Good Morning. It's Wednesday 25th August, and here the the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds leave it late Division One outfit Crewe Alexandra held out for almost 80 minutes last night in front of a sell out crowd at Elland Road in the second round of the League Cup. As to be expected, Bielsa made wholesale changes to the starting line up, with Forshaw, Llorente, Roberts, Costa, Shackleton and Rodrigo all starting. Forshaw in particular looked especially comfortable, even after a 697 day lay off! A mixture of fine saves and last ditch defending frustrated the home side as they laid siege on William Jääskeläinen's goal. The deadlock was finally broken eleven minutes from time from the most unlikely source! Harrison's in-swinging corner was met by Kalvin Phillips. The 25yo England star lost his marker before glancing the ball past the Finnish keeper. Once penetrated, the floodgates opened. Six minutes later Klich's carved the Crewe midfield open with a 25 yard diagonal pass towards Bamford. Just like he did on Saturday, the unselfish number 9 found a player in a better position. He squared the ball to Harrison, who had time to take a touch before dinking the ball over the keeper. Harrison doubled his account for the season in the closing stages. Ayling's long range pass from the edge of his own box once again found Bamford. He beat his defender before laying the ball back for Roberts to take a strike at goal. Although his effort was initially saved, Harrison's rebound wasn't! Bielsa's post match presser Are the Leeds fringe players good enough It was comfortable in the end, but Leeds needed Patrick Bamfords help to unlock Crewe's defence. Would Leeds have won without him - probably! They had 28 shots at goal with nine efforts on target. They dominated 75% of the possession and had nine corners to Crewe's one! It was nice to see Forshaw and Llorente both on the path to fitness following their respective injuries, but it was concerning that none of the U23's were given a run out. I understand that most of them had played against Spurs the day before, but these are young lads; with their stamina at that age, it shouldn't be a problem against lowly opposition, even for 30 minutes! Crewe haven't had the best start to the season. They have lost three, and drawn once, yet it took almost an entire first team to beat them! Are Leeds fringe players good enough? Would it be better if players like Roberts and Costa were sent out on loan to get lots of game time, or do Leeds not have the luxury to be able to do that? Interestingly, Harrison commented after the game that Bielsa was taking the League Cup very seriously this season - is that the real reason why no U23's took part in the game?
Not aimed at you @ellandback or anyone in particular but we football fans make me laugh. Last season we played the youngsters and got beat by Hull. Everyone was saying we should take the cups more seriously. This season we field a stronger team. Beat Crewe 3-0. Now its a case of our youngsters not good enough to get a game against Crewe.
Morning all, We won Forshaw returned so we have another option in midfield Llorente is back from injury. I couldn't get a link to work so only saw highlights but it looked like Crewe did all but build a moat around their box so it was tough to break them down.
I think the plan was pretty obvious. The first team squad who don’t typically start get some Important game time. by keeping it to first team squad it ensures a competitive side. if we’re 3 up at half time, the kids might get a run out. We weren’t so they didn’t. Makes sense as a plan to me. If we had Europe to contend with I’d be advocating the 23’s for these games, but we don’t.
nice one Elland good win against a stubborn Crewe, they were always going to buckle late on ... Forshaw & Llorente were both impressive, both will have important roles to play this season ... Firpo settling in nicely, reckon three more games and he'll be up to speed, clearly a big step up physically to be able to play Bielsa Ball ... Roberts showed good movement again, he will only get better, and good for Rodrigo to get more minutes (class is permanent) thought Crewe coped well with the crowd, no doubt Luke Murphy would have given them lots of advice, and so good to see him get such a positive reception another minnow in the next round will be good, gives Bielsa another game to let the bench players stretch their legs ... c'mon Leeds!!
Afternoon all. The main thing we learned from last night is that we can probably expected a fairly settled side for the first part of the season. Now I know some of you are not the biggest fans of Cooper but surely as club captain and defensive mainstay under Bielsa he'll be the regular partner of Llorente. Full backs are Ayling & Junior Firpo. With Meslier in goal that's the back 5 sorted. Midfield will see Phillips & Dallas starting every game....plus one other ??? Up front it's Bamford, Raphinha & Harrison all day long. The plus one other is between Rodrigo, Klich, Roberts and now Forshaw has thrown his hat into the ring. Personally I think we've got adequate cover in the squad and no further signings are necessary this window. Conclusion is; we should be comfortable in mid table but not challenging for the Top 6.
Good to hear the South Stand choir have adapted the Pablo & Kiko song to Diego Llorente & Junior Firpo...I'm sure both players will appreciate that as the season progresses. Hopefully it doesn't turn one of them into a circus performer.
Morning Pal / All Pretty much agree with all of that but wonder if that is why we fielded a stronger team last night - do the club feel giving the cups our best shot has to be done this year to offer some sort of progress? I am realistic enough (in my lucid moments) to know last season was amazing and we will do fabulously to even replicate it. Can't see us getting into danger but how do you gauge progress if you aim to stand still (and how do you sell that idea to players and fans alike)? Standing still makes clear financial sense and buys time to bring players through but it won't satisfy the wishes of fans hungry for success and ambitious players for long.
Did you see Calamity Kiko's gaff at the weekend? I am actually not sure how he has made a living out of football for so long unless he is lying on a beach somewhere while his twin brother see's out his £ 35k per week contract for him!
Struijk will be first reserve centre half for now. Unless you'd rather bench Cooper ? We could go with that, just don't think Bielsa will personally.
Hopefully you're correct about the Cups. Bielsa is probably one step ahead of us and has it all mapped out. Let me know when you fancy coming up for a game and I'll sort something out.
Afternoon all I have a strong feeling this could be Bielsas last season, progress to get into Europe takes time and money, Bielsa isn’t getting any younger and there is only so far you can go without heavier investment. After getting a taste of the Premier League and realising the mammoth divide between the top few and the rest maybe he has decided he’s going to try and win some silverware. Maybe Bielsa has decided Europe is possible so he’s getting the players ready for two games a week!!! I’m just glad that for the first time in over a dozen years we took the competition more seriously
Let's hope for a favourable draw tonight. The Carabao is definitely the easier of the 2 because the Top 4 clubs have other priorities such as the CL group stages to navigate. So a fulll strength Leeds team should give any side a run for their money. To be clear though, although we put out a strong side last night it still lacked Raphinha, Dallas, Ayling, Cooper & Bamford from the starting eleven. That's half the outfield players who will start on Sunday.
Whenever you can sort a couple of tickets out we will be there like a pair of ferrets up a drainpipe (he is doing my head in a bit going on about it tbh). Can't believe the club haven't invited me up either after donating the money from my last tickets to the academy Actually going to keep my eyes open for half or full season tickets - now he can drive he would go to every game and he can take some young filly or something when I haven't got the time
