Good Morning Everyone Where are Leeds at their most vulnerable? Amazingly, Leeds have only conceded four goals from open play in 16 matches, fewer than any other side in the Championship! What about set pieces I hear you ask? 9 out of the remaining 13 goals Leeds have conceded have come from set-pieces! Does that surprise you? Where does the problem lay? Is it a height issue? Are set pieces a weakness of Peacock Farrell? Whilst we are talking about statistics, just take a look at how much we dominated Wigan at the weekend... Possession: 32%-68% Touches: 477-727 Pass Accuracy: 54%-79% Attacking Third Passes: 44-115 Shots: 6-12 Loss of Possession: 33-23 Successful Passes: 148-421 Ball Recoveries: 50-61 Crosses: 10-18 Tackles: 22-31 Bearing these stats in mind, shouldn't we be winning by a more comfortable margin? Very interesting comment from Bielsa regarding injuries the other day :- "We are the team with the least injuries in the Championship. We protect the players. If you factor players used by injuries, we are low. Muscular injuries are the result of burn-out but that is not the case with our injuries." Championship players must be dropping like flies!!!
Morning Matt and all I'm more confident when we are defending now than for many a year, teams concede goals, that's football. if I had to pick out why we are conceding more from set pieces than open play then it would be the lack of height, as so many of the goals seem to be headers. We generally only concentrate on our own problems with injuries but most teams get them, it's just we don't realise until perhaps we play that team, like Wigan were without 4 key players Sunday, wouldn't have known that unless we played them. I do feel we are a victim of our earlier games, as in victim from too much criticism from our own fans, there was very little chance we could continue the way we played against Stoke, Derby etc, other teams were going to stifle us, but some seem to think we are failing because of this, given the fact where we are to where most of us thought we'd be, we really should have little to moan about. Having said that healthy discussion on ways of improving the team and squad isn't an issue, you should always look to improve, no matter who you are.
Morning all Stats don't lie its just the way they can be interpreted. Those stats point to domination of games but have not enough end product. The reasons are twofold: The opposition know how we play and now charge back and park the bus making it harder to get the final ball through. Our final ball doesn't match the build up play. Offsides, Saiz not at the races, We had no Pablo but now back, Alioski and Douglas seem to counter each other out as we have had no dead ball goals and few great crosses from both. Many of our chances are now taken from distance which shows we are not in the box enough and could be a reason for no penalties for 54 games. Agree with Bielsa on the injuries but surprised we have the lowest injury rate for muscle strains. The set-piece effect is a worry and we know Blackburn for example used our lack of height by making sure Cooper and Pontus were moved away for someone to steal in and score. its happening every game and clubs are putting on all their big lads when they play us. It also means we have discussions about Keepers
Morning all... All teams will concede from set pieces though, conceding so many from them is only highlighted because we do so well preventing goals from open play. I’d like to see where we stand in the table of goals conceded from set pieces? Are we any worse than other teams in the top 3rd? This really isn’t knocking or blaming BPF but it does show where the difference is between an average/good keeper to a superb one at this level. I believe we can earn promotion this season but I’m unsure where that will leave BPF if we do. Set pieces are where keepers should have almost total control from wall position to commanding the area at corners.
Set pieces!!!! I would banish the wall 20 yds and beyond, I think the wall helps the attacker in a way of surprise the ball whipping over or around the wall, plus if a keeper cannot sort a shot out with clear sight of the striker from that distance he’s not worth diddly squat!!
Morning all, How do we compare height wise to other teams? Of our regular starters only Alioski, Saiz and Hernandez are less than 6ft, and I'm sure every team has their fair share of smaller players, so is lack of aerial power really an issue when defending set pieces?
Morning all, A new third kit released today and will be worn Saturday. It really is a thing of beauty I must say. I am very tempted to drive up from Lincolnshire tomorrow and buy it for my nephew, do not want to wait the 10 day delivery time.
That's my point Chesh, both those teams of cloggers and hoofers launched aerial bombardments on us, and we only conceded one goal in those two games, that goal being the result of a long throw launched into the box which are difficult to defend against at the best of times So I think it's more to do with marking and organisation at set pieces than a lack of height
Good Morning to Matt and co from a very wet Bardsey Its been mooted that we are after a striker from Ireland called Ronan Curtis AT PRESENT he his having trials with Boro but because of his age we are thin king about leaving with his club but buying him in Jan I was thinking about Roofe Soton want him could we swap him plus cash for Shane Long who is very quick and as an eye for goal I bet Boro are top at set pieces its Pulis's trade mark
7 goals for Roofe and not one for Long this season. Keep in mind Roofe has missed a lot of playing time this season as well so he would probably be closer to the highest scorer in the league. He has also improved each season he has been with us. Swapping him for that has been is the stupidest idea since Viking leader Erik the Red ordered 300 new helmets with the horns on the inside.
I can only quote is international level with a goal every 6 games but whenever I see him play he works his socks off for the team
A goal at international level every 6 games, still struggling to see where even the slightest notion came from that he would be better than Roofe. Working your socks off is a fine attribute but 7 goals in 12 games or so is what we need.
I watched the game against Wigan and while Leeds had most of the possession and did more probing there was very little attacking threat and you can't even claim your pressure caused the mistake for the winning goal it was a mix up between the goalkeeper and defender, otherwise the game was heading for a draw. The same can be said of Fulham at Huddersfield on monday night, loads of possession and domination of large parts of the game but very little threat where it matters, statistics have their purpose but goals decide games,shots on and off target and corners are the only stats that I pay attention too.
