Think Murphy is the best passer in the midfield. Mowatt is the only midfielder who possesses any kind of goal threat though. Cook's drive, energy and acceleration over the first five yards helps to put us on the front foot, but his passing is often wayward and he loses possession a lot (to be expected really, he's only 18!). I don't think Adeyemi is a bad player either. I think the main problem is that we lack any experience in the midfield. Adeyemi and, to a lesser extent, Murphy are still in the position where they need to be able to rely on an older head to guide them. Neither are experienced enough or enough of a leader to babysit Cook, Mowatt and Phillips. I like all three of them - I think they'll all go on to be very good players for the club, but they will make mistakes due to their inexperience at the moment. Get a real midfield leader in, and stick him in alongside Murphy and Adeyemi - that should help out.
I thought we were shocking today Slow, ponderous in midfield, and the only tactic we seemed to possess was the diagonal from back to out wide up front. Phillips is nowhere near ready, and I'm not convinced about Taylor either. Would like to see Byram back at RB and Berardi moved over to LB where he's equally comfortable.
Wasn't an edge of your seat game for me, infact, it was quite opposite to the quick fire passing counter game that Rosler was talking about. Seemed to me there was no real game plan and any special instructions from Rosler, if any, were ignored as we were resorting to hoofball a lot throughout the game, especially in second half. Silvestri didn't have a lot to do, especially in second half. Couldn't do much about their goal, bit of a wonky one really, if there'd been a dustbin on goal line the ball would've probably hit that too. Good save from a header close to goal. Defense wise, very happy with Berardi at right back, can also play left back so a good asset to have. Bamba, wasn't brilliant but wasn't bad either, a few good little runs down edge of their midfield, fairly solid in defense but got caught straying a couple of times, overall a good performance though, you could see he was missing Bellusci. Cooper in team after a good performance against Bristol City, quite rightly so and did nothing to shame himself however, I personally think Bamba and Bellusci are our best CD's together. Like Forza, I'm not entirely sold on Taylor during this seasons start, like any player he can be good when on form but seems to be taking a while to reach the impact stage he reached last season. I'd like to see Cooper given a go at LB with Bellusci back in centre; Coopers played that position before and gave a good account of himself, I think we'd have a stronger defense of Berardi, Bamba, Bellusci and Cooper. Maybe Cooper and Taylor could change their names to Booper and Baylor and we'd have the flying Bees as our back four. Midfield, what can I say, same problems we've had from start and carried over from last season. The holes being left open were big enough for the Wendies to drive their double decker bus through, one of their players even had the audacity to ring the bell and ask "tickets please" as their players jumped on board. Why is it we haven't yet found the ability, and realization that our strikers need through balls to run onto, when the midfields out to dinner without a luncheon voucher our strikers starve. We seemed to resort to hoofball a lot, especially in second half, I thought we'd given hoofball away. There didn't seem to be too many on the ground through passes coming from middle, I know we talk about having wingers, but we've got to learn to make good accurate through passes from middle as another option and form of attack. I could see Antenucci getting frustrated by the lack of through balls when he tried to make his runs. Byram didn't play well, seemed to be on another planet somewhere and deserved to be subbed. Dallas, he's getting better I think, didn't play so bad but I liked his ball through the defenders legs to set Wood up for his goal; hopefully he continues to improve and get fitter. Adeyemi gave another good account of himself, was doing a bit of work down their left wing too. I suspect when Bianchi returns he and Bianchi can combine well, by the way, Bianchi is a natural attacking mid. Wood I'm not convinced with, another Billy Sharp maybe, but definitely not another Morison. I'm beginning to suspect Rosler persists with him cos he's trying to justify paying 3 mill for him rather than picking who's best, or better up front. Antenucci, had a pretty good game when, and I say when he managed to get some service. He was getting frustrated at times with the lack of through balls he could run on too. Likes to make a bit of space for himself, and goes on little runs looking for the through balls to have a crack at goal, but if our mids are looking else where then it amounts to nothing. Mowatt did ok when he came on, not so sure he should be the allocated free kick taker. Murphy, didn't have much time on field but did ok. There's something about Murphy that tells me he isn't one of those we need in midfield, I suppose he is what they call the best of a bad bunch. Phillips, certainly plays with enthusiasm but his brain and mind are not ready yet, he shouldn't have played. Rosler needs to give Sloth a chance, it can't get any worse, but can certainly get better. Mr Rosler, let's get rid of hoofball, it's called football not volleyball. Midfield is our biggest problem, it needs fixing like a leaky gas pipe. Good points are we are still unbeaten, it wasn't a bad game, but far from brilliant to watch. Bad points, we had more possession than the Wendies and couldn't do anything with it, we had 17 attempts on goal (don't faint) but only 3 on target with 1 resulting in a goal. Hopefully better to come.
I think we all often forget that there's another team on the pitch with us, and oddly enough, trying to beat us! The Wendies know that we like to pass the ball from midfield. What did they do? They smothered our midfield by staying in their own half when we had the ball. Our defence knocked it about between them, trying to draw the Wendies, but they were resolute. Result? We had to hoof it. Not one of the midfield shone. Reason? If the ball was threaded through to them (or more likely hoofed upfield), they had few options. The opposition flooded midfield & totally stifled our game. They had the extra man in midfield. And we hadn't a clue how to play 4-4-2. Which brings me to my next point .... WTF are we doing playing 4-4-2? And at home too? We spent pre-season perfecting the managers vision of high intensity 4-3-3. We started the season still learning, but nevertheless getting to grips with it. OK, we weren't winning, but at least we were competing, learning & slowly improving. Then because we weren't winning, the Twatterites started complaining that Wood was isolated & we needed to go 4-4-2. So our coach bottled it IMO, & tried 4-4-2 away, where we nearly won. Apart from the complaints of losing 2 goals late on, the Twattrites received 2 up front well. So did Rosler do the right thing & go 4-3-3 at home, as per his master plan? Nope, he bottled it again. We played 4-4-2 at bloody home, against a defensve 4-5-1. Killed us, as per the paragraph above. Did we change our tactics to counter this? Nope. 4-4-2 right to the end. Why? I agree that we need a settled CB partnership, but I'm not sure it should be Bellusci with Bamba. He's like a spoiled child when he's got Bamba to cover his back. I liked his more mature attitude when he partnered Cooper. I really don't care who our duo are, but they must remain settled until suspension / injury / form / energy demands a change. I'd also leave our full backs as they are. Done nowt wrong as far as I can see. As for Murphy & Mowatt coming on, I must confess that they did spark things up. The difference I think is that Adeyemi & Phillips are both DMs, and young with it. They had become reactive automatons by that stage of the match, with no creative spark whatsoever. Murphy had energy, but I guess not enough for a full match. Mowatt looked faster than usual, but he wasn't - he came on fresh when everyone else was tiring, but it did give him an edge (one that he doesn't normally have). And this surge brought us a goal. Must confess that Doukara doesn't upset me like some on here, but I do have to reiterate Leeds60s question - what the hell has Erwin done wrong? According to Rosler, everyone has been dying on their feet with the play minutes they've put in. But not him! He's capable, but is never going to show it on the bench.
I mentioned in an earlier post (#131) that I feel part of the problem is the large fee paid for Wood and the realisation that Antenucci looks a busier player more likely to score a goal. Rosler is trying to fit them both into a workable formation, surely if we do switch to 4-4-2 Erwin is the ideal player to bring on? I have a slight feeling Erwin wasn't a player 'requested' by Rosler
If he had scored 3 in the cup game would you have claimed 5 in 5? 2 goals in 5 games puts him on course to score under 20 goals and it is highly unlikely that he will play every game. No need for the dig about Maths, Kiwi was giving an opinion not a statistic
Negatives so far: Not won a game Too much hoofball Can't see a game out from a winning position Not enough chances being created Already out of cup Positives so far: Not lost a game in normal time + extra time Adeyemi, Berardi, Bamba and Antenucci Morison gone
So many seasons of dross and the first time it seems we are buying a bit of quality, we think we're buying worldies and we're not. Management is a big part of success in this league as Big Mick at Ipswich proves every season. No money and no worldies just solid tactics. Rosler still has to show me he has what it takes, but we've had a heavy schedule but agree about Erwin, why isn't he getting a kick
I think we all agree apart from the anti christs that MC is putting his money where is mouth is We look like buying Forresterei for £3m and the young winger from France Limbombe for 1.5M AND rumour has it the centre back from LeicesterLIAM MOORE that is some spend my bet is looking good I expect Byram the way he performed yesterday to be sold to pay for these players and Ajose to go to SwindonI would like Wootton to be sold as well Still would have prefered Will Buckley though!
Forestieri deal is totally dependent on him now. Personal terms not yet agreed. If he's happy to come to Leeds then that will happen.
Not sure I agree with everything you wrote her Forza. But you're right about Phillips. Now that Rosler has Adeyemi, Cook, Byram, Murphy, Mowatt, & Dallas to pick 4 from, I can't see Philips getting into the starting XI for a while
Joe Barton was the guest of Richard Keys & Andy Gray out here this weekend on BEin Sport, they asked what his plans were and he said he has a few irons in the fire, hope that fire is at LS11, cos the Midfield or lack of it is going to be a major factor for us this season. One other thing is that Bamber is a good defender BUT the reason we are not pushing up the park and compacting the midfield is because he is very slow and would get caught for pace!!
Don't think any of us would ever dispute that Cellino is spending the money, and I'm as glad as anyone that Rosler and himself have obviously noticed that we're still desperately lacking in a few areas and are willing to spend money to rectify that issue. Forestieri should be a good signing at this level, but with personal terms yet to be agreed and Cellino well known for favouring incentive heavy contracts, I'm not holding my breath over that one. I know nothing about Limbombe (I imagine it'll be the same for everyone else on here) but pleased we've realised Dallas and a makeshift Byram are not enough wide options for a 4-3-3 formation. Liam Moore I recall was tentatively linked earlier on in pre-season, haven't seen anything recently but he'd be a step up from both Bellusci and Cooper. If we sell Byram to fund these signings, we'll still be in a sticky situation though - Wootton as back up to Berardi, and one injury/suspension to a winger means Doukara out wide Still not enough depth for me, and the glaring lack of experience in the middle is an issue, but I'm glad the powers that be have realised the squad isn't big/good enough
