Good Morning. It's Monday 4th October, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds climb out of the drop zone Diego Llorente celebrated his return from injury with the only goal of the game as Leeds ran riot over Watford at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon. Not even the pouring rain could stop a jam packed Elland Road crowd roar their team to victory, as they clawed their way out of the dreaded drop zone. The Whites had opportunities to wipe out their negative goal difference they had sustained this term, but had to make do with the Spaniard's 18th minute strike following Raphinha's corner, his first in six months. Sustained wave after wave of attacks were thwarted all afternoon by a mixture of last ditch defending, bad decision making and substandard finishing. Their plight was not made any easier when both VAR and referee Simon Hooper waved away Daniel James' stonewall penalty appeals midway through the first half. The incident evened itself out though, as Watford had a goal chalked off in the latter stages of the game. Replays show that Cooper fouled Kabasele in the box, during which, in the melee, Watford had the ball in the back of the net. Fortunately, the referee awarded Cooper the free kick. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that decisions go against Bielsa's team. Following the mauling, Hornets Manager Xisco Munoz was relieved of his duties. This was a surprise to everyone. Not only had the Spaniard guided Watford into the top flight, but having beaten Villa and Norwich, and drawn against Newcastle since their return to the top flight. Leeds go into the International break, two points clear of the drop zone. They'll be looking forward to their trip to St Mary's in a fortnight, especially as their talisman Ward-Prowse will be missing, after he was sent off at Stamford Bridge at the weekend. please log in to view this image Gelhardt had the perfect opportunity to make his league debut Joe Gelhardt will be wondering what he has to do to get first team action under Bielsa. The 19yo hitman has recorded seven goals in seven appearances so far this season for the Leeds u23's, and a brace on his International debut for the England U20's. With Bamford sidelined for the foreseeable future, the decision to overlook a natural goalscorer is perplexing! Saturday was such a one-sided affair that many thought it was the ideal opportunity to give Gelhardt a taste of first team action, especially as the team had been woeful in the final third. There are plenty of first team players, younger than Gelhardt in the top flight with other clubs, not that age should come into it when you have the ability and form he has shown this season. please log in to view this image Pundits seething over Watford's disallowed goal Football pundit Garth Crooks expressed his utter disbelief at referee Simon Hooper's decision not to allow Christian Kabasele's equaliser on Saturday. According to Crooks: "Yet again VAR gets involved in a situation it should not have got involved in and when it did it still got it wrong. “What is the point of this system? Watford’s disallowed goal was incorrect and almost certainly contributed to their manager Xisco Munoz getting the sack hours after this result. It was Watford’s Christian Kabasele who was fouled in the box and the goal should have stood. “I don’t know who was operating VAR but he shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the technology ever again.” Fellow pundit Ian Wright remarked: “Kabasele is being fouled here by Cooper. Firstly, he grabs him here, he grabs his shirt, then he grabs around his shirt, he has pulled him down. I can’t understand why that is not a clear and obvious error." please log in to view this image
We deserved that win and I couldn't give a **** how we got it. This should be the start of a good run as well. Morning all
Morning all The above piece is a fair reflection of the game and events surrounding it. I am only going to mention the worrying bit for me and thats Liam Cooper. Liam is invaluable to the team in most respects and lets face it hes been great alongside Struijk Ayling and Llorente and Cresswell. However every incident which is a penalty shout involves him. He is turning into a liability because he is forever holding or having an arm around an attacker, wrestling etc. He has conceded penalties and in fairness he was at fault of doing the holding again when the ball went into our net. VAR saved us but it was wrong. Coops needs a new string to his bow because refs are on to him
Monday morning and feeling so much better. I thought we saw the Leeds of last season on Saturday and it gave me so much more belief. Not that I was massively worried. Hand in heart with everyone fit we are a solid mid table team. As on the Watford goal I don't care it's swings and roundabouts how many times we been on the other end of decisions. End of the day Watford deserved nothing from that game and got nothing. As on Gelhardt yes it's frustrating and yes we were well on top but with it being only 1-0 maybe that was the reason of not blooming the kid. He will get his chance sooner or later. Happy Monday lads I want to talk positive things because we haven't nothing negative to talk about this week.
Morning all… VAR should also have been used for the disallowed goal so it evens out, more of a concern is season upon season we still fail to convert our chances and I’ve given up wondering when Gelhardt will be given a chance. In regards to Cooper he has reached his peak, he is defending like he used to in the Championship and we were fortunate in one sense although still a very deserved win On a positive, another good team performance our first win to settle the nerves, a clean sheet and a welcome International break to get a few players nearer to a return. I’m wondering if Ayling will get back in the squad this season, he wasn’t as effective before his injury, a great opportunity for the fringe players to claim the position. Cresswell and Struijk have been performing well, Koch is another who might find it hard to get back in when he eventually recovers. I think I’ve pretty much written off this season for a top half finish, staying clear of the drop zone from now until the end will be my hope, maybe progress in the cup. At some stage we really need to know what the likes of Gelhardt can bring to the table as I’m expecting some huge changes for next season.
Ive been singing the praises of Joffy for over a year now and find its pointless as Bielsa will do what Bielsa will do. Bielsa was correct on Saturday by bringing Roberts on because he was effective for a change….. but it was half hour…. He needs to do it much much more. I will say this though Roberts is nowhere near Gelhardt when it comes to scoring goals or making things happen. But I admit Roberts could be Zico in training but not able to transfer it onto the pitch properly. We waited too long for Costa and Poveda to step up but in the end they had to go. Still waiting on Roberts
Morning all, Nice to get that first win under the belt and a base to push on from. Keep playing like that and the next few games should, in theory, be a good opportunity to build up some points. Cooper, on current form, will always be the topic of debate. He has been putting in good performances alongside different partners but as he showed on Saturday he still has a potentially disastrous mistake in him. He is still first choice at the moment but this is definitely looking like his last season as more than a squad player.
Morning all and everyone. We put Watford to the sword on Saturday but only came away 1 nil winners, a little fortunate over there disallowed goal. Prior to the game I was aware and afraid of Sarr on there right and what he would do to Firpo, pleased to say that Firpo did a descent job on him. Cooper is going to give penalties away sooner rather than later, refs will discuss between themselves and they are on to him. Raphinha and Llorente are class, enough said there. I thought Shackleton had a good game and put a big shift in, Ayling might struggle getting back to the level Amigo demands. Roberts…… not a fan, but did put a good 30 mins in but is he going to make it? Oh and another thing I saw, does anyone else think Roberts runs funny, not sportsman like!! Can’t make my mind up over Dallas and Klich, we need some inventiveness, a creator in MF and I am afraid they don’t posses that skill.
Frustrating as hell on Saturday. Great first half, particularly the first half hour, we battered them but again went into half time just the one goal up. Second half was weird, half an hour had gone so quickly without anything seeming to happen. Not helped by the Watford players seemingly unable to stay upright for most of the game, constantly time wasting even while behind. Not a fan of Roberts but to be fair, we livened up considerably when he came on for the last ten minutes and should have scored. Great to win but Watford were a very, very poor side and we should have buried them.
VAR should be scrapped it's gone from giving offsides for having a toenail over,and fouls for blowing on someone to clear penalties and fouls not being given its to inconsistent. We should ask bielsa if he can find something for llorente to do a couple of sessions a week instead of murder ball we need this guy staying fit! When he is in he stabilises the defence immensely, of course we should have been out of sight on Saturday the shooting was abysmal and needs urgent attention. Hopefully the monkey is of our backs with the 3 points and a more positive run of games will follow, just try putting your boot's on the right feet lads.
What were everyone’s thoughts on Rodrigo? The stats surprised me, he only touched the ball 32 times. When you break down what he did with it those 32 times, he passed the ball 18 times, only 9 times did the pass find its target (50% success rate). When going forward with the ball he lost possession 14 times.
Dan James must be wondering what has to happen to him for a penalty to be given. At his last club he only had to be looked at funny for a penalty to be given, now anything short of a stone cold stunner seems to go unpunished.
Rodrigo is now everyones bogeyman. He has had a couple of MoM performances and on Saturday against a different style of team did more running and chasing back to block and interrupt them
Looked a no-brainer from where I was sitting but having seen the highlights on MOTD I can why the ref didn't give it. From his line of sight, directly behind James and the Watford player it looked like James had just fallen over to his left in front of the defender, but VAR should have intervened, from all other angles it was clear to see James was practically rugby tackled. Still, VAR didn't overrule their goal being disallowed so I guess we can be thankful that VAR was consistently awful - this time.
Var has been pointless this season and not just for us. It has gone from getting way too involved to not fulfilling its purpose. Hopefully this means next season it will find the middle ground and actually do what it is supposed to do.
We've been shafted by VAR on numerous ocassions, so about time we had some luck. It would have been daylight robbery if Watford had got a point. So **** the pundits.
VAR should be used in a way that intoduces more excitement particulary for the fans in the stadium. If we take the Dan James penalty and the disallowed Watford goal from Saturday they are both prime examples of how the onfield referee could have reviewed both incidents from multiple angles to confirm or otherwise his original decision. The key though is to have no pre conceptions put in his head from the the VAR official, his job should be to decide which replays allow the onfield referee to see the incident as clearly as possible. It's then entirely up to the onfield referee to decide if he thinks he's made a clear & obvious error based on the footage he's just seen. As it stands we all know if the referee goes to the pitch side monitor then it's almost 100% certain the decision will be changed. There is therefore no feeling of suspense or uncertainty amongst the crowd, just merely waiting for the inevitable. At the end of the day it's down to the judgement and application of the laws by a human being, we should be supporting the referee with the technology available but also allow them the freedom to officiate without a 3rd party involvement that's not present in the stadium. There must be some referees who have looked at important decisions after games and thought why the f*ck didn't the VAR referee let me have another look at that as I would have liked the opportunity to decide if I'd made the right call or not. We then of course move onto supporters inside the stadium being able to see the replays, either as the review is happening or immediately after. Football is an entertainment industry, so when we've all paid an arm and a leg to attend don't treat us like idiots. Instead show some respect to the fans that provide the atmosphere which allows you to sell the product worldwide by showing replays of what we've paid to see.
Disallowed goal or not how nice was it for young Meslier to keep a clean sheet this season? With his performances so far it was totally deserved.
For what it's worth, just seen Ref Watch on Sky Sports. Dermot Gallagher said not a penalty but also that the goal was rightly disallowed. Don't know if he just backs up the ref every time though.
