The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Tuesday 23rd February)

Good Morning. It's Tuesday 23rd February, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road

Juve willing to let Costa join Leeds but only for swap deal

Italian website Calcio Mercato24 are claiming that Juventus may be willing to let Brazilian International Douglas Costa join the Whites, but only in exchange for Rodrigo.

Costa is surplus to requirements at the Allianz Stadium and is currently out on loan to Bayern Munich. The 30yo has 18 months of his contract remaining, so Manager Andrea Pirlo will be keen to move the striker on in the Summer. Record signing Rodrigo has had a steady start to his Premiership career, but few would say he has set the World on fire. Leeds record signing turns 30 next month.

Costa is valued at 21.5m. Can a deal be done? Should a deal be done? What would you do?

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Saints journo praises Bamfords awful to ruthless transformation

Saints journalist Steve Grant has been sharing his thoughts on Patrick Bamfords amazing transformation over the last six months, and how the former Chelsea hit man went from 'basically awful' to 'ruthless'.

“I find it absolutely baffling that Patrick Bamford has suddenly turned into a good striker. Obviously, Chelsea paid decent money to sign him as a 15-year-old from Nottingham Forest and they then farmed him out on loan five or six times, and he was basically awful everywhere and he wasn’t even that great for Leeds last season.

“They would have absolutely run away with the league and had it sewn up before the lockdown if he’d been in the same form as he has been this season and yet something’s just clicked in him this season and all of a sudden he’s not just a ruthless striker but he also shows him an awful lot of intelligence I think in terms of his runs, dragging defenders out of the way which then allows other players like Raphinha and Rodrigo when he’s been fit to run into those gaps and create chances through other avenues.”

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Whelan questions Roberts 'fight and desire'

During a recent interview with 'Football Insider' former Leeds striker Noel Whelan gave his thoughts on Tyler Roberts, and whether the former Baggies hit man deserved a new contract when his expires in the Summer of 2022.

Whelan certainly pulled no punches justifying that he thought Roberts fitness levels were below par and questioned his fight and desire!

“While he is young I do not think he is of the required level. His fitness levels did not look great the other day either. He did nothing after 20 minutes. That is a substitute’s performance. We need a player who can play 90 minutes.

“Roberts has been injured too often. He was even injured when we signed him.

“Is he good enough? In my opinion he isn’t. I would love him to go out there and prove me wrong because I want everyone to succeed. I need him to show me more. He needs to show more fight and desire. I just do not see that.

“It makes me wonder whether he would be better off leaving and going somewhere where he would get regular game time.

“He had one good performance against Hull last season. That is it.

“I do not think we have seen the real Tyler Roberts yet. I find it very hard to see a career for him at Leeds United on the current evidence.”

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Bielsa - reevaluate position at the end of the season

Marcelo Bielsa has revealed that he wants Leeds to reevaluate his Managerial situation at the end of the season, now get tied down now. The 65yo made it clear that he wasn't trying to delay the situation, nor did it mean that the club had more desire than him to stay.

"The first thing I want to highlight, because what it seems like is that the president is offering me an extension and I am delaying it,"

"It could be interpreted as the club having more of a desire for me to stay than I do and that's not the case.

"In no way do I want to position myself above the club. I reiterate, I am not going to manage any other options until my job here at Leeds is done. There is no speculation from my part."

"The second thing is that the decision to work in a club for another year is so important that you must have a clear security.

"When you have a third of the season left to play, perhaps in this period there will be things that happen that will alter the judgement that is useful to have in mind. That is my reasoning. So I go to what you ask me.

"If the club needs an answer before the end of the season, I will respond before the end of the season.

"But if this happens I will take the time to tell them that they should consider what happens in the last part of the season.

"In this case, it's possible that they could say to me 'ok, we'll wait until the end of the season', or they may say to me 'no, we need to resolve this before the end of the season. If they need a response prior to the end of the season then I will give one."

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Morning all...

In the position he plays, Rodrigo is better than Klich, Pablo, Shackleton or Dallas. I’d be cautious of swapping him for an unknown quantity. He’s done okay in a Covid season with no travel allowed yet expected to settle into a new country, club, home, style of football. I think Rodrigo will be better next season and I also feel he would be one of the few who would improve with the fans back in the ground and behind him.

I’d prefer us to sell or move on Pablo, Forshaw, Kiko and our own Costa to help finance new arrivals.

We need to secure our PL future so we can give the likes of Roberts, Geldhardt, Somerville, Greenwood and Huggins a few games then decide if any are good enough to fill a few squad places

 

Morning all

firstly the Costa story has been around for a week and total journo clickbait. Costa is too old for Leeds now and if he cant get into Juve’s side he isnt good enough for us. Costa has lost his pace and surprise and has a broken foot right now, so no way. Last week the deal involved Raphinah and on a similar subject stories about Leeds wanting Traore are also rubbish.

Whelen has turned out to be a no mark gobshyte recently and will say whatever gets a click byt a lot if what he says about Roberts I agree with, in his 4th season now and only played in a third of the games available. A couple of performances each season isnt good enough for me. I thought he did some decent stuff the other night but a lot if sloppy greedy trucks etc. Maybe if he plays tonight he will strt to get confident and improve again. I hope so but if not he has to go in the Summer.

ristac has a valid point about Pablo, Forshaw, Kiko, Costa and I would add Roberts. Costa and Roberts we will get money for. If we are not bringing in another experienced keeper then it makes sense to keep Kiko for cover as Caprile in the Prem is scary. Nobody will give us money for Forshaw so we will allow him to leave and the same for Pablo

Bielsa will be here next season unless we have a load if bad results and he will resign

 

A win tonight will almost certainly guarantee us staying up, with Newcastle my favourites for the last trap door spot.

 

Costa valued at 21mill,well if they give us the 21 and a straight swap...deal, otherwise go do a swivel.
Forshaw for me has been out to long with his injury to make a go in such a high intense game plan that we use, sorry it's a sell.
Roberts is a conundrum he could be good enough, but he still lacks a bit of drive for me and is rather injury prone.
Kiko he has to go.... nobody will convince me otherwise.
Caprille in the prem? Well who would have thought a 20 year old would have been first choice ( I know Coco gave him a helping hand) but still.
Whelan gets paid for his opinion whether you agree or not....easy money in my book.

 

Noooooooooooo I've already lost 10 years of my life watching that twat

 

Today is like a big breakfast debate.

3 sausages, 3 x hash brown, beans, mushrooms, 2 x fried slice, black pudding, 2 x eggs, grilled tomatoes, and 4 rashes of bacon, and of course a big cup of coffee.

So many places down here don't do fried slice or black pudding any more....

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Story is that Llorente, Cooper and Struijk start in a 3 at the back tonight? Makes sense if true as they play with 2 up top.

Another story which I dont believe is that Leicester and Napoli are both chasing Struijk. I do know that both are chasing a new CB but.....

 

Morning all,

I hope Roberts starts again tonight. In the games left this season he should get the chance to see whether he is good enough for us. He can play in Bamford or Rodrigos role and each wing if needed. What would it cost to bring in a squad player who can do that?

I would also love to see Forshaw available for a few games in the run in to see whether he is up to it. I understand the issues with him but I won't write anyone off without a chance. Again, if he is good enough what would it take to replace him?

If we can save 30-40 million by these two being good enough thats 30-40 million towards more important areas that need strengthening like LB.

 

I have to say that back 3 looks really good to me.

I cannot see any reason Struijk moves to either of them unless he is desperate for Champions league football. I am sure after his perfromances this season he will be rewarded with a new improved contract here.

 

Last couple of games they've played Ings & Redmond with Minamino trying to find space in the whole and Che Adams has been coming on from the bench.

So not sure it's a two Doc until Adams comes on but I'm certainly concerned about that space that Kalvin covers in front of our back 4. Think teams are trying to exploit that now as Klich and Dallas lack pace so are susceptible to driving runs past them and are I'm sure Bielsa is worried about as that well. It might be that playing 3 at the back allows one of them to step forward and engage either Minamino or anyone driving through midfield. Or in other words the 3 will alternate/switch into the Phillips role as required dependant upon the attacking threat.

You gotta love Bielsa....I'm sure he's been working his nads off to find a solution to the Phillips conundrum. It failed versus Arsenal and worked much better against Wolves but we still lost. Let's hope tonight with an extra tool available to him (Llorente) he can fix the problem, not just for this game but for the future as well

 

Let’s hope llorente is properly fit this time, if they’re going to play him. Strikes me that he’s so keen to show what he can do that he pushes that bit extra and breaks down in games whilst being fine in training. As said, he’d be likely part of back 3 if they play 2 up top, but surely the obvious kp replacement if we play back 4.

 

Agree about the new contract for Struijk.

Yes he just signed a 4 year deal, but the best way to keep players happy is to constantly move them up the pay grade whilst adding another year or 2 to the contract. Raphinha falls into the same category, new deal and reset the clock back to 4 years on his contract.

When people say contracts are worthless that's true to a point, but the balance massively shifts to the player once they're in the final 18 months of their deal.

Players will still always get their moves, but the buying clubs have to stump up the big bucks if they want to make it happen when there's a 3/4 year contract in place

 

klich and Dallas lack pace... Compared to kp? They lack his positional sense and timing certainly.

Sides have run through the middle of us all season. Basically, if they beat our press or beat their marker... they have a free trot to the penalty box because no one will leave their marker to challenge the ball carrier.

 

Got to agree it really is time we had proper cover for Philips reliance on one man for a win is not good planning
Not being negative but still pissed off from Fridays game

 

True...but,

KP has a shorter distances to cover, especially as the back four are right behind him. Klick & Dallas are having to run 30+ yards back when beaten and don't get close to putting in a second recovery challenge. That's the reason teams have been able to run through the midfield all season and is partly why we need upgrades in there.

Happy to help as always

 

ah... so you weren’t referring to them as temporary replacements for him.
Klich and Dallas aren’t especially slow for midfielders, it’s getting beaten for skill or played around when they press that creates the issue. Are we short of quality/depth in central midfield... yep it’s why we nearly took cuissance.

We lack pace throughout the side compared to most prem teams... when Raphinha gives the ball away, he can never catch his man... Harrison would be a world beater with an extra yard of pace (and a brain) etc - basically when we get caught in possession no-one ever has the pace to get back!

 

think llorente was meant to be cover....

 

...and Koch. Could throw in Forshaw too.