Tonight will see maybe our lowest point under Bielsa come to an end, if it doesn’t I fear we move into panic mode. Yes a very tough opening few games and we were smashed daft, and showed the gulf in class between the top 4 teams and us and everyone else in the Premier League. 3 points tonight moves us up the table and takes the pressure off. We can all then be more positive in our thinking as we will have only been beaten by 2 top 4 teams, got 2 draws and one of them is actually 4th in the league and 1 win, so not actually a bad start, but if we lose….. This week I’m having a look at our players out on loan, and we get some good news with a lot of very average news. However the best surprise is that Kiko was selected for La Liga’s team of the week. Yes he started the season with a howler, but has since made up for it in a very poor team, and has only conceded 2 goals both against League Champions Athletico Madrid. Last weekend he pulled off plenty of saves and even saved a penalty and got a clean sheet again. Costa sat on the bench and not been on the pitch yet. Bogusz is having a storming season and maybe by January Bielsa should think about bringing him home. The fans love him in his first 4 games where he’s scored twice and one assist, he’s running the middle. Poveda got MoM in his first outing by getting an assist, but has been out injured since. Davies started the season on fire and Parker even played him out of position due to a sending off, and he was awesome. So he came off the bench in the next game to rave reviews but has been out injured since, but is back this weekend and available. McCalmont has featured in 5 of the 8 games played and doing pretty well. Caprile has played in 5 of the 8 games so far, conceding 5 goals but saved a penalty and plenty of saves in a poor team. Edmondson has only played 75 minutes so far this season and I fear for the lad. He played in the EFL Cup and scored but not doing anything in the league except bench warm Kun has started in 2 of the 3 league games but no goals yet, so the one time wonder boy from Barcelona’s academy isn’t cutting it yet. We have now had 3 transfer windows where we have failed to add that midfield ingredient I think we can all see we need. Cuisance was almost bought and since then we haven’t replaced him. If you saw last weeks Palace game you could see exactly why Bielsa wanted Connor Gallagher because he was the best player on the pitch by far. He has scored twice and 5 assists so far this season, but when he chose Palace we didn’t go for plan B again. Unless we can resolve our midfield problem we are in trouble, so Rodrigo needs to come good or Forshaw needs to get fit but something needs to happen in there because midfield is where we lack quality right now. On Tuesday we have a cup game against Fulham. So can anyone tell me what team we put out. In the last round against Crewe we fielded a strong team mainly of players who needed minutes. How do we do that on Tuesday? Yes we may use Roberts, Rodrigo, Klich and Dan James, but then what because we have 3 CBs out and players probably being played out of position to fill holes. Some will say we should use the likes of Cresswell, Gelhardt, Greenwood, Summerville and Drameh, which would be a big ask of these kids all being thrown into the deep end at the same time. Why the hell didn’t we use these kids against Tranmere Rovers earlier this week to get an idea how they would deal with seasoned pro footballers. The issue I have here is we seem to have lost direction when it comes to young players breaking through. Tranmere would have given Bielsa an idea on what he could do against Fulham, but now looks more than likely that he picks his strongest team, and if we get injuries on top of what we already have, we are in trouble. So this weekends debating points: Our League form and can we turn it around. Will any of our kids out on loan make it back to the club Our U23 squad and its targets
re the kids...if you are good enough you are old enough.....don't believe all this hogwash about only playing other kids when they play in the u23's and would they be able to hack it in the seniors, we've had youngsters blooded before... bremner,lorimer,milner,smith,delph etc....you've either got it or not
I have an issue with how our top kids are not being used. I have been watching our kids for a few years now and I see who is developing and who will never make it. Last Summer I saw 4 top top kids brought in and we paid a lot of money for each. 3 of them had been used in league matches for PSV, Fulham and Wigan. These same 4 kids were intrinsic in us winning Prem2 Div2 at the first attempt. 2 of them won the golden boot and one won the league player of the year. There is another kid who won previous league we were in the development league.(Charlie Cresswell) He was only 17yo then and since winning that league he also skippered the club to the national league title and then skippered last seasons all conquering team. Hes still only 18yo and when I stand him alongside some of the very good CBs we have had in the U23s in recent times. Players like Aapo Halme, Hugo Diaz, Ollie Casey, Pascal Struijk he is ahead of all them by a mile at the same age he is already an England U21 International. I personally rate Joe Gelhardt way way above Tyler Roberts. i also believe Cody Drameh is a better RB than Shackelton. Last week we saw a very young Harvey Elliot start for Liverpool and play well. We see 17 and 18yo kids play for Man City, Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool, Everton and many more clubs and top clubs all around Europe. When you have some of the most exiting kids in England in the club, and these same kids wanted by all the named clubs above……… yet we dont see them, even when we really should. Did we bring them in to make a profit selling them on? Because I dont see development right now
The thing is Doc you can actually see it happening now as injuries and suspensions start to stretch the squad. Personally I think we'll see 3 or 4 youngsters make their debuts in the next 2-6 weeks, it definitely helps that the fixture list is a little kinder and therefore the opposition are a little below the absolute elite level. We also need players like Firpo and Rodrigo to be able to complete 90 mins and not be subbed every week as it closes off those opportunities from the bench. Just a word of caution though, anyone remember being 3-0 up against Cardiff and blowing it when Eddie and Struijk came on ?
None of the kids that we have sent out have really shown that they should have had more first team games. McCallmont was probably the stand out last season yet he only went league 1 this year. Halme doesn't start for Barnsley. Edmondson showed glimpses but isn't an auto choice at league 1. The kids aren't good enough. A shining light in Sam Greenwood? He looked well out of his depth against Crawley. Never got a kick. If they are good enough they will get selected. Therefore they are not forcing their way in at training. Summerville will have to outshine Raphinha, Harrison and now James to get a game. It's not easy. Gelhardt and Greenwood have to get past Bamford, Rodrigo, Roberts, Dallas, Klich before they are considered. All international players. It's hard. Obviously they are not at that level.
Good thread The Tranmere game was U21s not U23s, so younger players do tend to play ... none of the Prem U21s teams in this competition are pulling up trees, and heavy losses are being recorded because so many are fielding U18 teams ... EFL needs to change it to U23s to make it more competitive Our loan players will take a bit of time to settle ... Kun isn't on loan though, sure he has gone on a free ... Bogusz is a talent, and I can see him returning stronger and more experienced to add to the squad ... Edmondson is a worry though, he's a big lad and can be a bit one dimensional, so needs to grow up fast in the big boys league where he'll be getting battered by nasty centre backs Forshaw is a big need now, and it seems Bielsa and the club have a lot of faith in him being fit once he returns to the bench ... Rob Price knows what he's doing, and he wouldn't string the player/club along ... if Price says Forshaw is fit, then he'll be ready ... Bielsa said he expects Forshaw to be available from next week, so expect to see him at Fulham Not sure what team will be going to The Cottage, as the Crewe game came just prior to International break ... Bielsa may not fancy throwing in players like Phillips again, but he may also just fancy getting through and maybe drawing another lower division club in Fourth Round ... he did say last season after going out early in both Cups that he was annoyed as it robbed him of the chance to give his bench and U23s more First Team game time
Every game against bottom half teams are 6 pointers. Lose too many of those and you're in a relegation battle.
I was going to give my words off wisdom but didn’t want to tempt fate Come on Leeds your fans need you
As we only have a squad if 18 players which has at least 4 out through injury/suspension. We have only 14 first team players. Factor in a match tonight a very very important match quickly followed by a cup game on Tuesday. Will we send out our strongest team tonight and at Fulham 4 days later. Bielsa opts to backfill his first team squad with 6 U23s yet very rarely uses them. Billy’s point about the EFL Cup being for U21s I would point out that Bate is 18, Greenwood 19, Gelhardt 18 Drameh 19 Summerville 19 and these players should have been used so that Bielsa can see if they are ready, can cope against grown men. We may now be forced into it and Bielsa has no real clue if it will work
Get your point but Bielsa has trained them every day for well over a year (except Bate). Pretty sure he knows what they are capable of and they wouldn't be on the bench so often if he didn't think they could step up. Maybe we are about to find out ?
Unfortunately I disagree with Billy though I hope he’s right. I think he’s done as a top flight footballer. Been out so long I just think he will keep on picking up niggling injuries.
