Good Morning. It's Friday 6th May, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds desperately need goals Leeds go into their final 4 games of the season having failed to score in 9 of 17 matches since the turn of the year, and no goals in 4 of their last 8. Although this underlines how big a miss Bamford is, it is apparent that not investing in a second striker either last Summer, or indeed in January, is inexcusable. Bamford had an incredible season during their first campaign back in the top flight, but injuries have limited the 28yo to just 560 minutes of game time this season. The ER hierarchy knew he was Leeds only recognised goal scoring option going into this season, and whilst Rodrigo can operate as a sole striker, it is not his forte. It was hoped that with all the injuries Leeds have had, that Joe Gelhardt would be given the chance to shine, but he has played fewer minutes than Bamford. please log in to view this image 40 points may not do it Journalist Beren Cross is pinning his hopes of Leeds Utd survival on the Whites winning their last two games of the season against Brighton and Brentford. Even then, the Leeds-Live reporter is dubious whether 40 points would be enough to save them from relegation. Cross explains, on average, 35 points is normally enough to stay up, but with Burnley (13pts from last 6 games) and Everton (7 pts from last 4 games), he is having reservations whether 40 points would be enough to stay up, and is hoping for either side to slip up. "There is something very Leeds about potentially on finishing 40 points, but still being relegated. The average survival total needed across the past 10 years is 35 and yet one point from the last four does not feel anywhere near enough for the Whites." "The goal difference is hugely troubling and the stark reality of being 19 strikes behind Burnley on Saturday night really hit home. I do have hopes 40 would be enough for Leeds. If they were to win their last two and lose the next two I would have hopes they'd stay up, but one point from Chelsea or Arsenal would be a touch more reassuring. In reality, we're all looking at Burnley and Everton's fixtures for comfort." please log in to view this image LUFC Assistant Manager Franz Schiemer to walk at end of season Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Joe Donnohue has claimed that Assistant Manager Franz Schiemer is unlikely to remain at Leeds Utd beyond the Summer. This will be a big blow to Marsch, who had worked with the former Austrian International defender in the same capacity during his time with RB Salzburg. Along with Cameron Toshack, Schiemer was one of the first names Marsch bought to the club in early March, after accepting the ER hot seat. According to reports, Schiemer does not want to leave either Leeds Utd or Jesse Marsch in the lurch, and will not make a final decision until the season concludes. Schiemer has been offered the Assistant Manager's role with the Austrian National Team, and he is keen to accept. His Association with the Whites may not end there. Talks are underway about working with Leeds United in a different capacity in the future. please log in to view this image ER hierarchy do not have a good handle on the transfer market Posting a recent article in 'The Athletic', Elland Road journalist Phil Hay has publicly rubbished the quality of Leeds Utd's signings since winning promotion in 2020. According to Hay, Messrs Radrizzani, Orta and Kinnear believe 'they have a good handle on the transfer market', but five out of six of their big money signings have been below par, with only Raphinha having exceeded expectations. Former Manager, Marcelo Bielsa also needs to shoulder some of the blame, having given his blessing on every player Leeds have made since the Summer of 2018. The fiery Argentine wasn't shy about giving his opinions, and often clashed with Victor Orta over signatures. Noticeably, he vetoed the signings of Donny van de Beek and Harry Winks in January. "Investment is where criticism often focuses but the root of the club’s deceleration is not investment per se. Leeds have spent on transfers since promotion — more than enough, Bielsa would always say — and they have not used outgoing deals to prop up their expenditure. The problem has been the impact of that investment, particularly for a club who like to tell themselves that they have a good handle on the transfer market. The money paid out since promotion has not resulted in permanent elevation." "Robin Koch, at £13 million, still feels like an unknown quantity at centre-back, infrequently seen in his best position. Diego Llorente is a known quantity in the sense that you can expect him to be unpredictable. No argument at all with the deal for Raphinha but Rodrigo, even now, is trying to find himself and neither Junior Firpo nor Dan James has made a material difference in transforming the team. It says something that for all the expenditure, last season’s player of the year was Stuart Dallas. And that when this season finishes, Dallas’ claim to the same award for 2021-22 will be stronger than most." "From the end of last season, first-team recruitment began to feel strangled. There was no new central midfielder in the summer window — no options to turn to or satisfactory for Bielsa once Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher chose Crystal Palace as his next loan destination and Lewis O’Brien of Huddersfield Town was deemed too expensive — and nothing at all in January after Red Bull Salzburg knocked back two offers for Brenden Aaronson." please log in to view this image
Good morning all To me one thing is for sure, which this season has become apparent, that we are a club strapped for cash after the initial layout, on what proved to be players just not up to premiership football. Radz & the 49rs do not appear to have the financial clout to make it big in the PL. Poor recruitment has bitten us on the arse. If by some miracle we manage to stay up, we all know it will need massive investment not to have another season like this and unless as with a few other clubs a billionair is waiting in the wings for a takeover, we will be going nowhere in the near future. I for the life of me cannot understand why with such a huge fanbase and steeped in so much history why Leeds being a major city have not attracted this billionair takeover? If the worst came to the worst and we are relegated, we might have just enough to bounce right back up, or on the other hand we might once again go into a demise but I wouldn’t put my house on either. To me the most likely scenario which I dread is that we become another Norwich, IE to good for the championship, but not good enough for the premiership, until of course we get that major takeover.
Missed a trick not signing a striker but with Rodrigo’s form towards the end of last season, Bamford doing so well last year and Gelhardt waiting in the wings I can see the logic of them not signing a striker last summer but when you consider Rodrigo had a slow start/didn’t look PL ready, the club knowing about Bamford’s injury and Gelhardt clearly not being ready to play 90 minutes in mens football (Both managers position on Gelhardt proves this) then it’s inexcusable we didn’t sign a striker. I agree with Beren that we’ll need 40 points. 41 would do it though which means we need 2 wins and 1 draw. My logic to this is that Burnley are good at home so they’ll get two wins from Aston Villa and Newcastle at home, lose to Tottenham away and get a draw at Villa Park leaving them on 41 points. Everton are also good at home so I’ve got them to win both home games against Brentford and Crystal Palace, draw away games against Leicester and Watford as they are poor away from home and then lose to Arsenal away leaving them on 40 therefore due to goal difference I think we’ll need that extra point. I think the board have actually invested a lot of money and run the club well but the signings simply haven’t been good enough apart from Raphinha and he’s gone through a bad spell the second half of the season but if the signings would’ve been good enough we wouldn’t need to rely on him. Not convinced by the CBs we’ve bought considering Cooper still walks into the team and they have both been injury prone. Rodrigo hasn’t been the signing we hoped. Firpo the less said the better. The fact we’re still relying on Dallas to fill holes at LB, RB and CM and a returning player that’s been injured for years in Forshaw shows we’ve not done well in the transfer market. Let’s be honest our starting 11 when fully fit will basically be our championship winning team minus Pablo and Alioski (who haven’t been replaced with better players). If we’d have bought smarter we wouldn’t be in this mess. Bought a CM when the cuisance deal fell through, put to bed the deal of Gallagher or paid the asking price for Aaronson/moved on quicker. If we’d have put the Firpo money to good use, finalised a CM deal, purchased a better Pablo replacement than Rodrigo and spent some money on a striker we’d be fine. Watford bought Dennis for 3m and he’s scored 10 goals this season. Imagine we got him for 3m as a backup for Bamford that’s potentially 10 more goals this season and we’d be staying up. Like how is our recruitment team missing out on an international striker for 3m when we know about the Bamford injury. Obviously he’s an unknown quantity but it’s an example of when buying unknown actually works and the only example we have of this is Raphinha. Obviously injuries have killed us this season as well but surely you need to look at the average number of injuries a season a bolster the squad based on this and not fill it with U23s that have never played mens football in a competitive league regardless of how good you think they are, you need to strengthen positions and send the youth on loan to play in championship like Drameh/White/Gallagher. You then see if they’re good enough and come back to play for your team or sell for a decent fee.
It's not always about spending fortunes in the transfer market. John Lundstrum (age 28) - played 108 games for Sheff Utd between 2017- 2021 then signed a 3 year deal at Rangers (presumably on a free). Have watched Lundstrum a few times this season and he's been an oustanding box to box midfielder. Scored the winning goal last night for the Gers as they beat RB Leipzig to qualify for the Europa League final. Definitely the sort of experienced player we should have been signing to bolster the squad, but you snooze you lose and Ranger snapped him up on 5th July 2021 whilst we were courting Conor Gallagher instead.
I don’t think Radrizzani can be blamed at all for our current predicament. The fact £65m was totally wasted on Rodrigo, James and Firpo is not his fault. We should have used that money a lot more wisely.
I watch a lot of their games too and I do like the Ryan Kent lad. I know a lot on here aren't a fan, but he does work his bollocks off.
Yep and provided the cross for the winning goal last night. Plenty of talent out there that needs finding before they become £20M ++ players and I'm not just talking about young up and coming players.
Decent assessment of the debacle, apart from the prediction of Everton getting a draw at Watford they me be a shadow of the team that play at goodison but at the moment me,you and 9 more delinquents on here could probably win at Watford who's home form is worse than a dose of pox
Would Kent leave Rangers where he's guaranteed European football each season and runner up in Scottish league for lower end of PL football. Im not so sure
worst home record in the league v worst away record = pickem. Frank seems to have stumbled on a 1-10-0-0 bus parking formation that has worked for them... but may have to try alternatives in games they have to win.
I hope not otherwise that means we need 2 wins and 2 draws which would be a big ask considering the games we’ve got.
