Good Morning. It's Monday 22nd November, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Heartbreak for Leeds Antonio Conte secured his first three points for Spurs, but not before Leeds almost caused a major upset at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium yesterday afternoon. Even without the likes of Bamford, Rodrigo, Ayling and Raphinha, Bielsa's side were still able to put on a masterclass first half performance for the travelling contingent, reminiscent of scenes from last season. They rightly went ahead on the stroke of half-time. Harrison turned Brazilian ace Emerson Royal, as he went on a surging run towards the penalty area. His whipped in cross was turned in by the outstretched leg of Dan James. This was more than the home crowd could handle. Kane, Son and Co were booed off at half-time by their disgruntled fans. Whatever was said at the interval seemed to work for the home side. Within seconds of the restart, Kane went close. Only a combination of Meslier and the woodwork spared Leeds fragile lead. Although Leeds would continue their rich vain of form for the next ten minutes they never looked like extending their lead, and the home side could smell blood. The wood work came to Leeds rescue again; this time from Son who rattled the crossbar via Llorente's deflection. Hojbjerg fired the hosts level on the hour mark from the edge of the area. Meslier was out of position having closed down Moura, and was unable to scramble back in time. Conte's side grabbed their winner with fifteen minutes remaining. Cooper hacked down Moura on the edge of the box. Dier's deflected free kick crash against the post before falling nicely for Reguilon to convert from close range please log in to view this image Should Gelhardt be a regular starter? Joe Gelhardt showed he isn't scared to mix it against the best in the Premier League as Bielsa finally decided to release the shackles from the 19yo yesterday afternoon. Described by Jamie Redknapp as a 'human wrecking machine', Gelhardt gave the World a sneak preview of what they are in store for over the coming seasons. Is it too early for him to be playing first team football week in - week out or should he be thrown in at the deep end? please log in to view this image Can Leeds afford Bielsa targets? Speaking following the narrow defeat in North London, Bielsa was asked about whether Leeds would be investing in the January transfer window. The Argentine was very tactful with his response, as Phil Hay recounts:- "Bielsa asked about January window and whether he needs to add players. Says it would depend on getting better players than he has, and they can be expensive. Says adding to the group "should not be evaluated without looking at the economic possibilities" Re-iterated again that he feels Leeds have already invested heavily in players on his watch. Says a lot of suitable players fall into the £20m/£30m bracket". It looks like he is saying that Leeds don't have the funds to bring in the players he needs. It certainly begs the question whether players like O'Brien were actually Bielsa targets? please log in to view this image
Morning all, So despite the kick in the teeth that was the result surely even the most miserable doom monger's amongst had to be happy with the performance? So ok we didn't move any further away from the bottom three but does anyone not believe that with even just a couple of the injured players back we will not start winning games? For the second game in a row the absence of an out and it goalscorer has cost us points. There were far more positives again then negatives for me.
Morning all Still tough to take yesterdays result, but in fairness that was the expected result. The big bonus was the first half performance when half your starting line up was out and replaced with square peggers and kids. A great first half and to see Joffy getting his first start and playing 80 minutes, and his face was thunder when he was brought off…. He played well and gave a glimpse of what he can do. Top managers need to believe in young talent and Joffy has now moved ahead of Roberts who must surely know his times up at ER. I think our next game will see Joffy start with Rodrigo behind him and Bamford on the bench to get some minutes in. Yesterday Jose at Roma was 0-0 after 75 minutes and had a choice to make, an experienced striker on the bench or an 18yo kid. The kid Guyan came on and scored 2 goals and Morinho praised for his vision. Maybe Bielsa has some riches too. As far as transfers go and cash available lets not jump to conclusions based based upon Bielsa answering a question. He didnt lie and he didnt give anything away and he said he would only bring in a player if he was better than what we have. Hes always said that and in truth a replacement for any of our players falls into the £20/30m bracket. The question is can we save the season with what we have and I believe we will have Ayling back with Drameh waiting in the wings. We will have Firpo back and we have cover from Struijk or Dallas. We will have Raphinha back with cover from James or Summerville, we will have Rodrigo back with cover from Klich, we will have Bamford back with cover from Gelhardt. There is still a hole for a creative midfielder if we can find one in January. Lewis Bate will be the cover for the new midfielder next season as he is smashing it every game for the 23s.
My only issue with yesterday was that it was another bad luck story. We've had too many. If it carries on we'll be down.
I'd say it's about 50/50 as to whether we'll stay up or go down. Yes we're playing quite well but we are still conceding fairly soft goals and as ever the table does not lie. That's not to be pessimistic by the way, there are plenty of other sides who could go down as well. If we can get close to our best team on the pitch then we should be able pick up enough points to avoid the dreaded drop.
Is it time to panic? I'm not sure. There were some good signs yesterday, but goals win games and they are what we're missing. We have some really tough games to close down 2021 - I think we need to solidify the defence and make sure any chances we get we take them. someone above mentioned Joffy has now moved ahead of Roberts - completely agree, Roberts is surely now universally accepted to be surplus to requirement.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Leeds need to act in the January transfer window please log in to view this image By Phil Hay What do you like about Antonio Conte, Marcelo Bielsa was asked on Friday. “Intensity,” Bielsa said, because… well, intensity. But above all what he liked about Conte was the Italian’s skill in building teams who attack in numbers without selling out defensively, and vice versa. A Conte team is strong everywhere, even when the eyes suggest they should be weak. Conte has that blueprint nailed down but there was no chance of him realising it in the space of a few weeks with Tottenham and not when the road ahead promises to shock his squad in ways they can’t imagine. For 45 minutes at Spurs, one team pressed. One team attacked in numbers and one team retreated in numbers, synchronised and balanced. One team had Harry Kane and the other had Kalvin Phillips, monstering the England captain for fun. Conte looked at Leeds United and imagined something like it, even as booing abused his ears at half-time. Bielsa, as he would, tried to argue that comparing him and Conte was like comparing Tottenham’s trophy cabinet with Arsenal’s (not his words, in fairness, but you get the drift). Look at Conte’s honours, Bielsa insisted. And then look at mine. But there is a reason why Conte sat in the front row of a seminar held by Bielsa in Florence in 2015 and a reason why the great and the good buy tickets when the Bielsa roadshow rolls into town. Leeds have had a mortal start to this season but Bielsa draws a crowd because of his capacity to pull a rabbit from a hat, in ways which are not always decipherable. The build-up to Spurs away was this: rumours bubbling all morning and then confirmed by Leeds’ team sheet, provoking an involuntary sag of the shoulders. No Raphinha and no Rodrigo, the former ill and the latter injured, on top of what Bielsa was already missing. The freshest face in the travelling party was that of Archie Gray, the super-gened 15-year-old who is grandson to Frank, nephew of Eddie and the latest member of the Gray dynasty, and while the schoolboy is setting tongues wagging by training regularly with the first team at Leeds, the club really had reached the stage of asking who had a pair of boots in the car, much as Gray is too young to drive. For the duration of the first half, Conte’s day and his first home game in the Premier League as Tottenham’s manager got no better than the 30 seconds in which Spurs’ stadium announcer introduced him and the crowd rose to greet an undeniably stellar appointment. But banning ketchup from the canteen and bringing a plan to breathe life into a Tottenham side who want too much time on the ball and are none too skilled at denying opponents the same luxury is no substitute for the three years-plus Bielsa has spent at Elland Road. It has been coming with Leeds in the past month, little by little, and through the more difficult weeks, Bielsa fought to convince everyone that the best of their old habits would take hold again; the dependability a manager thrives on. That dependability manifested itself in different ways before half-time: the pressing which Spurs hated, the presence of blue shirts wherever Bielsa needed them and the means of coping not only without the players who were missing but with a decision like the choice of Phillips at centre-back, put there to make Kane feel as impotent as he has this season. A minute before half-time, Jack Harrison plunged through a gap on the left and dinked a cross to the back post where Dan James finished it off on the run. Conte was new to the dugout but the home crowd could not refrain from striking out with boos as the interval came. At least he knows he is inheriting Spurs’ recent history as well as their squad. please log in to view this image Joe Gelhardt made his first Premier League start against Spurs (Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) But Tottenham in the second half spoke of choice words in the dressing room, whatever the Italian is for “a rocket up the arse”. And as the game swung violently, Leeds lost control and found no way of slowing the pace of Tottenham’s resurgence down. Kane struck a post, Son Heung-min hit the underside of the crossbar, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg equalised after Leeds got badly out of shape and Sergio Reguilon tapped in a winner after Eric Dier’s free kick deflected onto the same post Kane had hit. Sixty-nine minutes in and Bielsa and Conte were staring at a very different outcome. And that, crucially, was where the pressure of absentees came to bear. Conte pulled out his machine gun and when it started to fire, Bielsa was condemned to resist him with half a platoon, deprived of alternatives to stem the pressure. This is scarcely a new scenario. Leeds’ injury list has seemed ever-present from day one with Bielsa and when people recant the story of his reign in England, one of the most remarkable parts of it will be his success in making so much of a shallow pool of resources; a coach for whom flesh on the bone is a vice, whether that be the size of his squad or the weight of the players under him. That frugal numbers worked for him for so long, though, does not mean that they are working for him in the same way now. The thought of how Leeds would look at full strength for any sustained period of time is a seductive delusion because Leeds, give or take, are not full strength for any period of time. Barring a goalkeeper, Bielsa could make a full and competent line-up with names who have been injured or missing with COVID-19 this season and at Spurs there were red lines through Raphinha, Rodrigo, Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling, Robin Koch and Jamie Shackleton. He has winners in that group and game-changers too. On the bench at Spurs, the same could not be said. COVID-19 deserves another mention because it is an additional handicap for managers, technically containable but practically impossible to stifle completely and liable to rule footballers out overnight. Leeds have been no more susceptible to the virus than any other Premier League club but at least three of their players have gone down with it this season and it is true that despite the added threat of the virus, they have not compensated for it by padding out their dressing room. Bielsa has two ever-present outfield players, Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas, after 12 league games and that statistic says that a coach who would like his line-up to stay as stable as possible week after week finds himself chopping and changing instead. Thoughts, then, turn to the January window which Leeds tend to treat like an uncomfortable family wedding. You’re in there, you have to play the game but it’s not much fun, last orders will be called before you know it so don’t spend money if you can avoid it. There are, it should be said, some good reasons for that and they have been discussed here at length: Bielsa’s stipulations on the attributes he wants, Bielsa’s insistence on tip-top fitness in a window where many available players are surplus at their current clubs, and Victor Orta’s view that transfer fees in January often represent poor value. Through the early part of this season, the message from Leeds was that they intended to sit this January out, unless sitting it out was obviously asking for trouble. What happens in practice will depend on budget and what is actually out there. Bielsa pointed out yesterday that adding to his squad “should not be evaluated without looking at the economic possibilities” but there was no way of watching a 2-1 defeat at Spurs and avoiding the fact that some mid-season transfer action, even a little, might do Leeds a favour. please log in to view this image James celebrates scoring the opening goal against Spurs (Photo: Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images) It does not have to stretch to ridiculous lengths and it will always be true that substandard signings are signings who, like Ouasim Bouy, do nothing other than cost you a pay-off but there is a simple argument to be made for the value of recruiting another central midfielder. It could also be said that if Bielsa is settling on Rodrigo as a No 10, as he seems to have done, another centre-forward would stop injuries to Bamford causing endless rotation up front. Joe Gelhardt is so well thought of that the No 9 shirt could be his one day, long term and with honours, but even in the midst of one of the Premier League’s many managerial switches, Spurs were too switched on to let his first Premier League start write the story of the day. Here and now it is a heavyweight to carry, as impressive as the best of yesterday was, and at the crux of the discussion about future recruitment is a broader point. Leeds would surely benefit from more players at their disposal in the second half of this season. But whether those players are perfect in their head coach’s eyes, they also need a squad that is shored up not just for Bielsa but for whoever might follow him.
Payet is a serial shythouser and needs a big ban because he got the Nice V Marseille derby abandoned due to his antics of inciting the crowd. We ended up with Ultras fighting in lumps and now hes done it again
Payet hit on head by water bottle as Lyon vs Marseille is abandoned By The Athletic Staff please log in to view this image The Ligue 1 match between Lyon and Marseille has been abandoned after Dimitri Payet was hit on the head by a water bottle. Referee Ruddy Buquet paused the game, with the score at 0-0, after just five minutes. Payet, 34, ran over to the left corner flag to take a corner. As he placed the ball in the corner quadrant, he was struck on the side of the head with a full water bottle which was thrown by a Lyon supporter in the stands. The Marseille midfielder fell to the floor clutching the left side of his head with his hands. He quickly received medical treatment. The referee then signalled to both sets of players to leave the pitch and return to their respective dressing rooms. Payet walked off the pitch holding an ice pack to his head. After an hour wait, a stadium announcer said that the game would restart. Fans were warned that if there was another incident, the game would be stopped. The Lyon players came out onto the pitch and started warming up but the Marseille team did not join them. The match was eventually abandoned 100 minutes after play was stopped. According to Amazon Prime Video, the individual who threw the water bottle that hit Dimitri Payet was ejected from the Groupama stadium. Has this happened before? This is not the first time Payet has been hit by a bottle. In August, Nice's game against Marseille was abandoned after Payet was hit by a bottle thrown at him by a fan. The 34-year-old initially dropped to the floor before reacting to the incident. His response prompted fans to jump over the advertising boards and invade the pitch at the Allianz Riviera. As a consequence of their fans' behaviour, Nice were docked two points by French league’s governing body (LFP), one of which is a suspended sentence. Despite broadcaster Amazon saying the match would be resumed, it was eventually abandoned 90 minutes after play was stopped. Multiple Marseille players, including Matteo Guendouzi and Luan Peres, were pictured with strangle marks on their necks. Of Marseille’s seven away matches in Ligue 1 this season, three have seen at least one of their players struck by projectiles by opposition fans.
The problem with reacting to the injury crisis with new signings is that we would expect anyone we brought in to be as good if not better than what we already have. This in its own isn't easy to do in January. What happens when all the injured players are back? Drop the new guy and tell Bamford/ Rodrigo et Al they are surplus to requirements? Drop the new guy who then wonders why he came? Does Geldhart disappear back to the u23's? To be missing Bamford, Rodrigo & Raphinia in one yesterday was bad luck of the worst kind. If we had had just one of them playing I think we would have got something yesterday. To me there is still no need to panic. The performances are there, if we were playing awful and not getting anything then hit the panic button. Keep playing well and get players back and we will start beating most teams
Im a glass half full guy but one thing has annoyed menthis season about Bielsa, and its that in this league you cannot have 18 first team players and half a dozen U23s. It stands to reason that none of the 23s however skilful they are will be as good as the first teamer they replace. So for me we need a couple more first teamers and that would also assist the academy by allowing them to field a full team for a change in the U23s and U18s. It also means Bielsa can concentrate on the first team more. Next season it could be that Gelhardt and Summerville are the extra 2 as both are very good options, but that means 2 new U23s are needed. I suspect Mateo Joseph Fernandez will be Joffy’s replacement and just maybe McKinstry is deemed good enough now to replace Summerville. Both seasons in the prem blighted by injuries, Rodrigo, Koch and Llorente missed half the season each last year and Koch still missing along with new injuries to Firpo, Bamford, Ayling, Raphinha and Rodrigo, Phillips, we will also be expecting suspensions for Cooper and Phillipsand maybe Llorente….
Morning all I'm on the fence at the moment, we are always going to have injuries, every team has them, get the walking wounded back and someone else will be out, it's just how it is. I have been quite impressed with our defence for the last couple of games, Struijk has been immense, far better than Firpo, putting Firpo in the team yesterday had a negative effect, we were worse and at the moment I'd prefer to see Struijk start. Ayling, he was poor before his injury, many on here were saying has he the legs this season, I don't feel confident he is going to improve yesterdays starting 11 by a huge margin. But your question was "a couple back" making a difference. Raphinha missing was a huge blow, I liked Joffy he impressed me but he is different to Bamford, I can't claim we don't miss him either and finally Rodrigo. I can see something in him and I'd prefer him to start ahead of Klich but would he have made a difference yesterday, I am not convinced, maybe. My fear is that we are running out of time and we have a stinker of a fixture list in December.
To me it comes back again to the amount of injuries at the exact same time. If it was just Bamford injured say and we were playing Rodrigo in his place and we were using one or two u23's on the bench then it would not be a big problem. As we have lost three of our main attackers at the same time all of a sudden we have had to start a 19 year old and fill the bench with u23's. If we were filling one gap with youngsters the overall quality of the team would not drop as much. By filling 3-6 holes we can't help but be weaker. We just need to get those players back and keep up the current performance levels and we can put a few weeks together and then the pressure will drop
Agree but so far this season we have gone through a period where 50% of the 18 man squad were out at the same time, we are still running at 35% of the squad being out and this has now gone on since week 2 of the season and due to us only having an 18 man squad we have a far higher % of the squad out injured
And that’s the problem squad too small with prem quality players, every team will suffer from injuries and suspensions and yes we need to have prem quality prepared to sit the odd game out for the benefit of the team
So the question is; Happy with Bielsa operating this way or time for a change at the top as he is never going to change his ways. I’m happy with him to remain, even if we stay up by one point, even if we get relegated and my reasoning is we haven’t the quality to cope without Bielsa. This does resign myself to honestly still believing we’ll never make top 6 with him in charge, you just can’t challenge for Europe and indeed play in Europe with a squad of this size and hoping everyone remains fit. I bet there isn’t another Premier League team with a pool of strikers as small as ours. So the next question is, how much are we saving in wages compared to those around us?
For the limited amount of time he has managed in club football he has succeeded in doing what you said he cant do with a small squad: Newells OB Premier League Title Newells OB Prem Lg title Newells OB Copa De Liberdatores runner up ( South American Champions Lg) Veles Sarsfield Prem Lg Title Athletic Bilboa Copa Del Ray Runner up Athletic Bilboa Europa League Runner up So he can do it but I think the Premier League has the most quality teams in the world and too easy to be found out. I agree we need at least 20 first team players
He has 38 years of Managerial experience, and has won six trophies before coming to Elland Road. That's not good. Fcuk it- BIELSA OUT!!!!!
