The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Wesnesday 28th April)

Good Morning. It's Wednesday 28th April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road

Are Cooper's days numbered due to emerging centre back partnership

Liam Cooper serves his third and final game on the sidelines, suspended for picking up two yellow cards against Manchester City earlier in the month. With a spell on the sidelines, it has allowed the central relationship of Llorente and Struijk to blossom to such a degree that the Scottish International may find it difficult to regain his slot!

Cooper was sent off against Citeh in the closing stages of the first half. Even down to 10 men, Llorente and substitute Struijk soaked up wave after wave of sustained attacks and hung on for 50 minutes conceding just once. A sucker punch in the closing stages from Dallas floored the Blue side of Manchester.

From Champions elect, Leeds then faced Current Champions, Liverpool. Lllorente and Struijk continued where they left off, allowing the reds only seven shots on target; the majority of which were routine saves for Meslier. Just like the Citeh game, the matches finishes 1-1, with Llorente himself grabbing a late equaliser.

Last Sunday the Whites faced their old adversaries Manchester Utd at Elland Road. The Spanish / Dutch centre half pairing were once again put to the test - and they didn't disappoint. They were able to snuff out (along with the excellent Phillips) most signs of danger. A combination of good defending and poor finishing from both sides kept the score at stalemate.

In two and a half games Leeds have conceded twice with Llorente and Strijk at the heart of their defence. It's also fair to say that on paper, there would probably not be a harder series of games to face in the World than Man City, Man Utd and Liverpool, and to concede just twice is a turning point not just from the players, but from Bielsa as well. The 65yo gaffer has shown the World that his side can defend against the best of them.

Where does this leave Cooper? What about Koch. Recent press articles suggest the German International does not have the physical strength needed for the Premiership, and has fallen down the pecking order with Bielsa. Who agree's with this?

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Bielsa plotting European course - Matteo

After securing an impressive return to the top flight, former Leeds legend Dominic Matteo believes that Marcelo Bielsa will be plotting a course from LS11 to Europe! The former centre back believes Bielsa has
the mentality needed to take the Whites to the next level.

“It looks like a Europa League slot might be too much of an ask this season but as a club you’ve got to be looking at the following season and what we can improve on” “As a Leeds player, you have to be thinking we need to finish higher next season.

“Bielsa will be thinking what’s the next step and how do we get this club into Europe. “I know it’s early days but a manager like Bielsa will be thinking what’s next. “He’ll want to finish higher and you’ve got to have that mentality.”

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Diego Llorente: 'I didn’t realise how different Bielsa is in his training'
By and credit to Sid Lowe - The Guardian


It took Diego Llorente 72 days to make his debut for Leeds United and another 52 to reappear. When he finally managed his first start since joining from Real Sociedad four months earlier, he lasted 10 minutes against Newcastle in January. Another month passed before he could begin again, this time for real, 152 days after signing for £18m. He knows; he was counting them. Those were “very tough days”, he says. But, he insists, they weren’t wasted.

Nor were they so unusual for him, a man who knows the virtue of patience. It’s not how it starts that matters; it’s how it finishes. Llorente, a youth product who went 18 months between his first Real Madrid appearance and his second, got his first Spain cap against Bosnia-Herzegovina in May 2016, joining a squad that because of club commitments had no Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Manchester United players. Thirty-five games passed until he got a second, Bosnia again the opponents, this time in November 2018.
Between those matches Llorente was surprisingly called into the squad despite a broken fibula, taking Luis Enrique’s call from his hospital bed. Even though Llorente could not play, the Spain manager insisted that here was a player with “an interesting present and a great future”, one worth waiting for. Besides, he said, “being here with us could be good for him to see the way the selección is, to listen to the team talks and as a stimulus for his recovery.”

Maybe there was a lesson there for when he landed in Leeds. Injured and in lockdown, with Elland Road empty, Llorente reached for his laptop. “I watched the documentary series on Leeds,” he says. “I was curious and, as I couldn’t help the team by playing, what I wanted to do – apart from get fit as quickly as possible – was get to know the club as well as I could. I also analysed what we did, all the details when we played. When I finally came back I didn’t want it to be so obvious that I was the new guy.

“I wanted to know everything related to the club, the atmosphere, the supporters, what’s it like on match days, what the routine is, what are the people working at the club like,” he continues, face occasionally freezing and voice cracking over the Zoom call.

“It was a nice thing to do and watching it brought me closer to Leeds, what it means to play here. I already knew Leeds were a historic club, in the Champions League when I was growing up – there was Jonathan Woodgate, Rio Ferdinand, I remember Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – and although [since then] they hadn’t been in the Premier League, I was aware of them. But I wanted to know more.

“All that history plays its part when you’re deciding whether to sign. On top of that they were offering me the chance to be part of a stable, ambitious project. I knew I could do things for Leeds and Leeds could do things for me, like give me the chance to play under [Marcelo] Bielsa and play in the Premier League. I’d had offers the summer before from Premier League clubs [and did not go], but this summer we analysed them carefully: their aims, what they saw in me.

“The first thing I did was get Pablo Hernández’s number and call him. People in Spain don’t realise what he means to Leeds: he’s a legend, one of the main reasons they’re in the Premier League. I didn’t just ask him about the team but the city, my teammates, the day to day. And he only had good things to say.

“I knew from him that the club was well run and then when I met with Víctor [Orta, the director of football] and he showed me how Leeds operate, how they work, everything they’d done, I didn’t think twice. It was the style of play I wanted, the club that best fit my qualities, and playing in the Premier League was a dream I’d had since I was small.”

Not that they could fully express what Llorente was about to encounter. Not just with the play – “you can’t even imagine how intense it is, how fast; it’s different watching it on the television and experiencing it for yourself,” he says – but also with the manager.

“To be honest,” the defender admits, “people had spoken to me about Bielsa but until you are actually playing for him you don’t realise just how different he is in so many facets of training. At first, it’s a shock because his methodology is so different. There are certain drills that are very analytical, that describe certain specific moments in games that, because of our style of play, are repeated often. Movements you should be making off the ball, the way you support the free man, the help you give teammates. It’s very specific.

“That methodology is striking compared with the more general approaches you’ve been used to. But when you do these exercises and then you see that in 90 minutes that exact situation is repeated 10 or 20 times, you realise why we work that way. You understand why we do things differently, that every drill has a meaning, and can be directly transferred on to the pitch. You start to understand that, which is when you realise how special he is. You watch the video analysis, individually and as a team, and you can see how it improves the team.”

Even if that means watching from the outside, you learn. Twenty games were missed in person but Llorente missed none of them on tape, analysing every detail, working on how he would fit in. He understands better than most that this too was preparation for when at last he could play. And after 80 minutes coming off the bench in the defeat at Chelsea in December and 10 before limping off against Newcastle in January, he returned in a 3-0 win over Southampton on 23 February, groin and hamstring injuries hopefully finally behind him.

That was the first of five consecutive starts, playing 90 minutes each time and returning to the Spain squad. The wild scorelines of earlier in the season are no more.

“My principal job is to minimise the attacking threat, prevent that danger, and ensure we concede as few goals as possible,” he says. “I can also offer things in terms of bringing the ball out; that’s what the manager wants, why they looked at me. But I think it’s everyone, starting with the forwards, who has improved defensively. Watching them at the start of the season, I knew we were a team that had huge attacking potential. But we are also one that also has to find balance defensively.

“It was a very tough time because as well as the injury I had changed country. That’s a big change and my family had to adapt too. And then I’m not playing. There were some tough days, but my objective was clear: to be a success here. And when you’re driven by a goal like that, nothing else matters. There are always setbacks – life puts obstacles in your path – but you have to overcome those with patience and the knowledge that if you keep working your opportunity will come. That was the way I approached things from the first minute until I could finally make my debut. That’s the approach I’ve always had and always will have throughout my career.”

“Now I’m just looking forward to getting the fans back, which I’m sure will make a difference. Combine their support and our work and that’s the key to being successful. I still haven’t been able to live that first-hand but I’ve seen it in the documentary and I just hope that day comes soon when I can experience it for myself.”

 

Morning all,

Well what a good problem to have regarding Cooper and the CB position. Especially after we spent a good part of the early season cobbling together a partnership. For me Cooper has done little wrong himself this season and if he regains his place once allowed then I have no problem.
I appreciate this may seem harsh on Struijk but he would never have expected to feature as much as he has this season. He would have seen himself as back up this season and he has been excellent back up no doubt.
I think Cooper will come back in and play more games than Struijk of what is left but I can see that switching next season. I can see Cooper becoming the back up player with Llorente & Struijk as the first choice pairing.
I feel for Koch. He is clearly a good player but the competition for his spot is fierce and if he is not quite up to the physical aspect then he may have to leave back to Germany or Spain even where he can flourish.

 

I think the Koch stories are just that....stories.

We all know how Bielsa works. It's hard to get in to the team when it is doing well. Koch has been out for a long time. Bielsa won't rush him and that's why he isn't getting games. He is still one of the first players he turns to when subs come on. We might have to wait until next season to see him in the starting line up.

 

Morning all

I think Cooper will come back in because he is skipper, but believe he will spend time on the bench next season as back up for Struijk as both are LCBs with Llorente holding down the RCB spot right now, but Koch was bought first as the ideal Ben White player so I reckon there will be a tussle between Kich and Llorente during pre season to see who gets the start. Great problems to have and also within this bunch you have cover for Phillips.

The Llorente piece says much about the way Orta and Bielsa choose a player. Koch said much of what Llorente said at the start of the season. I believe as well as sheer talent a player is chosen on how he thinks, his personality and both these players think about the team and how they can fit in to help the team. Rodrigo also had lots to say about the videos the club put together and how Bielsa saw him fitting, the way the club transposed Rodrigo/ Llorente/Koch into the action replacing the live player. It showed the movement was almost identical to how Bielsa sets up. All 3 players were shocked at the similarities. But each of these players has a similar outlook, ethos and personality with no billybigbollox tones. Raphinha got picked up late but still got the videobox treatment and was given special education upon his arrival as things happened fast. No point spending millions on a player who plays for his own headlines, or will not adapt to Bielsaball....

 

A bit of a shock but get well soon Phil
https://theathletic.com/2543645/202...or-a-while/?amp#click=https://t.co/W6iCkm9TrR

Why I will be away from The Athletic for a while

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By Phil Hay Apr 27, 2021

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758
At the Yorkshire Evening Post many years ago there was a news reporter, Charlie, who liked to wind up the sports desk by walking past and saying things like “man passes ball to man. The team win, lose or draw. Then there’s another game next weekend”.

Naturally, we’d smile and tell him to **** off but he wasn’t entirely wrong. Strip away the tactics, the analysis, the expected goals metrics (which didn’t even exist back then) and all the noise around it, and football is fundamentally about banging it in the net. In the same way that reaching the North Pole is fundamentally a fairly long walk.

Where that changes, and where football becomes so much more complex, is in the personal lives of the people who inhabit it. And more than ever in their stories of hardship and suffering. Any length of time spent writing about the game reminds you that money and celebrity are no barriers to fate or difficulty. Footballers are human and they live life like the rest of us, which is to say that none of them is immune from things beyond their control. None of them is a robot.

A few months after The Athletic launched in the UK, I spoke to Fleetwood Town goalkeeper Alex Cairns about the death of his teenage brother in a road accident. The Cairns family had suffered enormously but Alex was cheerful, philosophical and almost at peace. A while later, I interviewed Dominic Matteo about the brain tumour that very nearly killed him and found him to be extraordinarily upbeat. There were side effects and he was unlikely to ever drive again but he felt relieved to be recovering gradually. His wife, Jess, was working on a candle and diffuser business in their kitchen, both of them in a good place.

As recently as last week, I caught up with Sol Bamba to chat over his cancer diagnosis and the treatment he was receiving. He was fresh from a sixth session of chemotherapy and thoroughly buoyant, like a man who could have told you on the day he received the bad news that he’d knock his lymphoma on the head. “You know me,” Bamba kept saying. “I’m not a negative guy.” He hopes there will be no lasting impact on him, something that cannot be said of the many people in Leeds who were caught up in the dreadful events in Istanbul 21 years ago. But even they, somehow, have found a way to live with the trauma.

Resilience like that was good to lean on when I was told before Christmas that I would need surgery on a brain tumour. It was easy to take the news with a matter-of-fact attitude because I’d seen how other people dealt with and processed significantly worse situations. I don’t want to dwell on my diagnosis. The tumour is benign and I won’t need radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The specialists expect me to make a full recovery. But I will be gone from The Athletic for a while and I didn’t want to vanish without explaining why.

All of you who read this website pay for the content and pay well. All of us who work for The Athletic are extremely appreciative of your support. We have a ridiculously good team of writers here (better writers than me) and my disappearing for a few months will not compromise our Leeds United coverage at all. If anything, I’ll be hoping the quality of the features don’t put me out of a job… and as for my weekly podcast, that will be covered too, with the help of the boys at The Square Ball. Even as the surgeons get the chainsaw out, I’ll be desperately thinking about getting back to work.

So, anyway, brain surgery tomorrow. I live in hope that they’ll find one. And in the meantime, look after yourselves.

 

Phil Hay has a brain tumour!

Speedy recovery

 

Get well soon Phil.

 

The good news for Phil is that his tumour is benign, although never an easy operation. The other good news for Phil is that they will not have to shave his head.

 

Wish Phil well Always liked his crack.
Always nice to have healthy competition at CB and I'm sure all 4 have a job to play this season and next.
Not having Koch not being physical enough Had a big injury and is being weened back in.
I think we will find out where all these 4 stand next season with the 2 newer signings having had a stop start season.
The future is bright!

 

I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking of tweeting him to tell him to get them to stretch the wee hairy bits on his napper & sew them together at the top. Every cloud has a silver lining!

 

Evening all

 

I agree with you. In fact I’d say that the bundesliga is more physical than La Liga so also think it’s a nonsense story.

 

Just watching City V PSG trying to see if there are any players Bielsa may want to come to Leeds....... spotted a couple who could maybe get a start

 

Like the look of Bakker for PSG at LB, not there first choice and only 20 yrs old.

 

Anyone notice that Bielsa's specs are wonky? No, I hadn't either. Perhaps he's a Jack Duckworth fan?

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/04/...r-thorp-arch-incident-leaked-by-7m-leeds-man/

 

So someone has said that our Koch is not hard enough, too soft for the PL?
I think Bielsa will show them that it's not how big or hard your Koch is, it's what you do with it.

I'm here all week

 

As long as we don't sign PSG's keeper!!
Maybe we could flog them Kiko he would be a step up from Navas.

 

This one happened yesterday and yet another ex Man City winger joining the U18sith a view of getting into the U23s. We released 2 U18s this week but now replaced

 

Why isnt Bill in the England squad?