The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Monday 20th September)

Good Morning. It's Monday 20th September, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road


Leeds make their point at St James Park

Newcastle and Leeds both enjoyed a share of the spoils on Friday night in a packed out St James Park. As expected, Ayling switched to centre back, with Dallas occupying the right back role! The rest of the line-up as always, stayed the same.

Leeds dominated the early chances, and deservedly took the lead on 13 minutes when Raphinha's curling cross deceived Karl Darlow between the sticks. Man of the match (for the Whites) Rodrigo wrong-footed the Barcodes shot-stopper by stepping over the ball, allowing the ball to bounce harmlessly into the corner of the net!

Steve Bruce's men looked dangerous on the break, with Allan Saint-Maximin at the heart of every Counter Strike. His darting runs had the Leeds defence on the back foot every time he had the ball. It was the Frenchman himself that grabbed the equaliser just before half-time. He picked the ball up from the centre of the 'D' and somehow wriggled and turned past four or five Leeds players before unleashing a thunderbolt that beat the despairing dive from Meslier!

Leeds could have restored their lead deep into first half injury time, but Raphinha's shot was well blocked by the teen defence, and Firpo's resulting effort ended up in the stands from close range! Both sides had chances to add to their tallies after the break; but a combination of poor finishing and lack of skill kept the scoreline even.

When all said and done, a draw was a fair result. Ritchie's strike just before the equaliser his the inside of the post, then bounced kindly to a Leeds defender to clear, but Leeds had the lions share of the possession and fractionally more attempts on and off target than the home side.

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Are worrying times ahead for the Whites

Five games in, and Leeds are hovering just above the drop zone with three points on the board. Whilst there is plenty of time to turn things around, disgruntled fans are asking themselves whether Bielsa's predictability are costing them points. Leeds attacking system relies heavily on their wing backs getting forward and creating space. Unfortunately, Ayling has not been able to replicate the form he showed last term and Firpo's early form is as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Every player goes through a bad patch, but too many players at the same time are not currently living up to their potential, and whilst it's admirable that Bielsa has faith in his starting line up, his failure to mix things up are costing his team points!

Bamford's influence this terms has been restricted as he is being either marked out of the game, or his supply route is being cut off. It doesn't take a tactical genius to put plans in place when you know exactly what the opposition are going to do! Leeds have a small squad, albeit with a 100 m wage bill, but currently there are too many not earning their money, including Bielsa!

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Bielsa's post match reaction

 

It's purely a mixture of defensive individual errors and missed chances up top.

These will even out over the season. We'll hammer someone soon.

 

Morning all,

A disappointing point but a better display is the best way to sum up that game.
For the most part we looked like the Bielsa Leeds we've all gotten used to and as long as we can continue playing like that we will be fine.


The signs are there that we are starting to click, that something we can build on. Getting Llorente and Koch back will be a massive boost as well.

Also while I think James did well i think we missed Harrison as his work rate and helping by getting back is better.

 

I think Junior as just getting his relationship with Harrison going, even though they were double teamed against Liverpool. We saw Dan James not have the match he would have liked because he spent too much time playing the ball back to Junior and got intercepted or blocked too many times. We did however see some rampaging runs down the left from Junior and he and James now need a bit more time together. In theory Junior should carry in doing what he was doing with Harrison and let James learn his role when on the left with Junior.

Yes a massive improvement but we had too many long balls intercepted or overhit. Cooper, Phillips and Ayling the main culprits. Is Dallas jaded or has he “personal” problem affected him?

I think we will be ok but its tough having so many players out which means square pegs in round holes backfilling

 

That's a great point about hitting the longer balls. Especially when they were mostly aimed at James who is about 4 foot tall.

 

Tin hat time but I am willing to say Cooper had a good game, especially against their one good player ASM.
In a cobbled together defence he made a lot of important blocks and interceptions.
Everyone wants to knock him when he makes a mistake but on balance deserves credit when he plays well.

 

I agree, he did have a good game and the best defenders in the world would have struggled with ASM running at them.

 

Agreed, he was like an oil tanker at times when the flying barcode ran at him, but as usual he put his body in the right place when it mattered and he did try and lead an organised back line. Lets be honest when our defence gets exposed its because we have screwed up our passing game and the ball comes straight back at us. We play a high line so when that happens there is 40 yards of space behind our back line for fast attacks to hurt us. Everyone knows now how they can expose us. Our players know they need to play the way Bielsa has taught them and we will be attacked fewer times. All teams outside the top 4 will play a high pressing game against us and have 2 banks of 4 or a 5-4 blocking our way through. So our passing has to be fast and accurate.

 

I heard Cooper was in the early running for FIFA World player of the year award!

 

Hopefully the Hammers

 

If you look at the whole 90 we were the better team, we should have had daylight before halftime. After that they gave as good as they got so can't complain with the draw really.

We were poor without the ball I thought but better with the ball than we have been, but they didn't really press us and that's when we tend to struggle.

Re Coops, he struggled in the first half I thought, got isolated and roasted a few times, but stuck at it and did well after the break when we had less control of the game in general.

We're not firing on all cylinders that's clear and injuries aren't helping but I think people sometimes forget we weren't brilliant for all of last season... we finished the season in a rich vein of form which had us looking up the table rather than over our shoulders but it wasn't like that all year. Let's take a look 10 games in and see where we are, but no doubt we could do with a win for nerve-settling confidence for the team and the fans!

 

The injuries and suspensions don't help. Not just having to rearrange the team but then having limited options to change the game.
I've no doubt that Summerville and the others are good players but it is surely too much to expect them to come on and be the game winner in their first ever appearance

 

Liverpool U23's 0 Leeds Utd 4

 

Round 6 - First kick off Sat 25th 12.30



SORRY WRONG THREAD FFS

 

Easily done at your age.

 

This

 

Shouldn’t you have posted that on the jokes thread Shaks

 

Thought it was a fair result personally... Both sides had good chances.

 

Pssstt Shaks, wrong place pal

 

I can see that side of it Roy. It was a close game. Loads of chances for both sides. Can't argue much with the draw but I thought we shaded it by a small margins on Possession, shots, shots on target, corners. Maybe a couple of penalty decisions went against us (certainly one of them). Close game.

It was a good game. Maximin looked very good. He'll keep you up on his own on that form.