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The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Monday 18th January)

Discussion in 'Leeds United' started by ellandback, Jan 18, 2021.

  1. ellandback

    ellandback Well-Known Member
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    perfect1.jpg
    Good Morning. It's Monday 18th January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road


    Karen Carney curse kicks in

    Played 3, lost three, goals against 7, goals for 0. That's the grim reality of 2021; small mercies that Leeds midweek fixture against high flying Southampton has been postponed, and have time to regroup before their trip to St James Park Tuesday week.

    Firstly lets analyse Saturdays game. I think it would be fair to say that Brighton looked both sharper, and hungrier. This should not have been the case having battled to the death against Manchester City just a few days before with a depleted squad which included five regulars being ruled out. Bearing this in mind, Leeds should have been all over the Seagulls, pushing, jostling and bullying their South Coast opponents into submission.

    Instead, we saw a Leeds side devoid of ideas, rudderless and playing like someone had slipped ketamine into their water bottles.

    Can we blame the pitch? Up to an extent we can. What is the point of playing the way we do, when our home pitch benefits our opposition more than it does us? The difference between winning and losing in this league is so small, that any slight disadvantage could turn a game on its head. There is no way that Leeds fast moving, attractive style of play was going to work on the boggy marsh, that was Elland Road on Saturday. In his post match interview Bielsa was asked whether the pitch played an important role in the result. Polite as ever, the Argentine refused to answer,as it would sound like an excuse.

    This was the Seagulls first win since November, and has moved them within six points of Leeds.

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    Post match reaction


    Leeds Manager - Marcelo Bielsa



    Brighton boss - Graham Potter

     

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    #1
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  2. ristac

    ristac Well-Known Member
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    Morning all..

    I posted on the match thread this morning that it isn’t the result I’m concerned about, it’s the performances. Yes the last two seasons we’d have the odd 45minutes of shoddy looking football, I’m struggling to think of too many 90 minutes worth but here now we’re talking 270 minutes of consecutive rubbish.

    We usually lament missed chances, the penalties not given, the woodwork denying us and opposition keepers having blinders, now it’s 270 minutes of poor quality and we’ve thoroughly deserved to lose each of them. I’ve struggled to pick out anyone who’s even had an above average score in those three games.

    We can’t really blame the defence as it’s not that we’re losing 4-3, it’s three blank games up front. Bielsa needs to halt this run, he needs to work out why Klich has been so out of sorts, he needs to stop playing Alioski at LB things need to urgently change or we’ll be dragged into an unpleasant scrap.

    We’re Leeds fans, we always need to blame something but NO it’s not the pitches fault. Most of our players had extra time off, Brighton had a tough game against City, Brighton had 5 key players missing, if anything a heavy pitched should have made it harder for Brighton fitness wise.
     
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  3. foolee

    foolee Well-Known Member

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    Just to add to ristac’s post above about the pitch, Brighton’s style of play actually relies on possession based football and passing as their goal showed. Pitch is not an excuse, we just weren’t good enough and couldn’t create.
     
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  4. hemase

    hemase Well-Known Member

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    Morning all,

    Another Monday morning, another inquest.

    I think we should disregard the Crawley result and not link it with Brighton as a bad run of results. While there were some similarities there was enough difference between what happened in the cup and this last game.

    I think there are a few things that went wrong at the weekend. Once again too many square pegs in round holes, too many players having a dip in form and yes, the pitch.

    Injuries and suspensions have finally broken us. RB at CB, Under 23 CB alongside him, LB at RB, LW at LB for weeks now. Finally get one first choice CB back and we have to play the under 23 CB out of position in what we can obviously say is our most important position. A top 6 team, lets say Liverpool for example, with these problems and it would be all pundits talk about. For us its a case of our style of play is wrong and we need to change.


    I know it is the same pitch for both teams but because of the way we play a good surface is so very important. We seem to be trying more forward balls then we have under Bielsa ever and I think it is because the players do not trust the surface.



    Although it is a long time to wait as a fan I think a 12 day break between games could be just what we need. Chance for Bielsa to work with the lads. Chance for the likes Llorente to get fit enough to play, chance for Meslier to recover, Hopefully we should see more players play where they should. I am desperate for Ayling to get back to RB as we lose so much attackiong intent when he is CB.
     
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  5. Doc

    Doc Well-Known Member

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    Morning all :emoticon-0148-yes:

    hemase is correct on the pitch as we need a slick firm pitch to get the best out of our style. Look back at the Wolves game for example and I think it was Leicester too. Those games we started off on top but we then saw raking passes stopping short and being intercepted which then meant the ball coming straight back at us and we were then on our heels trying to get back. Ayling, Roberts, Dallas, Cooper and Koch were all at fault for passes not getting to their target and were just intercepted. We saw back then the problems with the slow pudding pitch was damaging to us, but now its like Roundhay Park.

    Hoping Bielsa has Ayling and Dallas back into full back positions. Hoping to see a fully fit Llorente playing with Cooper and having Phillips back will give us the strongest team we have available. Plenty of width and wing back play

    I also read what Bielsa said about Rodrigo and Struijk who some have battered. “Rodrigo is now back to full fitness and gives us options in a number of positions which causes problems for the opposition”. Struijk didnt shine or stand out, but he also didnt have any errors and did exactly what I asked of him” so what we see and what Bielsa sees are different and someone published the stats for bith players which were pretty damn good, especially Struijk who had 81% pass completion, was top of the tackles and interceptions and also right up there with number of touches. Rodrigo pass completion of 79.4% was also pretty good although his touch count was down but only played 55mins, he still covered a lot of ground and had interceptions, but looks like he was chasing the ball as it wasnt being passed to him.

    if Southampton get beat in the Fa Cup tomoz or Saturday we will be playing them in our rearanged keague match so wont have to wait 10 days for a match
     
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  6. Jammy 07

    Jammy 07 Well-Known Member

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    Morning all.

    Not sure I agree with the general assessment that we were dire on Saturday.

    Yes slightly below our best and definitely lacking a cutting edge but we dominated the whole of the 2nd half and Kiko had barely a save to make throughout the match. Also is playing once a week or every 10 days or so actually hindering us in finding our rhythm ? With the enforced changes in personel/positions being another factor.

    Which brings me nicely onto the lauded 'Yorkshire Pirlo' who most likely cost us at least a point with his petulant booking in the 90th minute of a match long gone. Hope he learns from that error of judgement as he would have made a massive difference to our play on Saturday but was left kicking his heels in the stands as his teammates struggled.

    Not looking likely at the moment but would be nice if we could bring in one quality signing to give the dressing room a boost <ok>
     
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    Last edited: Jan 18, 2021
  7. Irishshako

    Irishshako Well-Known Member

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    Maybe we should play summer football just so the pitches would suit us.:)
     
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  8. Jammy 07

    Jammy 07 Well-Known Member

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    Didn't see any problem with the pitches at Bramall Lane, Anfield & the Etihad yesterday.

    It's been the same every winter at ER for ages now and I guess it's a consequence of being skint for 2 decades.
     
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  9. wakeybreakyheart

    wakeybreakyheart Well-Known Member

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    did not master bates have the pitch relaid ?
     
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  10. wakeybreakyheart

    wakeybreakyheart Well-Known Member

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    for me that one quality player would be for midfield.
     
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  11. Jammy 07

    Jammy 07 Well-Known Member

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    Our pitch is relaid most summers....but obviously the cheapo version not the full PL standard which apparently has some astroturf woven into it to bind it all together. Something like that anyway.
     
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  12. Irishshako

    Irishshako Well-Known Member

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    I'm only concerned TBF with the pitch at ER, but I take your point Jammy. I appreciate that we play a quick passing game, but it's a bugbear of mine when I hear certain things being used as excuses for bad results. <ok>
     
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    Last edited: Jan 18, 2021
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  13. Jammy 07

    Jammy 07 Well-Known Member

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    Think the phrase is 'bugbear' but it did make me laugh so have a like <laugh>
     
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  14. Leedsdude

    Leedsdude Well-Known Member

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    The Karen Carney curse indeed, I was thinking exactly that on Saturday. I could just imagine her having a silent chuckle at our (usual) January blip. Seems we couldn't relay the pitch because of the quick turnaround between seasons. I find that a very poor excuse as other teams seem to have fine surfaces. I was reading an article about Dallas, seems his stats are horrific. Has put in so few crosses, has been dribbled pass too many times and I have to say he looked spent on Saturday. I said last week that we need a better LB than Alioski. I still haven't figured out what Poveda brings to the team, he hasn't scored a goal, got an assistance or barely a cross into the box.
     
    #14
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  15. Irishshako

    Irishshako Well-Known Member

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    <doh> yeah as I pressed send I realised what I had right in my head, was wrong as I typed.:grin:
     
    #15
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  16. NostradEmus

    NostradEmus Firpo is Shit

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    I'm gonna go in again on our 'goalscorers'.

    I've read a few comments about our final delivery not been good enough. I actually thought we put some outstanding crosses in on Saturday. Rodrigo should have thrown himself at the Alioski pass first half but didn't fully commit.

    Bamford needs to have a serious look at the positions he attacks on crosses. Some fantastic crosses look really poor due to nobody (not just Bamford btw) gambling.

    Neal Maupay completely overshadowed Bamford on Saturday. He was everything we need. He was a pest, held the ball up well, took players on and gambled for his goal. He was fantastic for Brighton.

    I realise Bamford can't do it every game but nobody else seems to step up. Rodrigo for example is as bad for it. Harrison could rival Jason Lee for sitters missed for us.

    We just never look confident in front of goal. That's why we need so many chances.

    FWIW I don't think we were THAT bad on Saturday. I thought we were more in control than they were for the most part but they just had a bit more quality in the final third.
     
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  17. Irishshako

    Irishshako Well-Known Member

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    and he's got a **** haircut.<laugh>
     
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  18. FORZA LEEDS

    FORZA LEEDS Well-Known Member

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    Shaks don't let those bed bugs bite :emoticon-0136-giggl
     
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  19. Jammy 07

    Jammy 07 Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely love any malapropisms...keep em coming <ok>
     
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  20. Irishshako

    Irishshako Well-Known Member

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    Our shots on goal are shocking and I don't mean the amount of shots. I mean the amount of times the ball is hit over the nets. <ok>
     
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