Leeds United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2020/2021

adaminho

event wrote: »

Bielsa wouldn't confirm that Bamford is fit for tonight.

If not its Roberts in or hopefully Pablo in with Rodrigo up top.

They play 2 up top so would expect Kalvin to slot in to the back 3 again

Unchanged, including the bench.

event

Thank god.

Yeah FWIW I dislike Roberts, not good enough but thats what bielsa would do

Hijpo

Whoa, Sawyers OG. Leeds 1 up and that will be on future "top 10 football mishaps" videos for many years.

Mushy

Think thatll be our goal of the year

Mushy

Alioski my word

Zaph

What a goal!!!

leakyboots

Some strike. Raphinha's crosses cause havoc, he gets so much whip on them

Shlippery

Christ that was beautiful Alioski...!

GoldFour4

Harrison with a fantastic goal after a brilliant move. This is a great response after Sunday

Mushy

They're getting better, amazing goal

whiterebel

Harrisson!!!!

Mushy

Thatll probably be an own goal, but such lovely play to create the chance

purple hands

Running riot

event

Id take off alioski at HT for Shackleton, he's booked and had a few fouls

10000maniacs

Great first half from the boys.

purple hands

I'm not sure if we've actually played that well, or West Brom just being dire

Seathrun66

Actually relaxing to watch Leeds for the first time in two years.

Mushy

purple hands wrote: »

I'm not sure if we've actually played that well, or West Brom just being dire

I'll go for a bit of both, so good they look so bad

Bamford, Philips and maybe Raphinha should be hauled off and packed away in cotton wool. Give some young players a chance...

Zaph

What a pleasant and unexpected Christmas surprise. Obviously the four goals were nice, but I mean no studio analysis on Premier Sports at half time.

Mushy

Zaph wrote: »

What a pleasant and unexpected Christmas surprise. Obviously the four goals were nice, but I mean no studio analysis on Premier Sports at half time.

Dont mind the analysis, grand time to get the fire roaring again and the fridge stocked up, all with a spring in the step

whiterebel

5! A peach for Raphinha

event

Another great goal.

Meslier has been very shaky.

Anything from the spurs game is a bonus tbh, then 3 points vs Brighton and we will be in great shape.

I just hope there isn't panic stations if we ship 3 or 4 vs spurs, which we are likely to do

Seathrun66

Zaph wrote: »

What a pleasant and unexpected Christmas surprise. Obviously the four goals were nice, but I mean no studio analysis on Premier Sports at half time.

Amazon has Jimmy Floyd.. Again. I guess a shortage of ex-Leeds pundits.

GoldFour4

What a signing Raphina has been. Mad to think he is likely only a million more expensive than Costa when you consider the loan fee for Costa too.

Mushy

Fantastic goal, started by Shackleton winning the ball doggedly

SteelyDanJalapeno

9 points from 12 over Xmas, fantastic

10000maniacs

Nice end to the year. Best frame of mind to play Spurs.

Mushy

What a lovely last game of 2020. Very happy with 23 points so far, should be in a good position to solidify a pl spot for next season. Nice to see others step up and score

newhouse87

another 3 points towards 40, if Fulham can start stuttering more we could be able to relax bit early, raphinha best buy in a long time, meslier good that he is coming for more crosses and will start to time his runs better hopefully and get more of the ball, all in all great response after utd defeat.

Mushy

newhouse87 wrote: »

another 3 points towards 40, if Fulham can start stuttering more we could be able to relax bit early, raphinha best buy in a long time, meslier good that he is coming for more crosses and will start to time his runs better hopefully and get more of the ball, all in all great response after utd defeat.

40 wont be needed, I'm a bit confident of that (oxymoron I know), but I'd say 12 points from here will be ok

Eggs For Dinner

Really enjoyed the 2nd half. Although we weren't pressed too hard, it was very composed in our final third. Don't be worried by Messlier, a star in the making

Only Liverpool and Chelsea have scored more.

Remember the whole "worried where the goals are going to come from" before the season started!

newhouse87

Deleted User wrote: »

Only Liverpool and Chelsea have scored more.

Remember the whole "worried where the goals are going to come from" before the season started!

it was the conceding goals i was worried about, did not expect bamford to be i think second only to kevin Phillips for most goals from a promoted striker after so many games though.

whiterebel

newhouse87 wrote: »

another 3 points towards 40, if Fulham can start stuttering more we could be able to relax bit early, raphinha best buy in a long time, meslier good that he is coming for more crosses and will start to time his runs better hopefully and get more of the ball, all in all great response after utd defeat.

Very happy to see Meslier giving bollickings to the defenders for doing stupid stuff and playing him into trouble.

Some really good play in there, nice to see Hernandez and Shacks do well when they come on. I have to hold my hand sup about Alioski - I thought he was the weak link, but he gives everything on the pitch. Can be a bit wild in the tackle, but I’d say he would play in goal, if asked.

newhouse87

whiterebel wrote: »

Very happy to see Meslier giving bollickings to the defenders for doing stupid stuff and playing him into trouble.

Some really good play in there, nice to see Hernandez and Shacks do well when they come on. I have to hold my hand sup about Alioski - I thought he was the weak link, but he gives everything on the pitch. Can be a bit wild in the tackle, but I’d say he would play in goal, if asked.

yeah hes finding his voice tbf, alioski has such a sweet strike, if it was anybody you wanted coming onto that ball it was him.

event

Phillips is outstanding. Spent most of second half watching him and he is always in the right position. He is a great passer and always has a yard on the ball. Its mad that it'll probably be him or Rice in the England squad in the summer (should be both) but I won't object to him having the summer off

Carcharodon

event wrote: »

Phillips is outstanding. Spent most of second half watching him and he is always in the right position. He is a great passer and always has a yard on the ball. Its mad that it'll probably be him or Rice in the England squad in the summer (should be both) but I won't object to him having the summer off

Philips could well end up being my favorite Leeds player ever, obviously a lot better players have played for Leeds but the way he represents the club, such a genuine good guy that has worked hard and improved so much under Bielsa.
If we stay competitive, I could see him being here for another 10 years

Eggs For Dinner

Phillips will be a star. However, reality dictates that he will only stay if we can offer him success to match his ability and financial rewards related to his market price. Such is modern football

is_that_so

23 points, 0 GD, seven players involved in the goals and all of them well taken, even the very unfortunate Sawyer. It's been a decent few months, with the usual ups and downs. Just another 6 wins needed! Actually can't believe how remarkably well the project is going. Now the target needs to be top 10!

funnights74

is_that_so wrote: »

23 points, 0 GD, seven players involved in the goals and all of them well taken, even the very unfortunate Sawyer. It's been a decent few months, with the usual ups and downs. Just another 6 wins needed! Actually can't believe how remarkably well the project is going. Now the target needs to be top 10!

At the start of the season we would have taken where we are now for sure.I admire your optimism but after following Leeds for over 40 years there'll be all kinds of stress and head shaking before the end of the season.

jacool

Just looking at the table, 2 things stand out.
1. Of all the teams ahead of Leeds, only Villa are higher than expected.
2. Leeds are ahead of both Wolves and Arsenal, a situation you would have ripped someone's arm off to grab if offered at the start of the season.

is_that_so

For those who missed it this Karen Carney story is bubbling away in the background, on social media anyway.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/55485336

Seathrun66

jacool wrote: »

Just looking at the table, 2 things stand out.
1. Of all the teams ahead of Leeds, only Villa are higher than expected.
2. Leeds are ahead of both Wolves and Arsenal, a situation you would have ripped someone's arm off to grab if offered at the start of the season.

I believe that West Ham are in a false position also, some good performances but I expect themselves and Villa to drop significantly. We may pass out Southampton also but I'd expect both Wolves and Arsenal to have a better second half of the season and possibly move above us.

For me none of the other clubs beneath us are close to our quality and thus based on the above I'd expect us to finish between 8th and 10th, not so far off the top six European places. That'll suffice for our first season back.

I still feel that getting Rodrigo De Paul would push us even higher but that has to happen in January before Juve or Inter grab him next Summer.

GoldFour4

Bielsa didn’t complete rule out anything happening with transfers in January. Gave his usual bit about bring interested in someone who would improve the first team.

Be interesting to see what happens with the next few fixtures. Saturdays game could be casualty at the rate the UK is going.

GoldFour4

Seathrun66 wrote: »

I believe that West Ham are in a false position also, some good performances but I expect themselves and Villa to drop significantly. We may pass out Southampton also but I'd expect both Wolves and Arsenal to have a better second half of the season and possibly move above us.

For me none of the other clubs beneath us are close to our quality and thus based on the above I'd expect us to finish between 8th and 10th, not so far off the top six European places. That'll suffice for our first season back.

I still feel that getting Rodrigo De Paul would push us even higher but that has to happen in January before Juve or Inter grab him next Summer.

I don’t think De Paul is the answer. To be anyway we need cover for Klich to come in. Someone who can give us a solid 25mins to control a game in the second half to preserve a result. Obviously it would be great if Forshaw could fulfil that role but that looks unlikely.

event

Nah we shouldn't be thinking about Forshaw really. He's 29 and hasn't played a game for nearly a year and a half.

Would be a massive surprise if he was even able to get back to full fitness, never mind up to PL standard

is_that_so

Speaking of non-players. It seems that the Jean-Kévin Augustin FIFA case may not kick off till March or April next year. Story is in German.

https://rblive.de/geruechte/mangelnde-vorbereitung-bestraft-ihn-jean-kevin-augustin-wieder-aussortiert-fifa-entscheidet-erst-im-fruehjahr-ueber-klage-von-rb-leipzig-17542

Seathrun66

malistheman wrote: »

I don’t think De Paul is the answer. To be anyway we need cover for Klich to come in. Someone who can give us a solid 25mins to control a game in the second half to preserve a result. Obviously it would be great if Forshaw could fulfil that role but that looks unlikely.

Apologies but I gotta disagree. Apart from an ageing Hernandez we don't have a creative midfielder and thus De Paul, Campaña, Majer or Nández in that role would lead to even more chances for us and take the pressure off Bamford & Rodrigo playing deeper than they need to be.

And why don't you see Shackleton as cover for Klich? He's done a job whenever it's been required, 30 mins or more in the last two games.
Forshaw is presumably gone though I'd love to be proved wrong. Excluding Forshaw (and including Dallas & Struijk who can play in that role) we've got eleven midfielders in the first team squad. Though I concede that it's very winger-heavy.

Left-back and creative midfielder the only two weak spots for me. Not expecting much change in the January window though.

Seathrun66

Ten points off the top of the table, twelve points off relegation. I'll take that going into 2021.

Happy new year everyone.