Leeds (A) pre match thread

[filbertway]

1 minute ago, Rossiter said:

'Wilted' a bit harsh maybe. Ten men.

Already answered above but I'm talking about the performance as a whole, they came out flying and made us look very ordinary, even before the red.

[ClaphamFox]

21 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Already answered above but I'm talking about the performance as a whole, they came out flying and made us look very ordinary, even before the red.

Lots of teams have done that. There have been plenty of times when we've not looked very good for periods of a match, particularly in the first half, but then slowly imposed ourselves as the game went on. The Coventry game was following the script of soaking up the pressure from the home team before getting ourselves in front. If Fatawu had not been sent off, we'd have very likely won that game - probably by more than one goal.

[Leicesterpool]

I wanna say 1-1 draw. Which I'd probably take. Maintain's our strong lead at the top. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Big boy pants needed here. 

 

Need our top performers to step up. 

[Ricey]

What concerns me is that after they've played us Leeds have a run in against teams with an average league position of 14th.

 

After they've played us their next four games are against 20th, 19th, 23rd and 21st.

 

The last time they dropped points against a team in the bottom half was Rotherham in November.

[Chelmofox]

I thought we would lose against Boro and I think we will lose this.  We also lose at Bournemouth to exit the cup.  Then we go on a decent run until the end of the season and i think we beat Southampton at home. The next week or so is going to be tough but i am still very confident that we have enough to see the season out.

[Les-TA-Jon]

1 minute ago, Chelmofox said:

I thought we would lose against Boro and I think we will lose this.  We also lose at Bournemouth to exit the cup.  Then we go on a decent run until the end of the season and i think we beat Southampton at home. The next week or so is going to be tough but i am still very confident that we have enough to see the season out.

Think the key things will be:

1) just how tough (i.e how many dropped points/losses) will this tough period be and

2) how will we respond after it's over and going into the final 8 games

[iancognito]

8 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

 

@Aus Fox mentioned Chouds instead of Praet... not a bad call, he is capable ofof playing that more Attacking role and can be asking to fill that middle space to cover Leeds CM, that often is the source of their rapid transitions, and in those periods of defending is that spoiler. Though I believe Praet when asked, to play that different role, can also deliver... Plus I actually believe Nacho is suited and could play generally  that partner role with KdH.

 

 

If it came down to that he'd move Ricky forward to the 8 role and keep Hamza as a 6/full back.

 

Nacho has played 8/10 for Nigeria. Did it at the last AFCON but I'm not sure if he played it at this one. But TBH if he was going to be played in that role for the club I think he would have been used there already.

[Dahnsouff]

Just now, iancognito said:

If it came down to that he'd move Ricky forward to the 8 role and keep Hamza as a 6/full back.

 

Nacho has played 8/10 for Nigeria. Did it at the last AFCON but I'm not sure if he played it at this one. But TBH if he was going to be played in that role for the club I think he would have been used there already.

Think that's not a bad call actually (terrifying which Hamza turns up) but decent shout.  

[ealingfox]

When was the last time we outperformed expectations in a game of any genuine magnitude? Dug out a result in a game we expected to struggle in or put I'm a really good performance against a side we were competing against. Honest question.

[Foxysausages]

4 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

When was the last time we outperformed expectations in a game of any genuine magnitude? 

Southampton away 4-1 

West Brom 2-1 

 

[Les-TA-Jon]

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

When was the last time we outperformed expectations in a game of any genuine magnitude? Dug out a result in a game we expected to struggle in or put I'm a really good performance against a side we were competing against. Honest question.

When was the last time we even had a league game in which we were expected to struggle in? I think we've been favourites for just about every fixture this season? 

 

So we've not had many opportunities, on that measure. 

 

Really good performances vs a side we're competing with? 

• Southampton Away. 4-1 win. We battered them
• Leeds Home. 0-1 loss. We probably lost the midfield battle, but we were definitely good enough for a draw. Meslier clawed it off the line at the death.
• Ipswich Away. 1-1 draw. We were by far the better side. We didn't take some chances and were denied a stonewall pen. They only equalised at the end with a double deflection. 
• Ipswich Home. 1-1 draw. We were certainly the better side in the first half. Subs came too late and maybe got too deep in the final 10 mins. Ipswich barely threatened. Another last minute deflection. 
• Leeds Away ????
• Southampton Home ????

Edited 19 February by Les-TA-Jon

[Chelmofox]

1 minute ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

When was the last time we even had a league game in which we were expected to struggle in? I think we've been favourites for just about every fixture this season? 

 

So we've not had many opportunities, on that measure. 

 

Really good performances vs a side we're competing with? 

 

• Southampton Away. 4-1 win. We battered them
• Leeds Home. 0-1 loss. We probably lost the midfield battle, but we were definitely good enough for a draw. Meslier clawed it off the line at the death.
• Ipswich Away. 1-1 draw. We were by far the better side. We didn't take some chances and we denied a stonewall pen. They only equaliser at the end with a double deflection. 
• Ipswich Home. 1-1 draw. We were certainly the better side in the first half. Subs came too late and maybe got too deep in the final 10 mins. Ipswich barely threatened. Another last minute deflection. 
• Leeds Away ????
• Southampton Home ????

Also at the time we beat them Preston were one of the Championship golden boys, as were Sunderland. 

[NasPb]

5-1 us 

[KingsX]

2 hours ago, OntarioFox said:

At the risk of sounding a bit James Maddison, we'll be fine if we create anywhere like as many chances as we did.

 

Perhaps not the ideal turn of phrase to win converts here.

 

A bit like wearing a "Feel the Bern" t-shirt to speak at a MAGA rally.

 

[ealingfox]

19 minutes ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

When was the last time we even had a league game in which we were expected to struggle in? I think we've been favourites for just about every fixture this season? 

 

So we've not had many opportunities, on that measure. 

 

Really good performances vs a side we're competing with? 

 

• Southampton Away. 4-1 win. We battered them
• Leeds Home. 0-1 loss. We probably lost the midfield battle, but we were definitely good enough for a draw. Meslier clawed it off the line at the death.
• Ipswich Away. 1-1 draw. We were by far the better side. We didn't take some chances and we denied a stonewall pen. They only equaliser at the end with a double deflection. 
• Ipswich Home. 1-1 draw. We were certainly the better side in the first half. Subs came too late and maybe got too deep in the final 10 mins. Ipswich barely threatened. Another last minute deflection. 
• Leeds Away ????
• Southampton Home ????

 

Ok but if that's your bar for outperforming expectations you'll forgive me if I continue to feel fairly sure we'll lose on Friday.

[Kasey Keller]

Start vards and daka 

[Guest glasgowfox]

I get the concern but not all the negativity tbh.  One thing that plays into our hands is that this is close to a must win for Leeds and imo that gives us a big advantage.  The longer the game goes then the greater chance we will pick them off.  People on here a talking about Leeds as if they were Real Madrid or something.  Reality is even if they beat us they are still playing catch up.  I, for one, think that this is a great game for us to have following the boro game.

[Bluetintedspecs]

I'm glad Enzo and the players haven't got the same weak and defeatist attitude as so many posting on here.

[Les-TA-Jon]

 

19 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Ok but if that's your bar for outperforming expectations you'll forgive me if I continue to feel fairly sure we'll lose on Friday.

You specifically said: 

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

Dug out a result in a game we expected to struggle in

As I say, we've not had a single fixture this season that we were expected to struggle in, so this is a moot/unfair argument

 

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

or put I'm a really good performance against a side we were competing against. Honest question.

As I say, I'd say good performances (note, you said performances, not results): 

Southampton A

Leeds H

Ipswich A and H
 

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

When was the last time we outperformed expectations in a game of any genuine magnitude? 

Again it's hard for us to specifically outperform expectations in many games this season because we've been favourites in just about every fixture. Had we beaten Leeds at home, would that have been an overperfomance? No. We were top, ahead of them by a ton of points and has won 9 in a row. Had we won either or both Ipswich games, would that have been an overperformance? No. We were in the PL last season, they were in League 1. We've got a much better squad/players. 

Southampton Away - the performance, not the result, I'd say was an overperformance, yes. I don't think anyone expected us to batter them like we did. 

[The Guvnor]

Leeds will come at us like a whirlwind they attack at pace and with numbers. To get anything from this game, when the opportunities arise we need to move the ball quickly and attack more directly, far too often whilst attacking we allow the opposition to get back in numbers and shape that won’t cut it against these.

[fuchsntf]

4 hours ago, Ricey said:

What concerns me is that after they've played us Leeds have a run in against teams with an average league position of 14th.

 

After they've played us their next four games are against 20th, 19th, 23rd and 21st.

 

The last time they dropped points against a team in the bottom half was Rotherham in November.

Well there are 4 Rotherham’s….

Leeds are fked,they drop points against Bottom feeders.

If Carlesburg did dreams….

[Hammo]

4 hours ago, Bluetintedspecs said:

I'm glad Enzo and the players haven't got the same weak and defeatist attitude as so many posting on here.

Let’s hope they don’t. Proof of that on Friday would be very welcome.

[fuchsntf]

7 hours ago, filbertway said:

I think most other days, we go onto win that game if we create the same chances but the finishing is different. The main downside of losing is that there's a very real chance we could now record back to back losses. Based on some of the mad reaction to a good performance that resulted in a loss, I can't imagine the amount of pant wetting that will go on if we look less impressive and lose again

 

We need to be fired up on Friday. However, like you say, we have one style and it's not the type of style that lends itself to benefitting all that much being fired up. Mentally we're kind of on the back foot in that regard as we're being kept in check tactically.

 

If the other team is more up for it, regardless of how up for it we are, they'll have more freedom to take advantage of that extra adrenaline and boost they'll get from the crowd. Whereas it'll probably just increase our anxiety as we robotically try to stick to our method, especially if something goes wrong in the first 10-15 minutes.

Look !!  other teams also have also their stubborn ways,

their coaches their various systems. Enzo has the Man.city ideology in his system and head, BUT his version,his tweaks and twists. His method is working fine so far,

let’s not get into..a knowall situation…

I see your statement like a dept manager,that steps in panics and changes everything thats working. 33 games the method in in its main is working,even the manager knows his ideas won’t always win the day…

 

We were a club going nowhere…Enzo stopped the rot and gave us the short

rebuild to at least first give us a foothold, then we suprisingly even gobsmacked

ourselves…

 

 

 

 

[Pliskin]

4 hours ago, Bluetintedspecs said:

I'm glad Enzo and the players haven't got the same weak and defeatist attitude as so many posting on here.

It’s not weak and defeatist, it’s a genuine concern…. It’s down to Enzo and the lads to prove those doubters wrong.