Much better performance than against Charlton, especially in first half and some patches in second. Our defence keeping WBA out during last third of second half also equates to a much better performance. First half saw us out playing WBA, however, and many have said this before, we need to put more shots away, it's not happening from our striker/s. Second half was a squeaky bum situation, actually there were squeaks on my squeaks. WBA had the better of possession in second half as they tried time and again to grab an equaliser. All credit to our backline and Kiko for keeping them out being under constant pressure, they held together well despite losing Cooper earlier on. I thought Berardi had a great game at CB, out of all our defenders, he has the experience and it shows every time he plays. He plays like he's a 27 yr old, and not a 31 yr old......Personally, I think he should be back at LB, or RB, Alioski pushed forward and Harrison given a rest....for 6 months. While everyone is beaming after winning a very hard fought match, and quite rightly so, the stats are against us. Some think it's great we have so many shots at goal, and even greater we had 9 shots on target, unfortunately they mean nothing if we don't score more regularly, and score multiple goals.......The shooting and shots on target are actually a negative that quite rightly show there's a problem up front; or they're a positive if you look at it more positively. By rights, the way we dominate teams in first half, we should have at least 2 goals, but we are struggling to score and the season is nearly a quarter old. We missed Forshaw and Pablo, while Klich was a little quiet, he also missed Forshaw and Pablo, Costa missed Pablo down the right. Despite some thinking Bamford had a good game, he didn't. He's a striker, he's suppose to score goals not miss sitters, and he missed a couple of sitters that any other strikers granny would've put away. I don't think we'll get promoted if Bamford continually plays, that's where our striker problem lays. No disrespects to those who thought Bamford had a good game, but running around ain't going to get him goals. Every player runs around. In the near future people will be talking about his misses, his near misses and lack of scoring abilities, not how many yards he covered chasing the ball. Bamford is also a red card waiting to happen, he commits a lot of fouls, and many he gets away with. Harrison, another "I want to be a hero game". Wants to constantly try to dribble around everyone, including himself, sometimes he dribbles it over the line or loses it to an opposing defender, that's basically called dispossessed. As it happened, Lady Luck must've bought a ticket cos we actually scored a goal from one of Harrison's stuff ups. After trying to dribble the ball around every player in front of him, and getting the ball tangled between his legs, he managed to get a pass to Alioski who put a good shot in for a goal (take note Bamford and Harrison)............The ball deflected off Bartley, serves him right too, and was deflected into the goal and Leeds deservedly went 1-0 up. From then on in it was all about soaking up the pressure from WBA's attacks and counters. Bielsa's stubbornness can become his enemy if he's not carefull. There is talk that despite the deflection, Alioski was awarded the goal, to be confirmed of course. This brings me to my point on taking long or distance shots. We saw with Alioskis shot what can happen when we take longish shots, I think a similar thing happened with a Costa shot but didn't result in a goal. From memory there were a couple other similar shots to Costas. WBA outplayed us in midfield, even more so during second half, but other teams are out playing us in midfield too.................Which brings me too Phillips. Phillips is the CM, it's his job to control the midfield, he's not doing it. He had another below par game against WBA, WBA players ran rings around him and out paced him. Nothing comes of his corners, which aren't the best. Credit where credits due, Jammy made similar observations to me regarding Phillips, we just disagree slightly about his second half performance. 3 problems that I have always touched on, Bamford (nearly striker), Harrison (nearly winger) and midfield (Phillips).......and we are having these same 3 problems week in week out. We're not going to win this league unless Bielsa swallows his pride. If Cooper has pulled a muscle he'll be out for a few weeks, if he's just tweaked it he could be back within 1 to 2 weeks. Enjoy. Short highlights. Fan cam Bielsa post match Wainmanjoe is back after drowning his and everybody elses sorrows after Charlton match. Osca's review post WBA game It's that kid again.
I wasn't going to comment and I should know better but... Klich is a midfielder, Shackleton is a midfielder, they sit in the center and Phillips sits behind them but it is Phillips fault that in LL's opinion our midfield was overrun. In this particular report Klich wasn't at his best but it is because he missed Pablo, Phillips wasn't at his best but it's because he is Phillips If Alioski's shot had not gone in then it would have been classed as off target, something that gripes you LL is the amount of failed shots but then you advocate to shoot more? We had 19 shots yesterday, their keeper played a blinder. Was 19 shots not good enough, they can't win can they, "shoot from distance and see what happens" you say, too many not on target and you still complain. For the record, two of Costas best chances came from pin point passes from Phillips as well as Bamfords best chance but let's ignore those shall we, if you don't believe me check your highlights in the first clip, 16 seconds in, 1 minute 6 seconds and 1 minute 21 seconds. I'd love to have seen what would have happened had the shot from Alioski been from Phillips or Harrison. you'd have screamed how lucky they were and you know you would. Now their best chance One minute 15 seconds, WBA nearly scored, Alioski was ball watching allowing Matt Phillips to sneak in behind him unmarked Finally would you mind sharing who the other players Granny is, I'm assuming it is Messi?
My question is how many of us have preconceptions before a match kicks off ? Last night before we beat WBA my pre match optimism was deflated by my belief that Shackleton was a weak link Now, after the fact I have to admit I got it totally wrong, Shackleton was for the time he was on the pitch our best midfielder, whether that was down to coaching, having a few games under his belt or additional confidence because Bielsa retained his trust in him I've no idea. My suggestion would be to judge every game on that performance alone, erase all prior knowledge and just simply say what you see, not what you're expecting to see. For example; Let's say prior to last nights match Bamford had scored 10 goals this season, would anyone today be questioning his place in the team ? Most probably not as the consensus was he had a good match and contributed fully to the teams performance/result. So as each and every match is a finite thing, as in they are individually worth 3 points, then why do we consider the bigger picture ?
Players frustrate me from time to time but I don’t think any of us truly understand Bielsa ball. Each member of the team has a vital role, each small cog making the big wheel turn. I missed Harrison’s sprints creating space, no doubt a small part of the larger picture. I’m not comfortable with Alioski at LB but no doubt he is following Bielsa orders better than Douglas. I’ve already admitted to feeling Klich wasn’t at his best whilst others pointed out what you (I) don’t see. At the end of last season I felt Shackleton would be like a new £5m signing this year, he’d disappointed me this season until yesterday. I guess unless you’re a Pablo given the Quarter Backs role your eyes are going to miss the importance others bring.
Klich has been really good in most games so far. To be honest though I agree with WJ, in that he fades late on but yet we seem to lose the defensive shape if he's subbed off. Having paid close attention last night I now realise it's about pressing high in their half late on...Shackleton half pressed against Derby and it cost us 2 points unfortunately.
Rich, it is easier to understand Bielsaball at a match. I'm far - very far - from knowing it all, but you can latch on to a simple pattern occasionally, and funnily enough, if you look out for it, you see it every game, time after time. The Harrison move Jammy mentioned is an example. Funnily enough, I've watched it happen, but never identified it as a pattern to follow for some reason. One simplified example I noticed is when Alioski is moving forward with the ball, Harrison will shoot infield towards the penalty box & take the RB with him. I don't know what the signal is, but at exactly the same time (not even a split second after Harrison makes his move), Klich will gun it from the centre circle to the space in the left channel, whereupon he'll receive the ball for a cross, free of cover. This is an empirical version - there's loads of variations, and different personnel, but it happens every match - often. You won't see this on the tv, though, You'll see Alioski apparently dithering with the ball, or moving forward slowly, then next thing the camera will be on Klich receiving the ball & crossing - with loads of haters assuming Harrison's gone into hiding. There are loads of little moves like that. You can see the beauty of them, but the one thing that puzzles me is the timing, and whatever the signal is to start it off. I can only come up with telepathy! Now not everyone watching the match will notice this. Many will simply follow the ball, or will be assessing another player (e.g. LL desperately hoping for a KP mis-pass ), or thrusting a Lucozade bottle into their line of vision (sorry, Shaks, couldn't resist! ). I notice a lot of things 'cos I'm a bit 'Attention Disorder', or whatever the softies get called these days (I'm jealous 'cos we literally got battered for it at school in my day). Sadly, this is being overtaken by memory loss / corruption as I get older. It's not always easy to follow either. I remember reporting on an u23 match at ER towards the end of last season, where Gotts, Shackleton & McCalmont interchanged their positions seamlessly throughout the match, & to this day I have no idea who was CM, DM, or RB! I just love it. I'm learning so much extra about football at the age of 61! Who'd have thought?
