The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Monday 26th April)

Good Morning. It's Monday 26th April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road


Bore of the roses ends in stalemate

Manchester Utd's first visit to Elland Road for 11 years failed to live up to expectations in a game that was littered with mistakes from both sides. On a plus side, Leeds were able to thwart the Reds advancing at will as they did at Old Trafford four months ago.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made one change to their team that beat Burnley 3-1, with Daniel James in for Paul Pogba. Leeds were unchanged from their 1-1 draw with Liverpool, with Raphinha and Rodrigo sidelined. It may have been a different story had these players been available for the Whites!

The Reds dominated many of the statistics, but lacked a finishing product, due mainly to the back four. Llorente in particular stood out. The Spaniard made won four duals and made nine recoveries in the first half alone. Struijk too looked like a season pro with had many years under his belt.

Leeds were unlucky not to get a spot kick early on, after Luke Shaw handled in the area. Astonishingly VAR checked the event and ruled in favour of the left back. He was probably saved as his arm was in a natural position. Late on in the first half Rashford had a free kick that Meslier had to be alert to, and tip over the crossbar. Apart from that the French shot stopper only had routine saves to make.

The visitors started the second half brightly, but woeful finishing and good defending let them down. Helder Costa's deflected piledriver landed on top of the net, when it looked like it may it may separate the two sides.

Pogba, Cavani and De Beek were bought on by the visitors but Leeds held firm.

I'm sure if we were asked if we would settle for a 0-0 against the Reds twelve months ago, many of us would have taken it. It may have been a different story had Rodrigo and Raphinha had been available for the Whites!

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Bielsa has silenced critics - Wright

Ian Wright has suggested that Bielsa has silenced critics who doubted whether he would be able to make the Whites harder to break down, after their defensive display against Manchester Utd yesterday. Speaking on Match of the day2, the the former England and Arsenal legend said:-

“I think it’s a bit disrespectful saying he’s one-dimensional, he won’t adapt because what we saw today was them adapting, “Kalvin Phillips, Diego Llorente and Pascal Struijk today were fantastic.

When asked if Leeds had tracked the space rather than the men, Wrighty replied:-

“Absolutely,” “They did that today, and they did it very, very well. Man United didn’t have any answers for them, they snuffed them out everywhere.”

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Orta was wrong to sign Rodrigo - Whelan

Pundit Noel Whelan has suggested that Victor Orta was wrong to have signed Rodrigo last summer. The former Leeds striker, who now works for BBC Radio Leeds, said that he would have preferred to bring in a younger player!

Leeds paid Valencia £26m for the Spanish International. The 30-year-old has made 12 starts and nine substitute appearances this term scoring three goals and providing one assist. He has also been hampered by a series of injuries that have not helped.

“I did think it was a lot of money to pay for a 29-year-old. When you think about longevity, what you are going to get out of a player, one season has already gone by. “For the money we have spent, I would have much preferred to have spent that money on a player that’s 23, 24, coming into his prime.”

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Morning all....

Rodrigo was signed to replace Bamford, I have little doubt about that but Bamford surprised us all while creating a headache for Bielsa.

If we could get a refund for Rodrigo I’d take it but equally I’m not concerned if we keep him. I’ve serious doubts about Harrison and Costa needs moving on.

Attacking wise we were short yesterday but Bamford, Costa, Roberts and Harrison would struggle to make a Man U reserve team, the difference in quality and value was vast. We did defend superbly though and I don’t mean digging deep, we rarely looked troubled. I wouldn’t swap Maguire with Struijk or Llorente

 

Morning all and fuk off Whelan you know nowt fat twot

If Rodrigo and Raphinha were available I believe we would have won. Our defence was brilliant and even Alioski did his best, but still needs replacing this Summer. Struijk could keep Cooper out and Llorente has been masterful since he got fit. Yes he was written off by many Leeds fans like Whelan as a waste of money and a sick note, but he's awesome. Rodrigo will be too and I for one cannot wait to see him replace Roberts who yet again failed to shine yesterday. Roberts has had plenty of game time and has given us a few moments of excitement and a couple of assists, but he wouldn't get in any other team in the Premier League and I include Sheff Utd. We have to improve and that means upsetting some players, just as Pablo and Berardi have discovered.

Phillips, Meslier, Ayling, Struijk and Llorente were exceptional yesterday and I can see all of these players being good enough to play in other Prem teams

Koch is now almost fully fit and looked the part yesterday as a second DM he too is good enough

Dallas yet again did some good work as Klichs stand in would get into some prem teams

Klich will be ok next season and he too would make it but we need an upgrade or cover

Harrison was shocking yesterday, but on balance he is capable and will make it

Costa Im afraid just isnt consistent enough and we need better, so for me he can go

Poveda needs to give some end product so the jury is still out

 

Good morning all

Yep great point yesterday from a Leeds side with a very much weakened offensive threat.
But what a performance from a defensive view of the game, another masterclass in defending, Bielsa really is getting to grips with this, agree with others Costa far to lightweight, and almost seems disinterested at times, needs moving on, as for Poveda I keep hoping and praying that this game we will see a tricky little winger who with being small & light on his feet will provide some trickery & great crosses, but alas game after game it’s not to be, jury is now in and the verdict? guilty of being a just a lightweight, got to go I’m afraid.
When Raphina & Rodrigo are back we will be a formidable side to anyone, if not at the moment.
Summing up yesterday, we never really looked like scoring, and for that matter neither did scum.

 

Agreed

when we put on a defensive masterclass against City we won because we had Raphinha as an outlet, but yesterday we had no outlet from Harrison or Costa and when Poveda replaced Harrison he hardly got a touch due to bad passes from Alioski, Roberts, Dallas, Bamford and later Klich. We were blunted as an attacking unit yesterday as we hardly created anything and yes the ref was shyt and stopped the match from flowing. But we had Bamford Harrison, Roberts, Costa, Dallas starting the game to create some damage and they didnt

 

I think the real trouble for Poveda will be if he falls behind Summerville in the pecking order. Poveda was the safe option yesterday when we were happy to see out a 0-0 draw, but if we're in the same situation against West Brom or Burnley I wouldn't be surprised to see Summerville given a few minutes instead.

 

Arsenal are willing to sell Fast Eddie and Maitland-Niles at £20m each. Maitland-Niles I think is a great midfielder and has stood out at WBA since Big Sam managed to get him on loan, but could Eddie do what Bamford does or would we be better giving Gelhardt a go as we know he can play the same way as Bamford defending from the front

 

I don't think so. Rodrigo said himself that he is not a natural goal scorer, and his stats confirm it.

 

Morning all,

Good point but poor game yesterday. I think the poor quality of the match can be put down to the abysmal refereeing. I am not going to complain about bias but I will moan about the constant blowing o f his whistle. He was poor and fell for every scream the Scum players gave out. There was never a chance for the game to flow so neither team ever properly got going.
For the a multi million pound team who are second in the league they employed "the dark arts" a lot. Only Villa have been worse for it this season I think. The commentators used the phrase dark arts, why not call it what it is- cheating. Screaming and falling for every touch. I lost track of times they went down after contact wioth part of their leg but held a different part in pain.
It almost seemed at times like they were refing the game themselves with Poorson going with whatever decision the Scum player yelled for. Totally ruined what could have been a good game.

 

I said a few months ago, if I could pick 3 players, it would be Nketiah, Ward - Prowse and Luke Shaw. Since then both WP and LS have been England regulars.

Nketiah is an out and out scorer, a poacher, a goal hanger.....

He offers something different.

The reason why I'd choose Nketiah is because stats say we have created the 3rd or 4th most chances in the Prem as well as the most guilt edged misses.

 

Totally agree we need a goal scorer badly and rodrigo is not the answer. Based on yesterdays showing harrison and costa are just not up to prem standard. Poveda must look good in training because i have yet to see any consistency from him. Klich can go for me and Alioski simply because he is too lightweight. Bielsa wants team players who can track back and tackle. I can now see why whitejock calls costa hilda hes so easy to push aside.

 

U23s face Fulham today and we noted yesterday Joffy wasnt there and not there today either. So could be Jacko’s rotation policy but could be injured

 

Sam Greenwood playing up front today with Joffy missing. Joffy has 11 goals and Sam 9 goals so Im betting Greenwood will be looking for a hat-trick.

 

LIVE NOW

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Is Nketiah really proven to be an "out and out goalscorer"? He's got five Premier League goals at worse goals per minute ratio than Bamford and that's playing for a "big six" side mostly coming on as a sub against tired defences. I'd say he's still a promising young player but hardly a prolific goal scorer unless you're including his cup ones against the likes of Dundalk.

Even if we were to sign a striker I don't think he's the type Bielsa would like. In the Championship we were fluffing loads of chances and on paper Nketiah should've got bags full, the problem was whenever he was on the field not only did we not create the same chances but often our entire shape fell apart and we conceded more chances.

If we do sign a new striker they'll have to contribute everything Bamford does and be more clinical and I'm not sure we'll be able to afford anyone like that from a Premier League club.

 

So what's the crack on the deal with Harrison? Anyone know?
Do we have to buy him at the end of the season?
Can we say thanks but no thanks?
I know we have paid millions for his loan services over the past 2 seasons but are we obliged to sign him?

 

Think the answer is yes we have to buy him at £11m now as it was £10m last Summer. Mind you he is now valued at £20m so on paper a no-brainer. When hes on his game he is a £20m player and lets remember he has scored 7 and created 7 assists so hes not that bad

 

Oh I'm not dissing him I actually quite like him. Has an amazing first touch.
Just think he beats himself up to much and is very critical of himself. (I was listening on the podcast he's been seeing a life coach or whatever it is outside of footy)
he seems one of those players who needs a arm around him to get the best out of him.

 

I think he is worth the 11 million we are obligated to buy him for this summer. When I look at him, sometimes Costa as well, I look at how much it would cost to replace them as much as their own worth. When Harrison is at his best he is worth a whole lot more than 11 mill. His form will come back. There are far more important positions to strengthen this summer first.