Leeds United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2024/25

whiterebel

6 bookings to 3 is very unbalanced. We need to try and get something from the next 2, and get bodies back

is_that_so

A better second half but still the same defensive failings and I also agree on some of the missed bookings for United players. On to the next challenge! March is nearly here and Phillips and Cooper could be back in a couple of weeks.

GoldFour4

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118663992#Comment_118663992

Didn’t think Firpo was bad after he came on tbh aside from that incident where he wasn’t fast getting back.

whiterebel

It looked like his injured or exhausted. Could be a case of long covid, or his last injury flaring up. He’s normally good to get up and down the line.

10000maniacs

Our defence is the problem. Sunday League grade defending.

ManU walked three of those goals into the net.

Any other team in the premier league would not have conceded those four goals.

And that is down to Bielsa. I think he has served his time.

Hijpo

I don't see Bielsa staying another season

NuckChorris1

Bielsa will see these flaws and if he has the desire to stay he'll come up with a plan for it for next season. Squad needs major investment though to not struggle again. The problem could/will be Bielsa's loyalty to the players he has. We joke about it but if we signed Kane or Messi he'd still start Bamford up front. That applies to trying to upgrade Ayling, Rodrigo, Klich, Forshaw, etc. He'd also need a change in mindset about squad depth to stay. I hope that'll be the case and Orta and co have the funds to move quickly and get quality in.

Kingp35

I'm not sure what has happened this season but our defence is diabolical. We can't even do the basics right. With our lack of goals this season we really need the defence to be tight but it's far from it and why we are struggling so much.

I'll say it again, Firpo is nowhere near good enough. I've seen a few posts saying he did well bar not tracking his runner and helping to give away the 3rd goal. How is that doing well?! That's basic defending!

I don't see us going down, there's at least 3 teams worse than us but we've been so bad that Bielsa could well walk away at the end of the season.

whiterebel

I think its more likely that he will go rather than stay. There are quite a few players to come in, and he won't like having to make the decisions on the players NuckChorris1 mentions above. First thing I would do is get Radebe back as defensive coach. We really need someone to grab that defence by the scruff - all of the potential defenders, including Hjelde, Cresswell, Drameh, Shacks. Woodgate seemed to know his stuff on MoTD2, and he could do the defensive coaching if the chief isn't available.

I thought Llorente was really poor again on Sunday. Gave up chasing Fernandes in for the 2nd, terrible for the 1st. I know he's under instruction, but Ronaldo isn't going to hurt you in his own half. Hand him off to someone else, and get back to CB.

I didn't realise concussion subs were a thing. Why didn't we use it for Koch? Is it like rugby, they have to assessed and you lose them for weeks? He wasn't in good shape coming off, he'll hardly make the Liverpool game, and Firpo didn't look good either. I'd put out the U23s on Wednesday and try and get some players rested and back for Spurs.

10000maniacs

Klich and Firpo may as well have been not there.

They were easily dispossessed and there was an embarrassing clip on MOTD of Firpo losing it in midfield and had no pace to try and track back and at least try to win it back. That ended up with the third goal. It was amateur hour.

NuckChorris1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118666938#Comment_118666938

The concussion sub thing was either Bielsa's ethics because he said it was to do with the cut rather than concussion so wouldn't use the concussion excuse even if he'd definitely have been allowed to. Other reason it could have not been used was that ManU would get an extra sub too if we got the concussion one so maybe he was worried they'd get more advantage than us by using 4 subs.

Ceist_Beag

Always after a game like that, there are players singled out as being at fault. Certainly there were a few who played poorly yesterday. One got taken off at half time. I thought Ayling was poor at times as well, a number of passes going astray. I actually felt Firpo played well but did tire and was at fault for the third goal. However some people really seem to have it in for the chap - there were a lot of other mistakes that could easily have led to a goal as well. The conditions were atrocious yesterday so that has to be a factor in some of the mistakes made but you would have to think we're in big trouble defensively and any team coming up against us must fancy their chances of scoring two or three. I don't really see much point speculating about Bielsa's plans for next season just yet. Our only focus now needs to be on ensuring we scramble together enough points to stay up and that is looking like a big challenge right now. We desperately need Kalvin back and quick.

10000maniacs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667225#Comment_118667225

Excuses. The conditions were atrocious for ManU too.

Firpo, when he was dispossessed left gaping holes in defence. He was not doing his job. The ManU players were running rings around him.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118663888#Comment_118663888

Absurd booking. Clearly not a foul and wasn't even a free-kick as the throw-in remained. Firpo booking was due to MU players putting pressure on a weak referee. I hate seeing players do that but our players reacting more may have a got a yellow for Fernandes and a red for McTominay. Behaving ethically doesn't always work.

And no excuses, it didn't affect the result, but it may have and may do in future games.

.

whiterebel

30 goals conceded in the last 10. We can't keep that up. Next 2 games might make us wish for the day of only conceding 3 per game......The defending from corners, apart from the goal was awful too. Ayling dragging down to the ground as did Struijk.

Ceist_Beag

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667260#Comment_118667260

Do you think Firpo was worse than Llorente or Ayling yesterday? I don't, I think he was better than both. Maybe you only want to focus on certain players though.

whiterebel

I think Firpo is starting to come good for us. Tackled well yesterday, good support on the wing. Bit alarming the way he suddenly looked completely gassed though. Not like him to saunter back normally. Though Klich did well apart some weak finishing. Almost made up for it with the volley from outside the box.

Ceist_Beag

As an aside from the game, what an inspiration Ayling must be to anyone with a stammer. He has put himself out there in two interviews now in recent games and spoke brilliantly in both. TBH I didn't even realise he had a stammer until I saw it discussed after this first interview.

event

I think a lot of fans have vastly overestimated the ability of some of our players. Giving out about Firpo, yeah he was poor. He was 14m though, whereas he was trying to chase the likes of Sancho who was 85m. We have the second lowest wage bill in the league. This shows on the pitch, its fairly simple. There will always be anomalies of course but in general, you get what you pay for. Of course we can do better, the defence is shocking. (Maybe people will start to see that Cooper has a place?)

Liverpool are going to cut us asunder on Wednesday and Spurs the same. I'm not happy about it at all but I have realized this is our lot with the players we have. Ayling, Dallas, Klich, these are championship players that we have had perform to PL standard. We wont replace them all this summer, its impossible. This squad needs a turnover but what is happening is our young players are getting way more exposure than at other teams. I think in 4/5 years time we will look back and realize this period was the making of a lot of players. People saying MB is too loyal, who else should he play?

I don't want MB to go at all and I think he wont. But people thinking we will suddenly be challenging to Europe or should be spending 100m every summer are away with the fairies. Leeds fans are some of the most impatient fans out there, thinking we will be top half every year just after getting promoted. Why, what gives us the right to that?

After 24 games last year we had 35 points. This year we have 23. At this point last year we had conceded 42, this year its 50. Last year we had scored 43, this year its 29.

We are missing our captain, our best player & holding midfielder and our main striker for the last few months. Its not rocket science to see what has happened. Our defensive midfielder (top 3 in the country) not being there has resulted in our Man to Man marking being exposed. We could have recruited a replacement, sure. But how do you convince a player to sign who is good enough to step in and knows he will play maybe 5 games in a normal season. And same with a striker, you dont just find a lad who will score 15 goals in a season easily.

This is going to get worse before it gets better and it will continue like this for a few years imo, unless we suddenly got bought out by an oil state

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667110#Comment_118667110

Here are the protocols. I don't think you can really get into semantics about whether it's really concussion. They should come straight off as in rugby with a hit to the head but that's all a bit vague here.

https://www.thefa.com/get-involved/head-injuries-in-football

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118668730#Comment_118668730

I agree with most of those points, and definitely about lining up replacements for players who can't take another season or two in the PL. The big dilemma is how many of those will come from our youth system and how many we'll buy in. I'd personally lean more towards the former given how much talent is there and how it will help to attract more if they see a route to first-team chances.

But we will buy in also and I'm surprised that you can't see us spending £100m every season. We've spent £163m on players since we've returned and have tried to buy others. Had the £22m bid for Aaronson gone through and possibly another that'd have taken us close to that figure you see as mythical. In that time we've not had any money coming in so it's a net spend. Last season we had the third biggest net spend on players on the planet. All other clubs were selling, we weren't. We will continue to spend big but alas that will now involve selling also. Selling Raphinha for £60m and spending £100m is very likely this Summer.

In terms of Firpo he will improve. This is a guy who'd made 41 appearances (including 10 champions League) for Barcelona in the previous two seasons but couldn't dislodge Jordi Alba, no easy task. The transfer fee includes several add-ons, including 20% of future sales. Defensively erratic but attacking wise impressive, I think he's got much more to reveal.

Better luck with injuries next season and we'll be on the fringes of Europa competition. I may be possibly overestimating our players but they're better than at least half the division, it's full of teams which are very average indeed. I'd not swap our current squad for that of Villa, Leicester, Everton, etc. After the top 4/5 we can match or better anyone else. But let's see. Time to push on in March, finish in mid-table and start again.

event

Yeah my point is 100m every year is not sustainable. We know Radz cant sustain and when the 49ers come in, I really cant see it.

Worried about tonight. Liverpool have won their last 5 in a row. In that time they have scored 12 and conceded two. They've also gotten Salah and Mane back and added Dias.

We have won 1, scored 8 and conceded 13. And lost a player or two to injury

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118677294#Comment_118677294

£100m net maybe not but we're £82m net for our first two seasons back. Many here forecast us to be a selling club like Leicester over the next few years and if so we'll be spending £100m a season as so much cash with be coming in for the likes of Raphinha, Meslier, Phillips, Gelhardt, Bate, etc. I hope not as we can financially resist selling players. What we cannot resist are unhappy players clamouring to leave.

And re Pool, I agree, tonight is a write-off for me. The wrong team at the wrong time. Hoping for a hiccup and wee snatch a draw but I can't see it. Damage limitation.

whiterebel

The conundrum is; If you sell players like Philips, Raphinha and Meslier - who do you replace them with? How do you convince the next Bate, Gelhardt to come to you, when you are selling your best players? Europe would be a pipe dream, even that unwanted child, the Europa conference.

I would have thought part of the pitch to Raphinha was that he was coming to a club on the up, not afraid to spend money on good players etc.

We seem to have money for the right players - we tried for Che Adams, Aaronson etc. I don't see the 49ers buying a club that's going to try and do this on the cheap, the risk are too high you won't get back again.

Carcharodon

Liverpool should steamroll us but it’s also one of those situations where we catch them not taking us seriously and we snatch something.

Raphinia needs to start if we have any chance, we need his pace & skill for the counter attacks

Ceist_Beag

We might as well have a cut at them but it could end badly! Raphinha and Gelhardt should really start but my main concern is at the back. Llorente is struggling for form and Liverpool could really punish Ayling if he continues to give the ball away. There could be another 7 goals this time around, let's just hope we don't ship too many of them.

NuckChorris1

Anyone ignoring the phone for 4 hours to watch the game "live" at 10.15pm on Sky Sports? Tempting. Not on any channel in UK or Ireland but should be streams available somewhere. Might only need the first 20 mins but fingers crossed!

event

Ill be watching it but wont post anything here until tomorrow in case anyone holding out

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118677980#Comment_118677980

I would have thought part of the pitch to Raphinha was that he was coming to a club on the up, not afraid to spend money on good players etc.

Probably a mixture of that and the opportunity to learn under Bielsa, who has improved his already prodigious talent. In the still extremely unlikely scenario of relegation he'd go, but with the WC window this year and the offer of a very generous deal it would suit everyone for it to be summer 2023 instead. He seems happy with his lot for now and £75m for him in 2023 rewards everyone.

10000maniacs

Ill be watching it live on one of the streams. Like the others I will stop watching if it becomes a bloodbath.

I think at this stage, every team in the league are rubbing their hands at the prospect of playing us.

You can literally walk the ball into the net playing Leeds.

The difference between Leeds and the likes of Burnley/Norwich/Newcastle/Watford is they can hold out for most of their matches without conceding, even against the big teams.

Mushy

Don't know how to do spoiler tags on mobile, I'll leave it at that

newhouse87

if we survive we maybe need a real think about bielsa, i was going to put bet on tonight liverpool -3 , knew this was coming, we have plan a and our plan b is plan a. At this level you cannot play the sameway against all teams. Only problem is if bielsa goes no other manager will get as much out of a lot of our very very average players. Raphinha not staying around after this season either. He looks dejected .

GoldFour4

We need Kalvin back ASAP really.

Only half looking at this - we all knew what was coming.

Kingp35

I agree. I've said it before but we really need a second way of playing against some teams. It's clear as day to everyone bar Bielsa that man to man marking would leave us exposed against Liverpool yet we still set up that way. It's madness. Yet another hammering is on the cards here.

I'm not going to bother watching the second half. I've tortured myself enough.

Mushy

I don't mind playing this way against far better teams, once it's backed up by results elsewhere. But after a trimming by a crap Everton team to do this is exhausting

10000maniacs

Looks like Bielsa is trolling us with Roberts. LOL.

Kingp35

60 mins in and 0 attempts on goal. Impressive

Mushy

Oooh Tyler Roberts, that'll change things

This was supposed to be posted at HT

10000maniacs

Burnley 1:0 up on Spurs.

Do we think in a million years we will be 1:0 up against Spurs at the weekend?

People say we will stay up because there are 3 teams worse than us. But there aren't.

We might get lucky but I doubt it.

newhouse87

burnley 1 up so its between us Watford Norwich and Brantford i feel. why we cant just go defensive against the the obviously much better sides is baffling.

Ceist_Beag

Raphinha has been rubbish tonight, he doesn't look interested. I hope he's not going to start acting the bollix now while the contract negotiations are going on.

whiterebel

Ayling is becoming truly awful. Up in the final 3rd in the first half leaving massive gaps at the back. Then blames Meslier for his terrible pass back header. I've had U12 teams more disciplined in defence. Shackleton doing well, everything better with Dallas in midfield.

Mushy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118681063#Comment_118681063

Include Everton in that. Grim times

whiterebel

Watford 3-1 down. Need Spurs to score

Kingp35

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118681067#Comment_118681067

He's looks completely disinterested to me. Been VERY poor the last few games.

Kingp35

Burnley win. They've 2 games in hand on us too.

We're bang in trouble now. Momentum completely against us.

Ceist_Beag

Burnley know what to do, they've done it before, we don't and we're not the type of team to scrap out a draw. It's looking like 3 from Norwich, Watford, Brentford and ourselves. March will tell us if we're up for the fight.

event

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118681067#Comment_118681067

Hes been pretty poor tbh. Needs to knuckle down and get back to doing what got him noticed in the first place.

whiterebel

I give up. Why would you pit yourself through the torture of this utter shite.

event

Struijk seems to give up when we are losing