The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Tue 15th Sept)

Good Morning. It's Tuesday 15th September, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road.

De Paul drops major hint about his future

Udinese midfielder Rodrigo De Paul has dropped the biggest hint so far - that he wants to become a Leeds player before the transfer window closes next month.

Leeds fanzine The Square Ball commented on Twitter last night that De Paul wants to join Marcelo Bielsa’s team but is waiting on Udinese to accept a bid.

De Paul replied: “Yes” and added a fingers-crossed emoji before deleting the tweet shortly afterwards.

please log in to view this image

Big boots to fill for Mark Jackson

Leeds U18 head Coach and former player Mark Jackson has been promoted to U23 Manager, taking over from Carlos Corberan who left to become head Coach at Huddersfield.

The 42yo former defender has his work cut cut having witnessed a 4-0 drubbing last night at the hands of Stoke City which included big money signings Elia Caprile, Sam Greenwood and Joe Gelhardt. Worryingly, even with he experience Hosannah, Gotts, McCalmont, Jenkins, Stevens and McKinstry, the Whites were unable to make any significant progress.

Jackson took up his first coaching role at Thorp Arch in 2015, twenty years since originally joining them as an apprentice.

His coaching career started with the Under-15s, then Under-16s, before becoming head coach of the Under-18s. In 2018, his U18's won the Professional Development League title!

please log in to view this image

Bielsa factor having big impact on fan fase

Ally McCoist has admitted that Leeds United could be viewed as his “second team” after being so impressed with Marcelo Bielsa. The former Rangers legend was talking with Laura Woods on TalkSports. She asked “I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this but I’ll say it quietly just in case. But they’ve (Leeds) almost become peoples’ second team,”

McCoist replied: “You’re absolutely right. Do you know why? It’s definitely the Bielsa factor.
“I understand the rivalry between clubs and Leeds United, with other clubs, might not be the most popular.
“But Bielsa’s brought a kind of [likeability], a second-club factor about them.

“Me, for example. I’ve been saying all week that I’m looking forward to seeing them back in the top-flight. I was really looking forward to the game [against Liverpool] and it didn’t let me down at all. It did not disappoint.”

Maybe all the die hard Leeds fans are right. Maybe we do ALL Love Leeds!!!

Is it right to have a second team?

please log in to view this image

 

Morning all,

This rubbish about us being peoples second team, nothing i have seen on social media or even talking to people in real life shows evidence of this.
It is just talksport chucking out their usual click bait rubbish. Take Durham in the afternoon. He spent all last season waxing lyrical about how good leeds are. Before we had kicked a ball this season he declared we were gonna be relegated.

 

Morning all

poor Mark Jackson was in charge of the 21s who got battered by 7 last week and now another 4 last night for the 23s. Jacko was watching last night as he officially takes over today but he wont be too worried. I said last night on the 23s sticky what will happen and compared it to last season for the 23s. No worries and Joe Gelhardt is a fantastic signing and was streets ahead last night. Greenwood not as good.

The Rodrigo De Paul transfer is like a soap opera, but nearing conclusion. The player has been told he is being sold to St Petersburg and he has said no. Zenit have offered £30m and Leeds have tabled £23m so Pozzo said Russia it is then, but De Paul says he wont go. De Paul still has 4 years and with no top Italian club coming in for him Pozzo will have to either accept a lower offer from Leeds or not sell him. Its believed Radz will sweeten the original offer but not pay what Pozzo wants. We shall see

 

For those not too clued up on De Paul a decent piece from Focus on Leeds

https://focusonleeds.com/2020/08/31/rodrigo-de-paul-scouting-report/

 

Morning all

Can't we just get this De Paul deal over the line and be done with it? Would have been a craking signing

 

Phil Hay has stated that Leeds are weighing up the De Paul transfer. I think this is because he'll take basically all of the remaining budget if we pay full price so it's a waiting game to see if Pozzo accepts a reduced price. We were touted to be after 4-5 signings which I assume were a LB/CB cover, CB to replace White, ST, CAM/CM and a winger. We've obviously sorted the CB to replace White and the striker, De Paul would cover the CM but if we pay the full price that will leave us with a small remaining budget for the two other signings, one of which will be a loan I would imagine. The question Leeds are asking themselves and Bielsa is shall we buy De Paul, get a CB/LB on loan and not bother with another winger OR leave De Paul, buy/loan 3 players ala Gvordial, Wilson and Gallagher or similar players that they're watching.

U23s are without some players and they've got a lot of new players to integrate. Mark will do a good job as he has done at all the other levels and he will know the U18s that'll be ready to take the next step up. It's just a difficult job and a balancing act with players moving up to the first team especially with the transfer window still open and the first team squad not being full yet so are Struijk and Casey first team players or will they drop back down due to an incoming CB.

Don't get the idea of a second team, its a no from me.

 

Looking like Conor Gallagher will sign on loan for WBA, so yet again Frank does his best to have a go at Bielsa. We offered them good money for an outright buy, but I suppose now we know we can concentrate on De Paul or someone else for the midfield role. Lets face it the same players who were available are still available. Benrhama, Buendia, Wilson are just 3 from the UK. Buendia has told Norwich he wants to play in the Prem and Norwich need him off the wage bill....

I think Leeds will bring in a loan player, a good one who will get plenty of game time and he will be experienced. Think Young Gallagher as a loan player wouldn't have got a game every week and why they wanted to buy him was so we could develop him to take over from Pablo next season

 

Good Morning to Matt and co from a sunny Bardsey
I do hope we can put the De Paul story to bed now lets get him signed and if we get him for 23m then thats great business Summer ville will sign soon as well

 

Good morning.

If we don't get De Paul I just hope we don't leave it too late to get other players in. We won't do ourselves any favours if other clubs know we're desperate. I'm torn because I think we need more than just De Paul but he is probably a level above anyone else we're linked with.

I wouldn't say I have a second team but there are clubs I like to see win. York, Harrogate and Halifax are a few but none of them take the edge off the slightest when Leeds lose so I wouldn't call any of them a second team. I usually get to 15-20 non league matches a season when they don't clash with Leeds so I suppose that would make Pontefract, Brighouse or Frickley my real "second teams".

 

The only people who have second teams are the armchair fans who watch everything on TV and the only time they have been in a football stadium was when their Mrs bought them a stadium tour at their favorite teams ground on their birthday once.
The only time I celebrate another teams victory is when I've had a bet on them or they have beaten West Ham.

 

Morning,

Watched Ben White last night playing on the right of a back 3. Don't think that position suits him at all. Looked distinctly average and nowhere near Brighton's laughable valuation.

Looked great at Leeds as part of a CB partnership, but as DM he was poor, as he was last night as part of a back 3.

Can see his career nosediving at Brighton if they continue to play him there. His strengths at CB are marauding forward and spraying passes to the wings, neither of which he could do last night.

Potter will ruin him with his tactics.

 

And after playing every minute of every game last season for Leeds he didn't last one full game for Brighton, went off injured. It's a strange world.

 

I actually thought White did well last night on his Premier League debut. If he'd have been with us and played like that we'd have been praising him. He didn't look as creative on the ball as he did with us but made some good tackles. I still think he'll be a top player but probably won't progress as much as he could under Potter

 

https://one-versus-one.com/en/compare-players/andres-fernandez-vs-rodrigo-de-paul

Just compared Andres Fernandez versus Rodrigo De Paul on 1vs1 stats site and De Paul smashed it

Pretty good site which gives data for all the top players in whichever position you want to look at

 

I guess I was watching him with Brighton's £35m valuation in mind. Not worth anywhere near that where they played him.

 

The Leeds Rhinos don't count as a second team though. FFS Eire had 5 teams.............

 

Morning all

I have a feeling we will get De Paul

 

I'm getting a bit tired of the saga though, I mean who do you believe, Udinese, De Paul or Doc

 

The problem is, one news outlet reports it then all the other clickbait sites on News Now repeat it, often adding something like reliable journo so the momentum gathers and it can seem like everyone is reporting it when its just a cut and paste job.

I posted the tweet on another thread and De Paul has since deleted his Twitter account so I imagine he has had a roasting. If I hadn't seen the tweet I would take it all with a pinch of salt. If we don't get him then at least he is the sort of quality we are aiming at, if we don't get him then I'd like someone to join who already has PL experience but the prices being quoted are crazy

 

Sorry Ringo I will disagree with you to an extent as for want of a better description I have a third team as well as a second team.

My second team comes from the fact that having moved away from Leeds when I was about 8, and having watched Leeds for about 2 years before that (not that I can remember most of it), my dad took me to watch the team that was local to where I lived. When I was 16 I bought a season ticket for that team. When I learnt to drive at the age of 19, I bought a season ticket for that team and also for Leeds for about 3 years. Whilst I've probably only paid to watch my second team about 10 times in the last 20 years , I spent 3 years working there from 2010 to 2013, and as they are now a fan owned club, I am also a "shareholder" for want of a better description, and thus attend their AGM and a lot of other shareholder meetings. They have played Leeds about 7 times that I can recall in my lifetime and I've cheered for Leeds on every single occasion.

My third team play in the German second division and basically is due to having watched a game there when on a school trip when I was 14. Thus since then I have looked out for their results, and done my best to keep up with what is happening there ( a lot more easier now the internet exists of course).

Does it bother me when either my 2nd or 3rd team lose, then the honest answer is no. Do I celebrate when they win, not to anywhere near the same extent as Leeds, but it does put a smile on my face and thus probably makes me more positive for that time.

Do I own memorabilia for either of those clubs, then again the answer is yes, although most of it is from my younger days.

Until this weekend I've not watched a premier league game or Match of the Day for god knows how many years as I have little to no interest in just watching football for football sake, but I did watch my German team play last season whenever their games were televised

However the media take on a " second team" is totally different and more in line with the points you have raised, and has very little to do with whether that team wins or loses (at least initially), it just means they enjoy watching them. That type of "second team" will appeal to as you say the armchair fan, the ex professionals involved in media, and the younger fan ( ie 5-12 year old) who don't have a local club ( or at least have no interest in their local club, because they are not a premier league team), and thus at that age their long term loyalty is still up for grabs.

My son's first team is my second team and currently play in the 6th tier of the football league. His second team play in the Isle of Man league, as that is where he lives now. He got interested in football during the darker days of Leeds history and thus despite attending a number of matches when he was younger, preferred to go and watch his local team with his friends, than travel 80 miles with me to watch Leeds play at home

 

Phil Hay now involved regarding De Paul and saying Leeds have the cash but are unwilling to give what Pozzo wants. As I said earlier Radz may offer a bit more but not what the greedy prat Pozzo wants. Its good to finally have it confirmed that De Paul wants to come to Leeds but if we dint buy him nobody in Italy will. 92% of all transfers in Italy are loans or freebies because there is no cash. Leeds are offering cash but it will come down to who Bielsa wants in the end. Apparently De Paul is his ideal and someone he has asked about was Buendia at Norwich but we walked away as they wanted £25m. This would be the same price as De Paul so who is the better player, I would say De Paul by far and he is a full International but Buendia has played in the prem and his stats for a team relegated is impressive.