Match Day Thread West Brom v Leeds Utd Match Thread

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West Bromwich Albion v Leeds Utd
Tuesday 29th December 18:00| The Hawthorns

Leeds will be hoping they can build on their victory over Burnley on Sunday, as the Whites travel down to the Midlands to play West Brom Tuesday teatime.

Leeds will be without central defender Diego Llorente. The 27yo aggravated his leg injury a day after returning to Leeds first team training.

Being that Bielsa is not fond of shuffling the pack, we suspect the Argentine will select the same team that edged past Burnley. This will mean playing Ayling, Phillips and Struijk as make shift centre backs with Dallas and Alioski given licence o move forward down the wing.

West Brom will be full of confidence having held the mighty Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Sunday evening. Unfortunately for the Baggies, they have only won once this season, lying in 19th place (out of 20) with eight points. Leeds rose to 12th place after their victory of the Clarets, with 20 points.

Both Leeds and West Brom share an unwanted statistic. Both teams have conceded 30 goals. More than any other team in the top flight.

Will West Brom's new Manager Sam Allardyce have a positive effect on his team?

 

Allardyce will have a negative effect with the hope of a positive outcome.

 

Big Sam knows how to park the bus and how to deploy big men at set pieces.

Our players need to pounce as soon as they can and need to take every chance to kill the game off. Even Big Sam cannot come back from 3 down at half time.

 

Phillips will only drop into the back line if they deploy two strikers but either way I can’t see any changes to the starting 11. We could do with Klich and Harrison hitting a bit of form. We need to avoid giving any free kicks away around the box and limit the amount of corners we give them.

We do struggle against teams that park the bus so fresh legs and pace with well used substitutes could be the answer second half. With that in mind I’d be tempted to used Pablo and Rodrigo in the final 45 minutes.

 

WBA are a big tall outfit, Big Sam is no mug and there organisation at Liverpool was impressive, just hope it took a lot out of them, take a draw and keep buying time to get the injury list down. Llorente is now a concern, he might be related to Forshaw.

 

Anyone else up for resting Klich and putting Shackleton in there, the lad never let's us down. Though it would be more likely MB would put him at RB and move Dallas there.

 

Think I would like to see Raphinah replace Klich and put Costa back in. I think Rodrigo and Raphinah will scare the crap out of any defence and when you look at the missed chances from Klich in recent games?

 

Sorry Doc but Costa does nothing for me, I'd play anyone out there other than him.
Looks the part and we see the occasional glimpse of something but his end product is poor, he can't tackle and is caught ball watching far too often rather than back tracking to help out the R B

 

Poveda then and he almost created as soon as he came on against Burnley. A better delivery would have seen a goal or 2 but besides being a bit lightweight he has the skill and belief

 

Not sure if it's true but there is talk of a much reduced capacity happening at the Hawthorns, apparently they're taking out the seats and replacing them with beds, so the locals can be more comfortable when they fall asleep watching big Sam's football.

 

Certainly the better option of the 2.
One thing I would like to see tried when we have a full squad, is Ayling playing in front of Shackleton on the right.

 

Morning all.
We're going to have to break WBA down. Liverpool dominated the game but, even with all their talent, couldn't score for over 80 minutes.
We'll probably beat them 5-0

 

Not sure about another attacker/winger for klich. We’re lightweight enough as it is. Klich looks knackered, if he’s rested I imagine it’s shak... but think Jamie has worked best as an impact Sub because of his pace. Not sure he’s a ‘game controller’ .

Not an easy choice.

 

I can't put my finger on it but I suspect our lack of ball retention recently is down to having Rodrigo in midfield. I think it has a negative effect of Klich's game. With so many 'playmakers' in there we lack the players who just give the ball nice and simple.

Bielsa will go to 4 at the back as Big Sam will go with one up top (if that). Ayling and Struijk will look after Grant and Phillips will move forward pushing Klich back in to his own position. It might help us be a little more eye catching but West Brom will park the bus and try and nick something from a set piece.

To be honest I'd take a draw and be quite happy with it. Its definitely winnable though. We can't lose and give them the confidence to go on and close the gap on us.

Another important game. We can't lose to those below us.

 

I wouldn’t like to see that Gessa tbh, not when we already have several recognised wingers.

 

I just think he's more direct than what we have, just a thought, I know it won't happen

 

been saying this for a while, he has a forward’s instincts. I like him as a player but not sure Bielsa has found a role for him yet. Instead of klich dropping deep to give the simple give and go, we have Rodrigo trying his flicks - the game seems to pass klich by... though when he does get it he’s playing carp. Not sure how connected the two things are but with Rodrigo and Raphinha (who does great things and terrible things in quick succession) we concede possession cheaply too often. Critically it’s in that first receiver role.. ie we’re looking to start attacks and the rest of the side is bombing forward. It’s the worst time to give the ball away. Concede possession trying a flick in the opposition box and we have cover, do it on the half way line when everyone is running towards the opposition box and we’re toast. Watch the Man U game for prime examples.

 

By the same token those flicks on the half way line can result in a goal for Leeds, and has done on many occasions.

It's what high risk Bielsaball is all about, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

And we're not doing too badly with it either.

 

Too many of those high risk flicks are not coming off when we are under pressure. Sick of watching players give a defender the eye and play a fancy blind pass making them look twats and thats your problem in a nutshell. When we are playing well we flow, but when the ball keeps just coming back at us we screw it up, and thats the difference between £80m players and some of ours. Yes I criticise but have to accept reality

 

Those high risk flicks will be the reason why we’ll suffer a few drubbings this season. They’re also the reason we’ll give some teams a good hammering.

It is what it is.