Leeds United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2020/2021

whiterebel

Mushy wrote: »

That second one was a joke, foot was left there deliberately to do exactly that. Could easily have taken it out of the way, was the trailing foot too. Not even a card.

More I think of the game, Taylor was appalling. Studs on Raphinha inside a minute set the tone, went downhill from there

I thought exactly the same. We got nothing from Taylor all night. Big dive by Wilson outside the box, and he couldn’t wait to give it. Very deliberate foot left in too.

Mushy

whiterebel wrote: »

I thought exactly the same. We got nothing from Taylor all night. Big dive by Wilson outside the box, and he couldn’t wait to give it. Very deliberate foot left in too.

Whenever they broke into box I was fearing a leg dragging over a defender, would have been given so quickly. Sure even the disallowed goal, Dallas taken out but not even looked at

Mushy

Mushy wrote: »

That second one was a joke, foot was left there deliberately to do exactly that. Could easily have taken it out of the way, was the trailing foot too. Not even a card.

I don't think it was deliberate, more he wasn't bothered if he left something on the keeper.

What annoyed me was, after he knew he connected with Meslier, he pretended it was a try on. And the commentator said something along the lines of "not much in that", when it could have been very nasty.

c.p.w.g.w

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I don't think it was deliberate, more he wasn't bothered if he left something on the keeper.

What annoyed me was, after he knew he connected with Meslier, he pretended it was a try on. And the commentator said something along the lines of "not much in that", when it could have been very nasty.

I find it strange that if it's British player, it's fine to leave the boot in...non British player, reaction/response is totally different...

Wilson was lucky not to get booked IMO

event

Seathrun66 wrote: »

29 games per season is more than almost all of our squad will manage.

You've said this a few times and I'm not sure what it means

He won't play 29 games this season.
Bielsa doesn't rotate much so for majority of squad they won't get many games. But of our main players, of who you think Llorente is

Ayling 19 games
Dallas 19 games
Phillips 15 games
Klich 18 games
Harrison 18 games
Bamford 19 games
Rodrigo 17 games
Alioski 17 games

And we have 19 games to go. At this rate berardi has a better chance of playing more games.

I haven't passed comment on his ability. Just his appearance record. He is injury prone. Thats all.

Am I correct in saying that 18 points have come in 7 games involving the bottom 6?

It would suggest that Leeds are well ahead of that group, and picking up points from them is an excellent strategy and crucial to survival. But any suggestion that they are top 10, the whole "should beat this midtable team, should beat that top 10 side" might be optimistic.

Mushy

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Am I correct in saying that 18 points have come in 7 games involving the bottom 6?

It would suggest that Leeds are well ahead of that group, and picking up points from them is an excellent strategy and crucial to survival. But any suggestion that they are top 10, the whole "should beat this midtable team, should beat that top 10 side" might be optimistic.

Yeah think they said last night about having 15 points from teams below them, which will now be 18.

As games go on, I'm less annoyed about the west ham match and more shocked by the Villa match. Been a very good half season, more confident that fulham wont get 14 extra points over leeds, wba an extra 15 points and Sheffield United 21 points. May be tempting fate, but with19 games left, I can see 3 wins there being enough

event

Points to stay up over last 6 years:

19/20 - 35
18/19 - 36
17/18 - 36
16/17 - 40
15/16 - 39
14/15 - 38

With City and Pool getting huge number of points over past few years, it has resulted in the lower teams not needing as many points to stay up. We have 26 at the minute, realistically 12-13 will see us safe. We should be ok

Ceist_Beag

We're staying up, I have no fear of that tbh.
On the discussion about Llorente, if he is going to be out for another period, does anyone think Struijk might be doing enough to move ahead of Cooper as first choice partner to Koch? I didn't get to see the last 25 minutes last night but what I saw of him once again looked good. He looks much more assured as CB than midfield and looks like he might be a better partner to Koch than Cooper.

whiterebel

I like Struijk at CB. He looks natural there. He looks like a fish out of water in midfield. Cooper isn't doing lot wrong, but going forward it'll be Koch, Llorente and Struijk for the CB positions. I'd love to see Llorente get fit and stay fit.

event

I dont like Struijk. But I'm probably a bit harsh. He looks like he is always thinking one step ahead but doesn't have the skills to always do that.
Plus I dont think his passing is as good as Bielsa wants from a CB. If he focuses on the simple things and improves his concentration he'll do well though

Cooper gets grief but other defenders always look better beside him. Struijk looked good last night, probably his best game at CB. No co-incidence that it was his first game beside Cooper at CB this year. Cooper has a big role to play, he's probably our bravest centre half & his leadership is brilliant.

NuckChorris1

Deleted User wrote: »

Am I correct in saying that 18 points have come in 7 games involving the bottom 6?

It would suggest that Leeds are well ahead of that group, and picking up points from them is an excellent strategy and crucial to survival. But any suggestion that they are top 10, the whole "should beat this midtable team, should beat that top 10 side" might be optimistic.

I'm really happy with that form as it shows that we are clearly deserving of the position we are in and not always up and down taking lucky points off better teams and then dropping them against worse ones. Year on year improvement on that is the target and should realistically be the way it goes assuming we sign the right players each summer. I'm really believing Radz's talk these days of established PL side within 3 years and then pushing for Euro spots in 5ish years. When we got promoted I had hopes but a lot of doubts and worries too as we are still Leeds who've imploded so many times before. I think last night takes away any doubts and we can relax and start to dream of how we'll be next year with Rodrigo de Paul and Bernard Mendy.

event wrote: »

I dont like Struijk. But I'm probably a bit harsh. He looks like he is always thinking one step ahead but doesn't have the skills to always do that.
Plus I dont think his passing is as good as Bielsa wants from a CB. If he focuses on the simple things and improves his concentration he'll do well though

Cooper gets grief but other defenders always look better beside him. Struijk looked good last night, probably his best game at CB. No co-incidence that it was his first game beside Cooper at CB this year. Cooper has a big role to play, he's probably our bravest centre half & his leadership is brilliant.

I read in interview before with a player (I think Bamford) and when asked who was the best passer they said that Struijk was well up there even though you wouldn't expect it. Probably why Bielsa has experimented with him as Philips cover, but he should stick to CB I think. It did make me look up stats for our defence and it doesn't look bad for young Struijk at all. I think in time he could be solid Premiership quality.

Minutes Passing Tackling
Ayling 1322 81% 66%
Koch 681 87% 75%
Cooper 925 87% 70%
Dallas 1092 84% 61%
Struijk 547 87% 75%

10000maniacs

One thing about last nights game that stood out. Our 5 yard passing was poor again.
When I saw Luton play Chelsea a few days ago, I noticed that one thing Luton do is get the basics right, their 5 yard passing was immaculate. They were just beaten by pure skill.
Leeds need to get the basics right, like the 5 yard passing.
They have improved at the back and on set pieces. But the passing is still crap.

Jimmy Two Times

Not sure my ticker can take more games like that. Funny but I was more relaxed at 1-1 than at 1-0 or 2-1. My theory is that it's much worse to draw a game you are winning than lose one you are drawing as it's two points lost instead of one.

On the game itself, a lot of them looked really short on confidence for some reason,Pat in particular looks awful. Having said that,he did get into some good positions in the first half where an early ball might have yielded some result,particularly that one where Raphinha hit the post from the impossible angle. Thinking that Raphinha and Rodrigo hold on to the ball for a split second too long on occasion making Pat's runs redundant.

Still, great to come out on the right side of the result and impressed that the defenders held their nerves and didn't commit to any stupid tackles in the box.

Thought there should have been a few yellows for some of their challenges.

That Jacob Murphy looks a decent player.

event

NuckChorris1 wrote: »

I read in interview before with a player (I think Bamford) and when asked who was the best passer they said that Struijk was well up there even though you wouldn't expect it. Probably why Bielsa has experimented with him as Philips cover, but he should stick to CB I think. It did make me look up stats for our defence and it doesn't look bad for young Struijk at all. I think in time he could be solid Premiership quality.

Minutes Passing Tackling
Ayling 1322 81% 66%
Koch 681 87% 75%
Cooper 925 87% 70%
Dallas 1092 84% 61%
Struijk 547 87% 75%

Im shocked by that but cant say any more. I would love to see him progress and he's young so has that on his side.

One thing about him, he takes knockbacks well. Been taken off a few times but his confidence isnt affected at all so looks like he has a strong mentality

purple hands

Another thing about Struijk is he brings some badly needed height to the defence.

Ceist_Beag

Yeah I think for someone his age, playing CB in the Premier League, he has impressed so far. He has a lot of positives as already mentioned, height, composure and going by the stats tackling and passing. Given he has been thrown in earlier than Bielsa would have planned for him, there are good reasons to be optimistic.
The one thing that I haven't seen much of yet is just how fast is he. Maybe that's a sign of good positioning when playing CB or just that he hasn't been caught out of position yet but I'd be interested to see how he matches up on the speed stakes. When he played in midfield he did look a bit slow, but again that might just be down to his positioning in there.

Eggs For Dinner

purple hands wrote: »

Another thing about Struijk is he brings some badly needed height to the defence.

He's not the best at getting off the ground though.

Seathrun66

event wrote: »

You've said this a few times and I'm not sure what it means

He won't play 29 games this season.
Bielsa doesn't rotate much so for majority of squad they won't get many games. But of our main players, of who you think Llorente is

Ayling 19 games
Dallas 19 games
Phillips 15 games
Klich 18 games
Harrison 18 games
Bamford 19 games
Rodrigo 17 games
Alioski 17 games

And we have 19 games to go. At this rate berardi has a better chance of playing more games.

I haven't passed comment on his ability. Just his appearance record. He is injury prone. Thats all.

Never mentioned him making 29 games. I said most of our squad won't play 29 games and that's factually incontrovertible. We have a 25-man squad and very few will play 29 games. None of our centre-backs for sure. Koch, Cooper and Struijk will each do well to get to 25.

And you've consistently and persistently said he's injury-prone. Your invention. Not thought to be so in Spain and borne out by Phil Hay's assessment. You seem to have a downer on this lad for some reason, give him time.

http://https://twitter.com/PhilHay_/status/1354399421891543041?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Seathrun66

Jimmy Two Times wrote: »

Not sure my ticker can take more games like that. Funny but I was more relaxed at 1-1 than at 1-0 or 2-1. My theory is that it's much worse to draw a game you are winning than lose one you are drawing as it's two points lost instead of one.

On the game itself, a lot of them looked really short on confidence for some reason,Pat in particular looks awful. Having said that,he did get into some good positions in the first half where an early ball might have yielded some result,particularly that one where Raphinha hit the post from the impossible angle. Thinking that Raphinha and Rodrigo hold on to the ball for a split second too long on occasion making Pat's runs redundant.

Still, great to come out on the right side of the result and impressed that the defenders held their nerves and didn't commit to any stupid tackles in the box.

Thought there should have been a few yellows for some of their challenges.

That Jacob Murphy looks a decent player.

Bamford was really off last night. Is he possibly getting frustrated with the Brazilian alliance cutting him out?

event

Seathrun66 wrote: »

Never mentioned him making 29 games. I said most of our squad won't play 29 games and that's factually incontrovertible. We have a 25-man squad and very few will play 29 games. None of our centre-backs for sure. Koch, Cooper and Struijk will each do well to get to 25.

And you've consistently and persistently said he's injury-prone. Your invention. Not thought to be so in Spain and borne out by Phil Hay's assessment. You seem to have a downer on this lad for some reason, give him time.

http://https://twitter.com/PhilHay_/status/1354399421891543041?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Hijpo

Seathrun66 wrote: »

Bamford was really off last night. Is he possibly getting frustrated with the Brazilian alliance cutting him out?

Yeah, i havent seen him that animated with frustration and anger before. Slapping the ground, throwing his arms up, shouting etc

event

Hasnt scored in his last 4, I'd say he is just a bit frustrated. Dont mind it at all, he's allowed an off day

stryker mcqueen

Bamford was quiet but was excellent for Raphinha's goal , easily could have overhit the pass the Rodrigo

Seathrun66

event wrote: »

Hasnt scored in his last 4, I'd say he is just a bit frustrated. Dont mind it at all, he's allowed an off day

I agree, but he was more out of sorts last night than I've ever seen him. Hopefully not a confidence issue and equally I hope no issue with the two Brazilians as they seem to seek out each other rather than Paddy.

Seathrun66

Loving this week's scorelines. When did we last have every result go the way you'd want it to?

We could take Leicester.

Seathrun66

Seathrun66 wrote: »

Loving this week's scorelines. When did we last have every result go the way you'd want it to?

We could take Leicester.

Leeds could win, or lose 4-1 again, Leicester are still a better team with players and a manager who have vastly more experience playing and managing at this level, and in the last match were able to send on an English international midfielder and later on take off their star striker, which shows how strong and how comfortable they were.

But for all that, I'd always give Bielsa's sides a chance of winning because there is no side like them. But an outside chance.

Eggs For Dinner

I've always been a negative ninny following Leeds for nearly 50 years, but I'm still looking at the teams below us rather than thinking we can catch the ones above us.

If we play like we did on Tuesday against Leicester, they will take us handy. Where's Bielsa ball gone? Attack, attack, attack and leave the back door open. With our defence, we have to go back to trying to outscore mid-table teams. Attempts on target has hit the floor

Jimmy Two Times

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

I've always been a negative ninny following Leeds for nearly 50 years, but I'm still looking at the teams below us rather than thinking we can catch the ones above us.

If we play like we did on Tuesday against Leicester, they will take us handy. Where's Bielsa ball gone? Attack, attack, attack and leave the back door open. With our defence, we have to go back to trying to outscore mid-table teams. Attempts on target has hit the floor

Agree with every bit of this. 50+ years of pain has conditioned me.

I just don't think that Bielsaball is as effective at this level with this squad. We don't have the pace around the middle of the field to press properly and once the first man is beaten ,the system we play means we're in trouble.

Look at that run and shot Schar managed in the second half. Picked it up just outside his own box and ran to the edge of ours with Roberts huffing and puffing behind him.

None of Rodrigo,Klich,Pablo,Phillips or Dallas are quick enough to recover once beaten. Shacks maybe but that's about it. Maybe some tactical fouling is the answer. Everyone else seems to do it.

Leicester looked class against Everton last night,although without Vardy the cutting edge was lacking a little.

I fear they will dominate midfield and create so many chances that they are bound to score some of them.

Having said all that,the defensive omnishambles that led to Sheff United's second goal last night did serve to lighten the mood somewhat :D:D

event

Its effective in that we are going to stay up.

Like what are we expecting with this squad?

Jimmy Two Times

event wrote: »

Its effective in that we are going to stay up.

Like what are we expecting with this squad?

Just said I've been a Leeds supporter for 50+ years.

Honestly,we have exceeded my expectations to this point but history has taught me never to get too excited.

If we finish 17th, I'll be happy, 13th and I'll be thrilled.Just want to stay up and get to go to some games next year.

Hijpo

Jimmy Two Times wrote: »

Just said I've been a Leeds supporter for 50+ years.

Honestly,we have exceeded my expectations to this point but history has taught me never to get too excited.

If we finish 17th, I'll be happy, 13th and I'll be thrilled.Just want to stay up and get to go to some games next year.

I'm thinking top 10 and bottom 10 as two completely separate tables. West Ham, massive over achievers.

whiterebel

If we want something to temper expectations, just look at Villa and Sheff Utd. SU surprised everyone last year and are struggling at the bottom. Villa escaped relegation and are far better this season. Same with West Ham. Stay up, introduce a couple of better players, push on. Hopefully.

event

Even though they are struggling a bit now, the likes of Wolves are an example. They have no bother spending loads of money of course but stay up and keep adding to it year after year.

Seathrun66

event wrote: »

Its effective in that we are going to stay up.

Like what are we expecting with this squad?

Agree re survival, but we have shelled out circa £105m this Summer, the fifth biggest spenders in Europe. That's geared towards top half of the table and still a fair chance of ending up there. Maybe over-optimistic but there are a few teams above us that we are arguably better than and may pass - Villa, Southampton, West Ham. And beneath us I only worry about a resurgent Wolves.

Mushy

Seathrun66 wrote: »

Agree re survival, but we have shelled out circa £105m this Summer, the fifth biggest spenders in Europe. That's geared towards top half of the table and still a fair chance of ending up there. Maybe over-optimistic but there are a few teams above us that we are arguably better than and may pass - Villa, Southampton, West Ham. And beneath us I only worry about a resurgent Wolves.

It's only going to be that amount should they stay up for the length of their contracts, very much performance based so it's a bit of a misnomer to say 105m was spent.

Should stay up from this position, then again add some more players in the summer of a higher quality. Said it before, and certainly not wanting to disparage the efforts of the players who got the club promoted, but getting a better quality player is definitely required for year on year improvement. Looking forward to see who will come in

Seathrun66

Mushy wrote: »

It's only going to be that amount should they stay up for the length of their contracts, very much performance based so it's a bit of a misnomer to say 105m was spent.

Should stay up from this position, then again add some more players in the summer of a higher quality. Said it before, and certainly not wanting to disparage the efforts of the players who got the club promoted, but getting a better quality player is definitely required for year on year improvement. Looking forward to see who will come in

The same applies to the Summer business by other clubs so we remain the fifth highest spenders. And I believe will splash the cash again this year.

http://https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/statistik/einnahmenausgaben



.

Hijpo

Lets be realistic, that 105m was to ensure we stay up not 105m to break into the European spots. You can throw another 200m+ on that to break into top 6. United, Spurs liverpool, chelsea, City, leicester are well ahead of us in terms of investment in quality, man to man.
If we float around 10th and 13th for a season or two while confidently beating those below us and giving the rest a good game I'm okay with that.

Seathrun66

Hijpo wrote: »

Lets be realistic, that 105m was to ensure we stay up not 105m to break into the European spots. You can throw another 200m+ on that to break into top 6. United, Spurs liverpool, chelsea, City, leicester are well ahead of us in terms of investment in quality, man to man.
If we float around 10th and 13th for a season or two while confidently beating those below us and giving the rest a good game I'm okay with that.

I fully agree, but as investment goes it's a positive start and shows ambition for the future. It's also one hell of a statement to make for a newly promoted club.

Seathrun66

If there's hope for us on Sunday it's that Everton, Fulham & Villa have all won at the King Power, though the most recent of those was six weeks ago. Even without Vardy I can't see us getting much there and I'm someone who's been optimistic throughout the season. Please prove me wrong MB.

newhouse87

Yeah def not expecting anything Sunday, that s why Tuesday night was so important, does anybody else get a heart attack when ayling is playing around with the ball near our box, he loses it too often in dangerous positions for my liking, llorenete is softer than joel matip by the looks of it unfortunately.

event

Seathrun66 wrote: »

I fully agree, but as investment goes it's a positive start and shows ambition for the future. It's also one hell of a statement to make for a newly promoted club.

IIRC when fulham went up a few years ago they spent the same, as did Villa.

I dont think its a statement, its a necessity

is_that_so

event wrote: »

IIRC when fulham went up a few years ago they spent the same, as did Villa.

I dont think its a statement, its a necessity

It's not the spending, it's what you spend it on. Fulham bought badly and Villa had too many to integrate last season. They were very lucky to survive and now seem to have been proven right on their purchases.

event

Yes I agree. I mean moreso that I dont think we stood out with spending 100m, thats the gap to the LP really. We just spent ours very well

The leeds poster thing came today. Its massive. He marked the value at £5 so avoids any customs/Vat etc

Jimmy Two Times

is_that_so wrote: »

It's not the spending, it's what you spend it on. Fulham bought badly and Villa had too many to integrate last season. They were very lucky to survive and now seem to have been proven right on their purchases.

Think the players Villa bought last summer have made a huge difference, Keeper, Cash and Watkins all quality signings. Now they've got rid of that donkey Hourihane they look a decent side.

I know we beat them well but if Grealish scores either of those 2 chances at 0 - 0 who knows.

Seathrun66

event wrote: »

IIRC when fulham went up a few years ago they spent the same, as did Villa.

I dont think its a statement, its a necessity

I think you're right, Fulham a little less than us and Villa more. The only difference is that we've done it when most European clubs were cautious mid-pandemic and hence we were the fifth biggest spenders on the continent (in terms of net spend 3rd as we didn't offload any players for cash). Surely that's a statement on our return?

whiterebel

I thought Fulham spent around £150M.

is_that_so

As did Villa.

event

Seathrun66 wrote: »

I think you're right, Fulham a little less than us and Villa more. The only difference is that we've done it when most European clubs were cautious mid-pandemic and hence we were the fifth biggest spenders on the continent (in terms of net spend 3rd as we didn't offload any players for cash). Surely that's a statement on our return?

Reading with Phil Hay, he had said that one of the reason Radz spent was because he knew new 49ers investment was coming. Plus they probably thought crowds be back in by October

Its great we spent so much and it was needed. But I dont think we'll see it again this summer and not sure if its needed. Thats just my opinion though. I dont think MB likes loads of changes. But if he wants it, he'll get it. One thing I do like is him, Radz and Orta all seem to be on the same page and very aligned with transfers.

Zaph

Palace and Wolves dates confirmed:

Leeds United v Crystal Palace
New fixture date: Monday 8th February 2021
New kick-off time: 8pm live on Sky Sports
Venue: Elland Road


Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leeds United
New fixture date: Friday 19th February 2021
New kick-off time: 8pm live on BT Sport
Venue: Molineux