WJ I hate to disagree with you especially as you were there and I was on TV but this sort of backs up my view of Meslier, Clarke, Costa and Co. Sorry mate but we disagree slightly https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2019/08/...-illan-meslier-makes-whites-debut-in-u23-win/
Don't be sorry, but let's disagree! Meslier: I said: 'Keeper looked ok to me. Not outstanding, imo, but impressive for a first match in a Leeds shirt. Article said: Meslier was one of the players who enjoyed a good afternoon. He did not have many saves to make, but he looked comfortable when coming for crosses and his distribution showed why the club have brought him in as Kiko Casilla's understudy Tweets said: "Great with his feet", "Tidy", "Decent", "Agile". Plus of course compliments on his penalty save. I don't see a great difference in my comments compared to the others. No superlatives are used in theirs. In fact, no comparatives either. Just adjectives. I didn't deride him, I simply thought him adequate, based on him having very little to do, but impressive in that he didn't screw up on his debut. And yes, he had a good penalty save, which we all applauded, even after they had scored. Clarke & Costa Article said: It was a game in which Helder Costa demonstrated his class, Jack Clarke seemed to frighten the Millwall full-backs... Tweets said: Nothing. I said: In midfield, Costa, was again unimpressive, Clarke more so - in fact I think there were only 2 moments of 'magic' from him, 1 in each half, and both were in the middle of the park, not the wings. Think you could put your house on him not even making the bench on Wednesday. First half he just looked totally uninterested. All that was missing was the pockets for him to shove his hands in. I'd say he has serious mental-side problems atm. Wonder if he's been getting abuse for his regrettable remarks about always knowing he was leaving? I guess this is more contentious. Believe it or not, I'm always wary of being overly biased when reporting on a performance. I like to tell it as I saw it, but I also like to take in the views of those around me, so I can smooth out the rough edges if I've been overly extreme in my assessment (either way). Today, I was standing with 2 strangers between the dugouts & my reported views are very similar to theirs. We discussed & largely concurred. Our view was that Costa was quite unremarkable in his 45 mins, given his stature and our reasonable expectation. If he was showing his class, he would have destroyed Millwall. But he didn't. He just didn't get going. No goals. No assists. Nothing special. And tackling still seems to be a problem for him. Clarke was poor over the 90 & simply not interested in the first half. 'He's had a rocket up his arse at half time' was a phrase used when he did eventually get involved in positive play. Soon after the start of 2nd 45 mins, someone observed 'someone's woken up', which was a very astute comment. However, it didn't last. Scaring full backs? Must have been showing them he had a stiffie or something.
Ipswich match has now changed to this Friday 1pm at Playford Road. Was supposed to be Monday night....
A full on performance saw our U23s completely dominate Ipswich yet only beat them by 1-0 scored by Ryan Edmondson after great work from Kun. Kamel Miazek also pulled off a great penalty save Played 2 won 2 and going well.
So Bryce Hossanah is in hospital having an operation so looks like he will be missing for a while, just like last season. Hope to see him soon because the kids special
Leeds Utd 0-0 Bristol City Mom is the Bristol keeper and his woodwork which Bogusz hit 4 times. Douglas made some great crosses but Struijk missed a couple of chances along with Clarke. Leeds by far the better team Played 3 Unbeaten 7 points
Leeds Utd 6-0 Watford Now 2nd in the league 1 point behind Still unbeaten with 3 wins and 2 drawers See everyone Friday for the away match at Hull
Well chaps, I got a wonderful treat tonight. Went to ER to watch the u23s. Looked forward to a good game & had high expectations. They were hugely surpassed. What. A. Game! Keeper & defence rock solid. Berra & Douglas at FB in the first half, Ayling & Davis in the second. The first pair, very defensively-minded, but still attacked. The second, not so - more attack, attack, attack. Best game I've seen Davis play, & Ayling looked back to his best. Casey & Struijk worked really well together at CB, with young Jenkins doing well as a Phillips. Midfield. OK, let's deal with the elephant in the room first. Clarke. He sucked. Again. There is no doubt in my mind that this guy has a confidence problem. He had great opportunities to shoot, but declined & hurriedly tried to pass the ball. Unsuccessfully, generally. Zero end product, and at times, completely uninterested. Pretty sure he'd have been hooked if we had another winger to come on. We did have another winger playing - McKinstry. First time I've watched him & can't wait until the next time. Involved in everything, tricks, pace, passes, shots - you name it, he did it. And very, very well too. Was a lot of trouble for Watford, & whilst he didn't score, he won us 2 penalties. In the middle, we had Bogusz & Gotts. Bogusz was great in the first game I watched him, and has improved every time since. Tonight continued the trend. Gotts has been absolutely outstanding as a RB of late, but it's a while since I saw him play CM. Difficult to choose a motm, but he was deffo on the shortlist. I kid you not, there were phases in the first half where the words 'wee Billy' were on my lips. And it was nothing to do with them both being vertically challenged. Full spectrum brilliant midfield play, from sublime passing to dirty wee basturd tackles. Breathtaking, honestly. Up front we had Eddie. Poached a goal, scored a penalty. Little else, if I'm honest. He's not a line leader. Lost almost every ball he tried to hold up. Dangerous, but not Bamford. Fortunately, not my problem to deal with. It's another problem that's good for Bielsa to have. Roberts came on for the second half. I don't think I've ever seen him play with such intensity & energy. Never seen him so sharp either. No ring-rustiness with this guy. It was a very impressive display from him, and if I can over-simplify it, he's a hybrid Eddie/Bamford mix. Which is no bad thing. Only downside was his hairstyle. I didn't think it possible that someone could eclipse Phillips' hairstyle, but he's managed it. You must be some Minnie Mouse fan to have a hairstyle like that! Should add that Dalby played 90 minutes for them. No great loss, by the looks. But then, that's what they said about Seaman. For info, the little boss-eyed basturd's boy played on the losing side tonight. Satisfying. EDIT: Forgot to mention the score. 6-0. 3 each half. Could have been a lot more too. Struijk, Eddie x2 (1 pen), Gotts, Roberts (pen) & Ayling. Also forgot to mention, to be balanced, that Clarke did have a belter of a shot from outside the box. Pure Lorimer - only the rocket (closely) missed.
The weather was one thing I misjudged, Mike. Made the unforeseen mistake of wearing shorts, & towards the end of the match, my bollocks were freezing. Cold enough to require the kind of warming up that would get you arrested if you did it properly. But I struggled manfully on. Who would leave a match like this early. Btw, huge crowd. I got my ticket after standing in a huge queue & had it in my hand 10 mins before kick-off. By this time the queue was right down to the home turnstiles. Think quite a number would have missed the start. u23 matches getting v.popular these days.
Found out earlier from young Stuart McKinstry. I was hoping to go through with his dad if he was playing (don't like driving to strange places on my own), but he was telling me that he's in the odd position of not only knowing if he's playing or not, but whether it's Leeds or Scotland (presuming it's still the u17s). The price of fame, eh?