Good Morning Everyone Leeds suffered their fourth defeat in six games at the weekend as the Canaries flew to the top of the pirch. Only a consolation goal deep into stoppage time from Bamford spared Leeds blushes further. Where do we go from here? Should Shackleton replace Ayling? Douglas or Alioski at left back? Why was Forshaw preferred to Phillips Does Bamford need to start - Perhaps in the number 10 position? Does Hernandez need a rest? Do Leeds have the strength in depth to finish the season strongly? Were the defensive mistakes from the first and second goal caused by tiredness? Don Goodman labeled Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul stupid for aiming a headbutt at Bamford following the final whistle. Bamford was in a heated discussion with two Norwich players when Krul rushed over thrusting his head against Bamford's forehead. Was there anything in it - No! Have we all seen players throw themselves to the floor like they'd been shot for similar - Yes, every week. Have we seen players sent off for less - Yes! According to The Sun, Bielsa wants to bring Aaron Lennon to Elland Road this Summer! With respect, is he any better (today) compared with what we have? Is it just another former player being linked to a return?
Morning Ell. It's peeing down with rain here which goes no way towards improving my mood over the defeat on Saturday. I do think our current form is a worry basically because in my view we don't have the strength in depth in the squad. Sounds like Ayling is well off his game so yes make a change and Forshaw doesn't seemed to have lived up to expectations either. I don't think Bamford is ready to jump straight in much as I would like him to.
Morning all.. Still feeling fed up with not the result but the performance, I feel we had better players on the bench which is my only comforting thought. We need to end this patch of poor results, 4 defeats in 6 isn’t the kind of performance from a top 6 side not alone two. Luckily we have a very experienced coach in Bielsa and we have to trust he’ll put it right. EFL are supposed to be making a decision on spygate this week, let’s get that out of the way and move on from both Spygate and the Daniel James saga.
Morning all it seems all three budgie goals were mistakes or deflections. But we created some good chances and decided to miss them. Every game is a big game from now on this league will throw up some shock results. Will we drop out of autos because if we do i cannot see us climbing back up. Sheff utd let a striker go so signed hogan from villa. Lots of champ clubs let players go to and to same league. On a personal note i completed my hat trick of home defeats but survived a lynching.
Morning all All 3 goals were deflections yet some fans calling for BPF to replace Kiko. WTAF? When a team has 62% of possession and loses it shows a weak defence and/or a weak attack. We have both right now. Up front we cant find the final ball or shoot on target. Roofe has been having his worst spell recently but hey cannot beat him up about as he has been the difference so far this season. I do feel we needed another striker though but as long as Bamford is back now for the rest of the season we will score goals. We're not getting the final killer pass though. In defence we saw Forshaw mess about and stumble, we saw Klich lose it we saw all sorts of errors and all because they pressed and harried us, basically what we do normally. No zip or accuracy in our passing. I think we may see a change or 2 for the Boro match and think some of our players will see an angry side to Bielsa today
Morning all. Havent felt as pissed off with a result in a long time. As others have said, it was the performance. Couple of points, naming the team two days in advance is nonsense. no advantage to be gained, the opposite in fact. Leaving Philips out of team for Forshaw makes no sense, Philips a way way better performer consistently. Persisting with Harrison also a waste. Just hoping Bamford can get fit and stay that way as hes a class finisher. What is it with Leeds form dropping every season after xmas?
Good Morning to Matt and co from a dull Bardsey Well the first job to day is to find out why they had me going to the infirmary on Friday for my op when the surgeon was on sick leave.I agree with Matt this needs sorting double quick I see they have found Salas plane wreckage and I hope they find the bodies so that the families can grieve properly Not a result I wanted on Sat but Norwich have only lost once away from home at Sheff U Middlesboro on the other hand have only won once since Dec but there away form is great lets hope this continues on Sat
Picking up on the Forshaw/Klich/Phillips comments and selection.... Despite his young age if Phillips makes a mistake he doesn’t let his head drop for the rest of the game, he seems to have very broad shoulders in that department. The style we play WILL mean we make mistakes, it’s whether a player takes it on the chin or allows it to affect the rest of his game. For me it’s quite simple, start of the season we were class, go back to as near to that as we can. Phillips in front of Pontus and Cooper as Berardi is injured, Douglas Ayling and Alioski back wide left. Everyone needs to do their part, we know if they don’t it has a knock on effect for the rest of the team and for me it’s all about the holding defensive midfielder he is the main link and cog that enable the rest to do their job
I would definitely drop Ayling, Shackleton did nothing wrong when he filled in, he is so much better offensively, which our style of play needs. Douglas hasn't been great but is better than Alio, who goes missing far too often. Not sure if Bamford is ready for 90 minutes, but the dilemma there is start and see how it goes or bring him on the last 30, on reflection I think I'd start him because of the opposition, Roofe struggled with their physical presence at ER and he was in good form then, he looks off his game atm to me. Phillips has to come back in, whether that be at the expense of Forshaw or Forshaw is moved furthur forward and Klich rested , as his passes and running head down into defenders is getting annoying to watch. Hernandez has to start if fit, otherwise we have no play maker at all. We could do with 5 or 6 changes atm but don't have the quality there to change it as much as we need.
As somebody who defends BPF from, in my opinion, unnecessary and over the top comments on here and elsewhere, i’m Certainly not calling for a recall. Casilla has been given the shirt, he’s had two games and deserves a run to settle in and be judged over a period of time. He had no chance for the first two, thought he was maybe a little slow reacting to the free kick but it’s nitpicking and he got nowhere near it anyway. The third? Yes it took a small deflection, and they can make a keeper look foolish once they’re committed... but it wasn’t a cleanly struck shot and he didn’t save it because he sat down and seemingly couldn’t move his hands or feet as he was nutmegged. If BPF had let that in?
As much as I like Ayling he needs dropping. Just not the same player he was, and on Saturday he managed to stand out for me as one of the weakest in a weak team performance. Phillips can't come back soon enough and Bamford will have something to prove against his old club. Does Hernandez need a rest? Christ I hope not. He looked out of sorts against Norwich but we looked totally bereft of ideas in the second half without him. At least looked like we were having a go in the first. Thought the keeper was good, all three goals taking some sort of deflection. Although he did seem to be taking a few risks in passing it out from the back with Norwich players in close proximity and closing him down quickly. But you could say it was the defenders inability to get into better positions more quickly to enable him to do that more safely. All in all though, we gifted Norwich the points, although they will think they were awesome - they weren't.
Ask yourself this: if Bielsa had replaced Forshaw with Phillips & Phillips had a stinker, with us losing 3-1, how would everyone be reacting today? They'd be ripping Bielsa apart for replacing someone who'd played well the previous game with someone coming in cold. And they'd be right. He has now given Forshaw enough rope to hang himself. Phillips will be back in next game.
But isn't Alioski 'going missing' exactly what's wrong with Douglas? And Ayling? Remember the start of the season & this new role we'd never heard of called the auxiliary CB? The guy who drops back to make a back 3 when the 2 FBs are up attacking? As instructed! We were overawed by Phillips' performances & how well this worked. And then Forshaw took his place. And on every occasion that's happened, he has failed to commit to that role. He's either up attacking with the fullbacks, or giving the ball away by stupid fouls or inept passing in dangerous places. As instructed? I suspect not. To me, that is a major part of our game missing, and may even be the key part of our game. We just don't defend as well with Phillips missing. Or attack as well with Douglas playing (and Ayling too, but only since his injury, tbf). Finally, I loved Shackleton as a RB. But are you aware he always plays in central midfield with the u23s? I get the feeling he's a RB by last resort, and prolly mostly for his pace. I'm guessing he has shortcomings (as you'd expect for a kid, especially out of position) that we don't see - but Bielsa does.
My biggest disappointment from Saturday was that 2 players committed my pet hate. A pet hate that could have stopped 2 of the goals. 2 players turned their back on the ball that was about to be struck. I say this time & time again - in the time it takes you to jump up & turn your back, you could be 1 or 2 yards closer to the ball, and there's a high chance it'll hit you square on. Go and look at the highlights again. Douglas, and I think it was Forshaw are the guilty parties. Watch it a few times & think on. Never used to happen in Billy's time. Your throat would have got ripped out for being a coward. And that's exactly what it was. And let's not forget Pontus giving away the most stupid of free kicks. Running into the back of someone, intentionally or otherwise, when there are 2 defenders already blocking his path. He should be fined 2 weeks wages for that.
Beradi is our only reserve right back and is prone to injury every season. Without him fit we just lack the cover As for shakleton the guy is tiny too tiny for fullback.
