Leeds Utd v Brentford Sunday 5th December@14:00 | Elland Road Brentford make the long trip up the M1 for a lunchtime kick off at Elland Road on Sunday. Thomas Frank has had a fantastic start to his top flight Managerial campaign, orchestrating wins against Arsenal, Wolves and West Ham as well as a credible 3-3 draw against Liverpool. Recent defeats against Burnley and Norwich and another 3-3 draw (against bottom of the table Newcastle Utd) place the South West London outfit one point, and four places above Bielsa's team. They'll hope their 1-0 home victory over Everton last weekend will give the Bee's confidence. Patrick Bamford completed 90 minutes for the U23's during their narrow 3-2 defeat at Manchester City on Monday evening. It remains to be seen whether Bielsa is ready to throw him back into the starting line up. Cody Draham (ankle), Pascal Struijk (ankle) join long term absentee Robin Koch on the treatment table. Luke Ayling could return to action on Sunday after completing 45 mins on Monday as he looks to regain his fitness levels after minor surgery on his knee. Joe Gelhardt must be wondering when he's going to get hi next opportunity. The 19yo England star was an unused sub against Brighton and Crystal Palace, and with Bamford coming back, his opportunities will be even more limited. Brentford face a trip to local rivals Spurs on Thursday night, before their outing to Elland Road less than 72 hours later. Let's hope this works in Leeds favour!
Hopefully the team will take heart from the three points earned against Palace. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that Bamford has to get at least 45 minutes. Put Roberts or Joffy on for the first 45 and tell them leave it all out there on the pitch, put 90 minutes worth into the 45 you will be playing.
He says it every game, like a broken clock it's shows the correct time now and again But we'll win this !!
jammy will be along shortly to point out that you’re only as good as your last game, and consequently we have champion’s league form… hopefully with some supporting fag packet mathematical evidence
Another Massive game before our month of death Games. I think the Brentford style will suit us both teams like to be on the front foot and build attacks with the overlapping fullbacks. on paper should be a good game to watch could well go to a team who take their chances or off a silly mistake. Brentford started well but have come off the railings a bit nevertheless on their day they have quality in them and its up to us to stop that from coming to the fro. We have to go into this as fav's which we are and as of the watford and Norwich games all these that came up have to be marked down as 3 point games especially at home. I have no doubt we won't lack in trying but still worried about our build up inside the opponent's box this is a game we really have to get Rapha into the game bigtime a MOM performance sort of game because if he does he will rip holes in them and create as well as score. I'd be very surprised to see Bamford start but I wouldn't be surprised to see him sometime in the 2nd half. As on Ayling I think he has more of a chance with Struijk getting injured all depends how Bielsa sees Dallas and Firpo. If Ayling is fit I'd get him straight back in even if it's only 60 mins and put Dallas LB as I'm still not having Firpo in this team he Ball watches and his position sense defensively is very very poor. you don't want that with a team who overlap Fullbacks and Wingers. If he does start Brentford will target him for sure. We need this one lads. another game we have to go out and show a promoted team you're still not there yet. I think it's massive game today for the table. win this we could see ourselves mid table and a bit breathing space Lose it and we could well be back in the relegation chitchat. Lets go out and get it done boys MOT!
I’m sure I read Struijk was available the other day, I could be wrong. After Fridays U23 game I’d be amazed not to see Bamford and Ayling starting. Neither included in the U23s I would have assumed 20-45 minutes each if they were going to be on the bench today? Bielsa can’t dare start them both on the bench as we have too many players who keep underperforming, Struijk might not be fully recovered, Klich never sees out 90 minutes, Rodrigo hit and miss, I think we’ll see at least one of them line up at the start. Drameh got 45 minutes on Friday so my guess is Roberts up front, Ayling starting, Dallas at LB leaving him options
Morning all. Game day and a 2pm KO so getting ready soon and should be there around 12ish to soak up the atmosphere. Have to say I'm not a fan of these Sunday games but I suppose it's better than a Saturday lunchtime which are even worse. Interesting match today as it's our first home game against one of the newly promoted sides and it therefore falls into the need to take advantage of category. Honestly I've not seen Brentford play this season, but I can't imagine they've changed too much from their Championship days and if we put in one of our best performances we should be able to pick up a valuable win. Anything less though and they will be a tough nut to crack, we know they're a decent side so we'll need to be on our game. Not expecting any changes to the team unless Struijk is unavailable due to injury. Patience as ever could be key and as shown on Tuesday you keep going until the final whistle.
Im not shocked that Brentford have started the season well. I thought they were the best equipped of the promoted sides to do ok… but not saying much really… norwich and Watford were my two relegation favourites. I still expect them to slide down the table, so really this is one of those 6 pointers against sides we need below us, in order to climb the table. There are no guarantees in pl and all wins have to be hard fought for sides like us, but well organised though Brentford are… this is a game we need to be winning… especially with the rest of December’s fixtures.
… with a win, depending on other results we could be 11th tonight. Though it would take some holding onto by Christmas