Good Morning. It's Friday 29th October, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Is Sunday's game a MUST win? Would anything but a win be a disaster on Sunday? We will be more than a quarter of the way through the season (come 4pm on Sunday), and would have played against all five of the bottom teams (apart from Crystal Palace). If the worst were to happen, is it safe to assume we're in a relegation battle? Let's not forget that Sunday's opponents have the poorest form in the entire football league; surely a comprehensive win is on the cards? please log in to view this image PSG join race for Raphinha Liverpool Fans had their noses put out of joint, after it was revealed that PSG have joined the race to sign Raphinha. Whining Merseysider's lit up Social media platforms to express their disgust, that another club should challenge them in their pursuit of the Brazilian wizard! Tabloid sources claim Naymar spoke to the hierarchy of the French Champions, strongly suggesting they should dig deep for the 24yo. Former Brazilian International Rivaldo is also a big fan of the Leeds winger, but he believes a move to Anfield would benefit Raphinha's career best. "Raphinha performed well on his debut for Brazil, but he was already shining in the Premier League with Leeds United and there are rumours of interest from Liverpool. "If he were to make the move, he may not be a regular starter, but I'm sure it would be a big step in his career since it would allow him to compete for titles and play in the Champions League, which could be crucial for more call ups into the Brazilian national team. "He has the quality to player for a bigger club. "He is playing excellent football and a player always wants more and stronger challenges, so he would benefit from a transfer." please log in to view this image It has always been Leeds intention to introduce Joffy to first team football this season It has always been Leeds intention to introduce Joe Gelhardt to first team football this season, according to Leeds journalist Phil Hay. He went on to say that the coaches at Thorp Arch wanted to take their time to develop the 19yo, and had a vigorous 12-month program to ensure he was in peak physical condition before introducing him to Premier League football. "Leeds had an initial 12-month programme for Gelhardt which would enhance his fitness, bring him up to speed with the Bielsa regime and develop him to a point where Bielsa could drip-feed him into the first team during the 2021-22 season. Pressure to blood him more quickly grew as Gelhardt pulled up trees with the development squad but this season was when Leeds wanted him to break through." "One of the things that appealed about Leeds was that there was no desperation in their approach. They wanted to sign Gelhardt and they worked hard to sell themselves but the presentation they gave him was not fawning or unduly flattering. As one source told The Athletic, there was no point in Orta replaying Gelhardt’s best moments because those moments spoke for themselves." "What Gelhardt got was a detailed explanation of how Leeds would improve him, where in his game that improvement would come and when first-team opportunities were likely to arise. It was realistic and Gelhardt’s camp agreed that launching him into Bielsa’s first-team last season might not be prudent. Leeds and Wigan were different worlds." "They spoke about Gelhardt’s body shape, the stocky build and low centre of gravity which drew comparisons with Wayne Rooney. They spoke a little about Carlos Tevez, who had the same sort of frame. Leicester City were attempting to seduce Gelhardt with an offer of their own but something about Elland Road felt right. He would have to be patient at Leeds." "He would not get a free pass. But he was close enough to the front line that when Championship clubs — Stoke City and Preston North End for two — started sniffing around the possibility of a loan deal in the most recent transfer window, Leeds said categorically that Gelhardt would not be allowed to leave." please log in to view this image Merson predicts shock result on Sunday Former player, now pundit Paul Merson has predicted that Norwich will cause a sensational shock at the weekend, and record their first win of the season, at the expense of Leeds. “Leeds are a funny team. They went to Southampton and didn’t have a shot on target, and they needed a last-minute penalty against Wolves to scrap their way to a draw. Raphinha’s injury also comes as a massive blow to them. It’s a good time to play against Leeds, and Norwich could pull off a surprise this weekend.” please log in to view this image
Sunday is a must win with regards to pulling away from a relegation fight for the rest of the season. If we lose, we are in it for the season imo. Its not necessarily a must win for PL survival. I will say that it's a must not lose game. If we lose we are in the **** big time.
Morning all Dallas has come out and explained the personal issue thing. One of his best mates died and Stu got Covid so was isolating in a hotel and couldn't even go to the funeral. Fair play to the lad for trying to battle on (whether that was the right thing to do or not) - how many modern footballers would have done the same? I hope getting it out in the open and off his chest helps him recover his best form
With the run of games coming up for me Sunday is a must win, it won't relegate us if we don't but it will be a big downer to the players and fans alike. Merson was mostly full of admiration for us last season, so he's not someone jumping on the band wagon, and he's right Norwich will see this as an opportunity to get 3 points, if they don't then they're pretty much ****ed. Raph is probably going to get linked with every top club in Europe for the rest of the season, something we will just have to put up with and ignore. The more I read from Hay the more I think he knows very little, he just seems good at stating the bloody obvious after the event, why didn't he tell us all this at the start of the season if he always knew it was the plan, because he didn't know that's why.
Surely not. According to some, we've played only against the toughest teams (ignoring the bottom 5 we've played), so our next ten games should be a walk in the park... After this match we have: Leicester Spurs Away Brighton Away Palace Brentford Chelsea Away Citeh Away Arsenal Liverpool Away Villa
3 points Sunday and the fans and players confidence level will go up, those 5 home games are mostly tough but winnable, this is when we need the supporters to be loud and proud like the last 30 minutes v Wolves. The twelfth man
I don't think going by our present form that we can get anything from the top 8 clubs, so how many games would that leave us to get points.
If we look at points won/lost compared to the same fixtures played last year and not on what point of the season we are at at are still only 3 points worse off. Sunday's match is the equivalent of Fulham away which was three points for us. We need to be at our best but barring Bamford I think we will nearly be at our strongest, especially if Firpo is fit and we can push Dallas back into midfield. Then you look at our next four fixtures after Sunday. Last season those fixtures returned zero points, some fairly and some not so much. I think it highly unlikely that we will drop 12 points against those teams again so and points won will be in the positive column. We are not in November yet and not a third of the way through the season. Any talk of relegation is far too early
Think I said that the writing seems to be on the wall from Bielsa regarding Roberts. This piece seems to confirm it: “It was interesting to see the flashpoint which convinced Bielsa to go for Gelhardt last night, though. Roberts received the ball in a promising position last night with Arsenal out of shape and rather than look to turn Maitland-Niles, as he had the time to do, he waited and looked for contact from behind to go down. The referee waved played on and the hosts took the ball away. Bielsa was furious and barked immediately for Gelhardt to come on.”
Hay did my head in when he worked for the YEP everything he posted was just pure speculation you’d have thought he might have managed at least one genuine inside source
