Noel Whelan has been pretty negative towards Alioski on WYS. Then again, he was negative towards Saiz as well. It seems that as soon as a Leeds player has an average performance, Whelan finds it necessary to lay into them. Whelan doesn’t back his negativity up with any intelligence though. Let me add this caveat before I continue. I loved Whelan when he starred in the Youth team, and I was thrilled when the lanky lad broke into the Leeds First Team. I was very sad the day he got sold, because I really wanted to see him succeed as an Academy product. When I went to see Leeds at Coventry (the Marlon King game), Whelan was their main guest and came onto the pitch at half-time to do the Coventry City Prize Draw. True to Whelan form, as he finished the draw, he turned to the 6700 Leeds away fans and gave the Leeds salute. Brilliant! Back to the present. I am really disappointed in Whelan’s negativity, especially at a time when Leeds are playing good, attacking football under Bielsa and maintaining their promotion challenge. His latest attack on Alioski was just plain senseless, and all he achieves is to give the boo boys credibility when they go after our excellent Macedonian. Alioski is at the sharp end of the Championship stats table when it comes to chances created, so he must be doing something right. Yes, Bielsa subbed him against Bristol, but that was the right call considering Alioski had been away on International duty. Klich has had the same done to him after Poland duty. For Whelan to say he was elated when Alisoki got subbed is dumb. The thing is, it’s easy to get on Alioski’s case because of his frequent offsides and his occasional bad decision-making. I see a beyond this, and look at what Alioski brings to the team. He’s dynamic, works the full length of the pitch non-stop, and he carries a genuine threat to the opposition. You don’t see opposing full-backs bombing forward on the overlap and putting crosses in, because they fear Alioski on the break. In fact, opposing full-backs seldom cross the halfway line now. That’s a big plus right there. Alioski’s defensive work is immense, he tracks back and isn’t afraid to make a tackle. I remember against Ipswich when they broke from a Leeds corner and swept up field, and just as it seemed they would get in on goal, Alioski appeared from nowhere like Superman and single-handedly stopped Ipswich’s assault. That level of desire can’t be coached, and Alioski’s attitude has a positive effect on the team overall. It’s clear that his colleagues value him highly, and Bielsa rates him as well. Alioski brings a lot to the Leeds cause, and he has become a vital cog in the wheel. When people like Whelan use their platform on BBC to diss our Leeds players, it annoys me no end. This season, more than any other, everyone connected with Leeds, be it as a member of staff, an ex-player or a supporter, EVERYONE needs to stay positive and get behind the players. Win, lose or draw, the players who wear the White shirt deserve all the support they can get to lift Leeds United out of this hell of a division. Whelan does not need to behave like a boo boy, even if Alioski or any other player has had a bad game. He should be a bit more responsible when he uses his platform as a pundit on Radio Leeds, because there are idiots out there who will take his negativity to heart and bring it onto the terraces. I really hope that my former Leeds United hero is a lot more positive in his comments about Leeds players, his rants have made little football sense so far. Hopefully Leeds can trounce Reading tonight and keep their momentum going, I will be freezing along with my fellow Leeds United supporters, but the cold is but a minor issue if it means seeing the Mighty Whites win.
Wish I could like this one twice Billy, I don't bother anymore reading anything Whelan has to say, he comes over as bitter and jealous and I echo what Shaks has posted, good to see you posting again.
Great to see you back posting Billy, I love your positivity. Only one aspect I'd query - I love this division, a proper competition it is. As I said before, don't get me wrong though - I'd take the odd 100 million.
Billy, it’s brilliant to see you posting again, one of our finest. Slight problem and, at the risk of being shot down, I agree with Noel, Alioski is shocking. You wrote this before the game and fair play but, truly, I was embarrassed by that dive and delighted MB took him off, too right, tell him to FO and play sh1t football with Adryan, Bellendusci and Antonnucci - feck em all, not good enough and I promise I am not digging you out here, genuinely think he is garbage.
Hmmm, wonder who thought he was a player? Go on, it’s Christmas I’ll give you it, none other than the Man U WUM
hey Marcos, I absolutely understand your thinking, and THAT dive certainly doesn't help Alioski ... Bielsa is a top manager though, and he did the right thing jerking Alioski at half-time (partly because of his yellow card as well I suspect) ... Alioski will learn and improve under Bielsa, and the fact that he is number one at Leeds for chances created says a lot ... Bielsa sees a genuine talent in Alioski, and he will get the best out of him, even if it means Alioski sits a few games (just like Saiz) the key thing for me is that we stick with our players regardless ... thankfully Peacock-Farrell was given a break by Leeds fans (no doubt because he's and Academy product) after his bad errors, and he was able to pay the team back with a fabulous penalty save ... young Clarke made a few bad decisions tonight, but again the crowd stuck with him (because he's Leeds Academy) ... all our players deserve the same level of support as our Academy graduates, because they wear the White shirt with pride and they desperately want to win for the fans ... this team is together, committed and not afraid to attack, and promotion is there for Leeds this season if they keep going ... that's why we need to really get behind our lads now, even if they stink it up and go lose a game 9-0, something special is taking shape and only positive vibes will help it to continue ... ON ON ON!!
Heard Whelan after the game,slagging Alioski saying he should never ever do that again,like he never took a dive.
Billy. Firstly I agree about slagging players. Blame mentality is counter productive and unnecessary. Expressing your views on them on a forum is fair enough as that’s what they’re for but hounding on social media, booing at games etc helps nobody. Re alioski. He’s a frustrating player. Stats can be interpreted how you want. I saw someone saying he was second to Pablo in crosses/chances etc. So that’s second best in the team... or worst in the team for a player who’s Job it is! I view him on what I see. He suits bielsa ball, because he works very hard, knows his job offensively and defensively. Takes up good positions and retains possession. However, he lacks pace, the ability to take a man on and consistent delivery. But you know what you’re going to get with him. Clarke beat more men and put more dangerous crosses in after 20 seconds yesterday than alioski has in weeks. But, were we as able to keep our shape?Maybe bielsa has it right using Clarke as impact sub, but I do think alioski’s position is one where we would benefit from better.
Hey Billy good to hear from you again Was going to ask this question on another thread but think this is the place for it. Does anyone know why our left side has picked up 9 yellow cards this season? Alioski would be banned after last nights yellow but all back to square 1 now, and Douglas is on 4 after last night. Most yellows in the squad are from those 2 and obviously they link on the left. I get Alioski's work rate and doing box to box tackling, some miss-timed and a bit of winding players up and play acting. Is he a target for players and refs? Does Douglas get frustrated with Alioski as he stops Douglas doing what we bought him for, ie dead ball specialist and wicked crossing as well as a stopper. is this something Prof Bielsa needs to look at or is it already his plan? Into the 2nd half of the season we could end up losing both players to suspensions if nothing done, which could expose us on the left
Excellent post, Billy, & I agree with every word of it. I'd like to pick up on Alioski's offside record. Most critics slate him for being offside mostly on the basis of them watching the telly. If you're actually at the game, you can see the wider, off-camera game & appreciate that most of the time, it's simply not Alioski's fault (ok, most of the time). Mentally, he's at least a yard ahead of the players making the pass through to him. He's aware of the possibilities & acts on it, but the guy who's slow to release the ball, and therefore at fault IMO, is not the one that gets slated. Bielsa's attacking ethos is all about taking risks attacking, and all of our players were on board for this at the start of the season. Everyone made early runs. Not so much now, sadly. How many passbacks & crab passes do you see these days? Loads. Where are all the quick, incisive balls through? They've become more of a rarity. (Admittedly, a lot of that is prolly down to teams setting up to prevent us using space). However, it also comes down to Alioski STILL taking the risks Bielsa has trained him to. He can't be blamed for others hesitating or failing to see his runs in time. Bielsa clearly knows this as Alioski has had more game time than anyone this season. Alioski is being slated for doing EXACTLY what the manager has asked him and his fellow attackers to do (ok, the silly dive is an exception). Alioski is a Marmite player for some reason, so becomes an easy target in these situations. There was a slightly more complicated example of this type of situation when Clarke & Saiz broke the other night. Clarke didn't release the ball to Saiz quickly enough, so Saiz strayed offside. Now if you ignore the complication of the situation that followed, and imagine that Clarke had release the ball when Saiz was offside, then he'd have rightly got pelters for it. But if it was Alioski that was in Saiz's place, Alioski would have got the pelters for straying offside instead. I'm not making it up. It's there for all to see - but only if they want to. A number of guys who sit around me have reluctantly watched more closely at my behest, & reluctantly agreed with me. But guess what happens 2 minutes later when Alioski 'strays' again. Yup, he gets pelters from them. And it's usually 'cos they just don't like him & are happy to blame him for anything. Sadly. The blue touchpaper has now been lit. Fill your boots ....
That’s a very long defence of a man who simply needs to look along the line before starting his run. That is basic coaching taught as a schoolboy. You like him, some don’t & I doubt either camp is going to change their opinion.
I actually thought the window of opportunity for Clarke to make the pass the other night was finer than was commented on... by the time the space for the pass was clearly on, Saiz was already borderline off. Re Alioski and his superpowers of anticipation that are too fast for his team-mates? I’m inclined to think he lacks the pace and plays on the edge too much to compensate. I don’t mind the odd offside when its timing of a run as defenders step up... but with him there is also a fair few as LoL says where he simply doesn’t look along the line. There was one on Tuesday (where he hit the keeper with his shot) where he could see the whole back line from a free kick and still drifted off. And I’m not an Alioski hater, I see the work he does and his contribution to our style of play, just think he lacks the ability/pace to stretch defences and run at defenders and his end product is unreliable. But you get what you get every week.
In fairness, he is bloody irritating though. Gamesmanship all the time. My view is you are right he’s quick thinking, that’s his big strength, plus preparedness to tackle back. I think his real weakness (rather than the offside thing) is he is not quite as fast as some wingers and actually not that good at beating a man. I think the lack of pace is another reason he gets offside, he has to take risks to have a chance of getting there first. But I’d buy your argument it’s sometimes the MF who don’t see the opportunity quick enough.
