Junior Firpo had a tight hamstring after Wednesday night so now on the treatment table for another 3 weeks. Emu gutted. Joffy hip problem so not available tomoz so he will be sat in the stands with his mate Greenwood. With Marcelo Bielsa taking over the Uraguay National team a few things have come out of the camp. Darwin Nunez is loving life under Bielsa and is playing better after listening to him and doing a slightly tweaked role which is getting him goals. Nahitan Nandez has said Marcelo wanted to sign him from Caliagri many times for Leeds and since taking over the National team and working with him he wishes he had joined him earlier. Dutch winger Noa Lang has also spoken this week about contacts between Bielsa and also Cosy Gakpo before anyone had ever heard of him and when you factor in another unknown in Josko Gvardiol you begin to see a pattern. The players who Bielsa wanted at Leeds are a different class from the players we ended up with after Bielsa left. Bielsa hasn’t said anything about his time at Leeds but there was always a feeling in the final year that players he wanted the club couldn’t get yet all these players went on to be well known stars. Maybe things would have turned out different if Nandez had arrived instead of Aaronson, or Gvardiol instead of Kristensen or Llorente? What do we think of Poveda because he is a strange one. A kid who backed himself so left Chelsea, Arsenal and Barcelona academies and went to Man City academy. Pep says he was awesome and has talent in his feet. Bielsa took him to Leeds and said he has many many strengths and abilities. However as we know he doesn’t do himself any favours, not sure if it’s his head or his mouth. FARKE last week said that Poveda has showed him something special in training so got back into the action. What do we do with him? Sell him, keep him and still only 23yo and we got him for free but contract up in June Something I have been banging on about for the last year or so is the reason the yanks are heavily invested in prem football. A gradual takeover of TV rights and ultimately clubs going it alone on their own streaming services or their own TV broadcasting operation away fro legacy media like Sky. You know stuff is happening when even The Spectator magazine starts creating headlines and a very good piece: Why America’s top TV networks are banking on English soccer It sure seems like there are more red-blooded Americans patrolling our streets in Arsenal and Liverpool shirts these days ByJack Holmes November 14, 2023 Did anyone else see the comments from Liam Cooper about how annoyed he got last season because of the attitude of some of the players and their lack of fight? Maybe it’s part of the captains job to actually say something at the time to the media so that fans can let the players know what they feel about it. Names should have been mentioned. No point hiding behind team cohesion etc as there was none and our worst fears happened. Hoping this is true but stories in Spain and France about Firpo wanting out. I personally believe he would have gone in the summer but was injured. “With him having little playing time with the Whites, it’s said he’s aware he must ‘relaunch his career’, and a move back to La Liga is said to be a real possibility.That potential transfer is said to depend on Juan Miranda, who’s the starter at Betis and is expected to have an offer to leave for AC Milan very soon. Back to Firpo, it’s said his time at Leeds ‘has not covered his objectives’, as the Whites ‘poor overall performance’ hurt him. That’s part of the reason why he wants to leave. The fullback is currently valued by Transfermarkt at €7m, and it remains to be seen whether Betis would go for a permanent move or an initial short loan. Firpo, who is 27-years-of-age, has a contract with Leeds United until June 2025.
On Cooper as captain, that's not how it works. Shout at them and talk to them on the pitch, in the dressing room, on the training field or maybe in the pub, but you don't go public. That's not leadership. Managers don't generally name individual players if things don't go to plan, for the same reason. The buck stops with the captain and the manager and publicly calling out others is cowardice. Poveda I can't fathom at all - he's very patchy. If anyone can unlock any potential he has, then Farke can.
On Poveda Bielsa saw something and picked him he then picked him when we were in the prem and he had a great game against Man City but by Xmas Bielsa had stopped using him so sent him to Blackburn on loan. He then played out of his skin winning some MoM awards. Bad injury sent back to Leeds for treatment. Following season sent out on loan to Blackpool but manager sacked and big Muck came in and he detested Poveda and never played him. Muck gets sacked and Poveda starts getting picked and plays well. Weird and expected him gone this summer but did well for Farke and here we are
Poveda reminds me of a poor man’s Adel Taraabt maybe if he gets some goals he can go off to Spain and turn into a fat twat too
Saturday morning news is a weird one with AC Milan apparently wanting Meslier and Leeds, Burnley and Leicester dropping their claims against Everton and negotiating a settlement instead.
One things for sure. If cellino still owned the club, Bamfords wouldn’t still be around making a mockery of us. Cellino would have found a way to end either him or his nonsensical contract
Thee latest from TeamTalk West Ham, Palace, Leicester join hunt for Sam Greenwood as Leeds loanee makes decision on permanent Boro stay
A win is a win is a win and 3 points but today we almost went back to Marschball where we don’t have a defence, we see Struijk further forward than Rutter and then he tries to race back but nowhere near. Kamikaze football and why didn’t Farke get it sorted? Yet another early goal conceded and in reality we shouldn’t have conceded any today. We should have scored a lot more but Rutter the main culprit today, I do think he’s still carrying a rib/hip injury though. Frustrating watching 10 outfield players trying not to put the ball in the box for record amounts of time, frustrating as hell. Even felt sorry for Bamford who was moving in and out, side to side creating space yet never saw the ball as it was tippy tappy crap . Something needs sorting but yes chuffed we got the points
