Good Morning. It's Monday 22nd August, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Dominant Leeds destroy Chelsea Leeds produced a masterclass performance at the weekend to destroy Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea 3-0, the biggest loss during his Blues tenure. A sell-out crowd of 36,372 witnessed a new dawn at Elland Road, from a Leeds squad who refused to be intimidated by their bigger, West London counterparts. Both teams started brightly, but it was the visitors who had the ball in the back of the net early on, only for Sterling's effort to be ruled out by the linesman's flag. Leeds were more than holding their own, though during the opening stages, their firepower seemed less effective. This all changed on 33 minutes, when Brenden Arronsen robbed Chelsea's keeper (Édouard Mendy) of the ball on his own goal line for the simplest of tap ins. Still shell shocked, Leeds struck again four minutes later. Harrison's well executed free kick was flicked on by Rodrigo, to give the Spaniard his fourth goal in three games (or his seventh in four games, if you count the hat trick he scored against Cagliari in pre-season). Tuchel's side then ramped up the pressure, desperate to get a goal back before half-time, but the Whites stood firm. A goal from either side could rapidly have changed the dynamics of the game, as Leeds' defence continued to thwart Chelsea after the interval, and it was Leeds who struck again, to kill the game off with twenty minutes still on the clock. Rodrigo fed James down the left channel; he looked up before picking out the on rushing Rodrigo. This first time shot fell nicely in the path of Harrison, who stabbed the ball home from close range. The icing on the cake came five minutes from time when £33m Blues signing Kalidou Koulibaly was sent off for a second bookable offence; which must have come as a relief for the Senegalese International, having been owned for 85 minutes by Messrs Arronson and James. please log in to view this image Dawn of a new era at Elland Road Could Leeds fans be witnessing the dawn of a new era at Elland Road? Whilst it's important not to get carried away, we're beginning to witness players statistics dramatically improving, in areas not normally associated with Leeds! For the first time in years, we're finally seeing set plays paying dividends, both from free kicks, and corners. Headers, too, have dramatically improved. Leeds have gone from bottom (for the last two seasons) to 10th. Gone are the times, that the players would aimlessly sprint forward at 100 mph, Marsch's team has structure, purpose and more importantly good decision-making. Rodrigo leads the goalscoring charts, whilst Harrison tops assists in the top flight with three. The squad has been allowed to express themselves, now the shackles of man to man marking has been removed. please log in to view this image Harrison doesn't want to go anywhere In a recent interview with the Daily Express, Jack Harrison has explained his ambiguous statement he made about his future during Leeds tour of Australia. The 25yo angered many Leeds fans by not rubbishing speculation linking him to a move to St James Park this Summer, but according to Harrison, he was caught off guard. Newcastle have been tracking Harrison for many weeks now, and have just had a second offer rejected from the Leeds hierarchy. According to Harrison "I knew nothing about it and it threw me off," "My answer gave the wrong impression from what I meant. Social media was talking about it and people were like, “What have you said?” "But it was nothing. My intention is to be here and work hard for this team. If anything I want to make a greater impact than before and I think this is the best place to do that. "My performances at the start of last season weren’t the best but I think I improved. My goal is to try to make the next England camp in September. If I am to have any chance of the World Cup at all, I will have to make that next squad." please log in to view this image
Oh come on Ell, dominant Leeds my arse, haven't you read Tuchel's view of the game, we were so lucky against the better team, we did nothing to impress and it was only their mistakes that lost it for them.
Morning all. We’ve been called Leeds United States of America on a sports channel here. What a contribution the yanks are making at the club. Hope Harrison doesn’t get near the England squad. We know how that pans out. Rubbish performances and injuries followed by a transfer. On the subject it’ll be some joke if kp goes to World Cup playing zero minutes at his club
Good Morning all from a cool Bardsey moe had agreat birthday yesterday and of course the result helped the festivities I hope Neil and Margaret enjoyed themselves This was the most outstanding win since we gained promotion How IS the chase for Willie going Doc?
Just a few words of caution following yesterday’s brilliant performance and win. Meslier made an outstanding save at 2-0 that was flagged but looked onside from the replay. Haven’t seen it again since but had the Chelsea scum scored at the point it could have ended up like Southampton again. Always fine margins at the elite level. Aaronson now worth £50M ++ Tyler Adams definitely also in the £40/50M category as well. Excellent work by Jesse & Orta.
Good morning, What a fantastic game. Everyone played their hearts out. Including those who won't get mentioned as much. I'm trying to not get too carried away but despite losing Phillips and Raphinha our midfield looks stronger than ever. Adams suits the new system better than Phillips and with Aaronson as our star man he can go straight through the middle rather than being stuck out on the wing like Raphinha. Adams wins absolutely everything in the air as well, something I can't remember Leeds doing for a long time. What's even better is they're all young and will only improve. Roca (25) Harrison (25) James (23) Adams (23) Sinisterra (23) Aaronson (21) Hopefully against Barnsley we'll get to see more of the lads who haven't had much game time yet. Drameh, Gelhardt, Sinisterra and Greenwood all have to start for me.
Loving O’Hara comments on Tuchel He told talkSPORT: “I was disappointed with Tuchel. He gave Leeds no credit whatsoever. “Leeds were absolutely fantastic, they were brilliant all over the park. “Every player on that pitch was a nine-out-of-ten. Some were a ten-out-of-ten. “Tuchel was making excuses about getting a bus, saying they were the better team, it was Mendy’s mistake and Leeds weren’t better. “Leeds were way better than Chelsea. Chelsea weren’t good enough. Give credit where it’s due. “Leeds outrun them in every department.” O’Hara added: “The coaching staff had to get a bus? Poor them! “They’re not playing 90 minutes. What am I hearing?! Try listening to the fans who do these eight-hour journeys, or the non-league sides who travel all over the country on buses, or drive their own cars. Get in the real world Thomas
Good morning all Seems so surreal, still in a state of shock to see what was a Bielsa type performance again, but with all the silly bits taken out, defending was outstanding along with attacks, which were orchestrated with so much panache and purpose without the players running themselves into the ground. Now for the big question, IS Jesse taking us to the next level , and so fast after last seasons debacle ?, well To be honest what i have seen so far this season the answer is yes.
Great win yesterday. Sat in a bar in the sunshine with Leeds fans in the majority. Sat with a couple of Chelsea fans who were decent blokes to be fair. Had a great afternoon. Kind of hits home the size of our club. A random bar in Mallorca which majority were Leeds. A handful of Chelsea. Two West Ham fans and no Brighton fans. Anyway, my first objective is always 35 points which is usually enough to stay up. So far we have 7 points so only 28 points to go from 35 games. I think if we stay injury free then we should be aiming a bit higher but so far a solid 9/10 for the first three games. Exciting times.
Early days and a freak result perhaps, but happy for the win. We still need a couple of signings but I'm pleased that Rodrigo appears more able in this new system than he was in the previous one. Roca and Adams seem to be good singings and I'm hoping Sin is Terra is as good as I hope he is.
I think now that Phillips and Raphinha have gone, we'll see other players coming out of their shell more. Arronsen is such an intelligent player for his age, and so much energy. Struijk is getting better and better, and don't get me started on Harrison and Rodrigo. The shackles are off!!!!
Morning all. I missed the game yesterday so just watched the full replay of the first half. Either we made Chelski look average or they’re not as good as I thought they were. They created enough chances but their finishing was poor. Rasmus still needs to get up to speed, he got turned very easily and his positional play still needs work. I think Struijk is going to be a superb LB plus he gives us the option of 3 at the back and added height for set pieces. Firpo may not get back in. I like how Meslier just pumps it forward when he’s under pressure, unlike Mendy. Very impressed so far
