starter. Faded horribly after his 'virus'. Another one needing his confidence built up, methinks. As everyone must know, I've always been a big fan of Philips since I first watched him. Made that auxiliary CB/DM role his own this year, and I'm guessing that a lot of people are crapping themselves in case he leaves. I'm not. I've watched Gotts & McCalmont fill that role with due aplomb. Shackers too, I might add. In fact, in one game I couldn't tell you who was supposed to be playing in that role. It was like the 3 of them had their own little total football match going on. It was brilliant to watch & totally bamboozled the opposition. They've come on leaps & bounds this year & are sooo ready imo. I don't think Stevens is ready yet. If he'd played the whole season the way he did the last half dozen or so games, he'd have been a contender. Great player, but something wasn't right attitude- & application-wise, imo. Perhaps he'll get a Shackers-like introduction. He could even blossom into the winger we all want. Btw, so could Shackers, imo! Strikers. I don't think we have a striker ready to break through yet, but think Edmundson should be getting a lot of bench time & occasional minutes. He's a completely different player to what he was at the start of the season, in terms of build, pace, skills, & style of play. If Bielsa likes what he's seen with Wilks at Donny, he might get his chance. Equally, he might be history. I have no idea.
Re Casilla: what I was told was "I don't think they'll (Leeds) be having him next season" so did we get him in on a six month contract with an option to extend? Don't know, but if he's on a longer contract, even if we wanted rid he's the type who would just sit out his contract without bothering about game time, as he proved at Real Madrid. Re Wilkes: seen him play two or three times for Donny, good technique but seemed a bit lazy and not at all a Bielsa type player imo (maybe put Izzy Brown in this category too) Re Shackleton: apparently his normal role is as a no.10. As you've seen a lot of the u23's did you see him play there? (I did ask you on another thread but you blanked me )
Of course if we had Pukki, he may have scored even more goals than he did at Norwich, especially as he managed to play 40+ games for them. When you look back at all our forwards to have played regularly over recent years, our forwards always seem to average 3 shots per game and score a goal with every 5 shots. Roofe needed 7 shots to score last year , McCormacks last season with us when he got 28 goals was 3.3 shots per game and a goal every 5.1 shots. Woods last season with us when he got 27 goals has been the best with him averaging 2.5 shots per game, but actually scoring a goal every 3.5 shots, on that basis only Sharp this season had a better conversion ratio
Sorry about that. Was effectively offline for 4 weeks on a cruise & only got on for an occasional 5 mins if I found a bar ashore whose free wifi wasn't swamped by thousands of tight cruisers. Missed loads - even my sis being ill for 6 weeks & grandson in A&E 3 times. Anyhoos, to the question in hand. Answer? I have no idea! What I mean is that it's difficult enough to work things out at ground level when you're used to spectating at a high position on the halfway line. Doesn't help that the very nature of the Development squad means that the players get played in various positions, often on a game to game basis - and often in different positions in the same game! I've seen him play often, but my interpretation is that he's played equally as a Kalvin, a #10, & a box-to-box Klich. And played brilliantly in each, I might add. It was his debut in the first team that really threw me when he played RB!
Hi mate to back up WJ the system is so fluid that Jock hasn't seen Diaz as a CB as much as he should have. Struijk has also played as a DM, Shacks has played as a full back, DM and No10 but not since Bogusz started playing. So in reality we have a bunch of kids who can play in various positions.the 3 CBs of Struijk, Halme and Diaz are all good enough for the bench and would say that all would be ready after a full Pre season under Bielsa. Remember we also have Kiching, Nessy and O'Connor and cant see any of them back to the club unless 1 or more of Diaz, Struijk or Halme replaces Berrardi/Pontus? Also agree about the striker, we need a top striker as Edmondson and Kun would struggle yet
ffs Leeds paid £1.5M to buy out the remaining 18 months on Casilla’s Real Madrid contract and his Leeds contract runs till June 2023, when he’ll be 36 Nice bit of business
Looks like Harrison wont be back next season as well as Izzy Brown. Liked Harrison a lot when he was on his game, he was better than Harry Wilson. However he had more games when he played like Tug Wilson a landlord I knew. I wish him well as he has plenty of skill, just needs to repeat, repeat and repeat more. So have we anyone on the books to take his place? Wilks played more as a winger this season picking up 16 goals and 10 assists but will he make it in the Championship? Clarke as a regular starter would need another season on the bench I feel. How about Shacks?failing than it needs to be a top winger from outside the club like Iterruptewho has played for Bielsa, loves him and a rumour about a deal?
Wouldn’t mind Luke Freeman from QPR as the winger Also Callum O’Dowda from Bristol City, who we were linked with at the same time as Dan James Or Dan James himself
Just been thinking back to pre-season. Remember the unexpected surprise when Bielsa played KP in his new role, Berardi as CB etc.? I wonder if we'll get any similar surprises this pre-season. Perhaps he'll fox us by signing a CB, only to play him as a striker? Or a 'keeper as a winger? Seriously, though, let's not forget the man's genius. He may well already have a few surprises up his sleeve.
