Leeds United (A) 3-1 - Post-Match Thread

[Tuna]

24 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

I’m not. Middlesbrough executed a game plan that worked. Leeds didn’t. 

I'm sure their game plan didn't include us missing multiple sitters

Edited 24 February by Tuna

[Vazman]

2 minutes ago, Tuna said:

I'm sure their game plan didn't include us missing multiple sitters

Correct, our game plan was correct at both Boro and Leeds, Enzo had the plan and it worked we simply did not / could not put the sitters away, it's frustrating as hell, and shouldn't happen at this level with our players, Daka whilst not totally incompetent and who played exceptionally well, is consistent with missing sitters of late, as well as Mavs, if we put the sitters away consistently, we win both matches, comfortably.

[Clever Fox]

21 minutes ago, smudger63 said:

Cannon is  no where near as quick as Daka, but seems to me at least, that most of the shots he gets off, are on target.

I think as time goes on, we will find that Cannon is a far better finisher than Daka, but what we gain from his finishing, we lose in pace, and at the moment, the link play of Daka, which is really important in the way that Enzo wants to play.

 

 

He must have something that made us pay 7.5 million for him. We just havent seen it yet.  Though to be fair he hasn't had much opportunity.

He just looks so slow over the ground in an area where pace is important, which makes me think he may be better in the support role.

Still Vardy took a while to get going also, So we live in hope that he comes good soon.

[Leicesterpool]

Did yesterdays result and reaction have the feeling of arsenal away 2016. The lap of honour at the final whistle. Arsenal run to win the league.... oh wait 😆 maybe same will happen to Leeds.

[sbfox]

I'm not really in the habit of looking at other clubs' forums, butndo other 'big clubs' have such a meltdown whenever they lose a game? Was anyone really naive enough to think that we would storm to a record points total without losing another game? 

 

To put it another way, we have a good, but not deep squad. We've implemented a brand new style of football that is only just beginning to look like what the manager wants (see his comments after the Stoke game). I still think we'll win the league, but it was never going to be as easy as some of our more arrogant fans seem to think. 

 

Onwards and upwards. 

[Gamble92]

Genuinely think this will all play into our hands. Leeds weren't good. They won't win as many as we will. They'll think they're just as good and be as arrogant as usual.

 

We will have teams think they can have a go now and that's exactly what we want.

 

I predict 100+ points still and I'll be amazed if we don't win the league. 

[Chelmofox]

1 hour ago, Tuna said:

I'm sure their game plan didn't include us missing multiple sitters

Why wouldn't it? Any park the bus and flood the lanes plan requires a bit of luck that the opposition aren't clinical. Its how i would setup against us. Its what we did to Newcastle late last year.

[Number 6]

I was worried it might end up a little like the first game at our place, close affair with Leeds edging it. But I thought it was such an improvement from our first showing. Result may have been worse, but I thought there was a lot to be encouraged about.

[Fear Of The Fox]

1 hour ago, Leicesterpool said:

Did yesterdays result and reaction have the feeling of arsenal away 2016. The lap of honour at the final whistle. Arsenal run to win the league.... oh wait 😆 maybe same will happen to Leeds.

Yes, now that the nerves have settled a bit (I'm still fuming though), our performance was dominant and the plan well executed. It's obvious we need 2 quality/calm CBs and a prolific striker. The market is thin though for both positions unless we manage to convince someone like Toney to join us. 

[Lookatthebluesky]

17 hours ago, foxile5 said:

You're right. We ended up winning 4-3.

We lost because we failed to convert some very clear opportunities in the second half - it was nothing to do with being devoid of ideas. We actually played very well after halftime until the equaliser went in.

[iancognito]

2 hours ago, smudger63 said:

Cannon is  no where near as quick as Daka, but seems to me at least, that most of the shots he gets off, are on target.

I think as time goes on, we will find that Cannon is a far better finisher than Daka, but what we gain from his finishing, we lose in pace, and at the moment, the link play of Daka, which is really important in the way that Enzo wants to play.

 

 

Cannon played the ball through to Vardy last week with a great weighted pass and if you look at the goals Daka does score almost none rely on pace or a breakaway, just close range finishing. I watch both players and it's my only bug with Enzo this season that he seems to rate Daka ahead of him. That's two misses in two weeks, he surely can't start against QPR.

[cropstonfox]

Next day summary,

We played well, but had a bad refereeing

decision against us.

We bottled it in front of goal,lack of composure.poor substitutions and awful luck with deflections.

We were never going to get record points very few of these players would get into nigel pearsons championship winning team.We could hold on and finish 1st or 2nd We might even slip into the play offs 

Lottery.We punched above our weight for 5 or 6 years than eventually gravitated back to our normal level.Top end championship team or low end Premier league.We will probably lose less money in the second tier less silly contracts and big fees swallowing up the increased premier revenue.

Whatever happens its been a good season and we all enjoy the day and the game whatever the division.

[trugerkem]

36 minutes ago, Fear Of The Fox said:

Yes, now that the nerves have settled a bit (I'm still fuming though), our performance was dominant and the plan well executed. It's obvious we need 2 quality/calm CBs and a prolific striker. The market is thin though for both positions unless we manage to convince someone like Toney to join us. 

Tony who … because Ivan Toney (in whatever dreamworld you are in he is not joining us) besides that you are looking at 80-100 million pounds … can’t believe I’m even replying to that comment 

[cropstonfox]

Saints Web worse than foxestalk.

 

[foxes_rule1978]

3 minutes ago, cropstonfox said:

Saints Web worse than foxestalk.

 

I can imagine they have all gone overboard now 

[Fear Of The Fox]

30 minutes ago, trugerkem said:

Tony who … because Ivan Toney (in whatever dreamworld you are in he is not joining us) besides that you are looking at 80-100 million pounds … can’t believe I’m even replying to that comment 

I'm not saying we can chase him. I'm saying we need a prolific finisher up front and the market isn't there for us. 

[foxes_rule1978]

1 minute ago, Fear Of The Fox said:

I'm not saying we can chase him. I'm saying we need a prolific finisher up front and the market isn't there for us. 

I think we all honestly knew that replacing a player like Vardy was going to be near impossible. Just need to find someone reliable who we can trust upfront 

[Number 6]

27 minutes ago, cropstonfox said:

Saints Web worse than foxestalk.

 

The thread on wanting us to lose so they can win the title, followed by decreasing optimism as they lose to Hull and Millwall is sublime.

[Mike Oxlong]

I was a little surprised we didn’t go for Toney when he went from Peterborough to Brentford. The fee was modest, we were the more attractive proposition then and his profile fitted the template of our earlier transfer success. 

[Stevosevic]

3 minutes ago, Mike Oxlong said:

I was a little surprised we didn’t go for Toney when he went from Peterborough to Brentford. The fee was modest, we were the more attractive proposition then and his profile fitted the template of our earlier transfer success. 

He was in our academy  

[Mike Oxlong]

4 minutes ago, Stevosevic said:

He was in our academy  

Yeah, I knew that. Northampton lad but then he left and I have no idea how he had performed when that decision was taken. But by the time he was banging them in at Peterborough he had a proven league one (I think) record and looked worth the punt 

[ALC Fox]

After nearly a full day to digest and think about this, much of the anger and frustration has subsided, although that anger and frustration was never with the team, just the situation.

 

I feel that yesterday we were beaten by 'narrative' rather than Leeds United.

 

In the first 15 minutes of the first half we were extremely impressive with how we held on to the ball, beat their press, and built from the back.

 

After the goal, Leeds came at us and we surrendered the ball, but our defence was colossal, Vestergaard in particular, but also Choudhury deserves a special mention. The whole backline was good including Faes and Justin.

 

The second half was all us until their equaliser. We should have been out of sight. We destroyed them. We wore them down. Their fans were silent. We were the best team in the game, the best team in the league by a country mile. This was what Enzoball was supposed to produce.

 

The only caveat was the performances by the wingers. Mavididi did a lot right, getting past his man and into excellent positions, but his decision making was again off it. And he tired and just got worse as the game wore on. Although I wanted him subbed at the time, in hindsight it should have been Fatawu that got hooked. I think he barely had any effect on the game at all, unfortunately. As good as he can be, I don't think he's in a good moment. Neither is Mavididi, but even when his end product is letting him down, his industry, tackling and ball control were still bit vital assets that McAteer didn't possess when he came on.

 

Daka should've stayed on the pitch too. He had a phenomenal game, and it was so, so unfortunate that he had that howler of a miss. His overall game is light years ahead of what it used to be. As shattered as he would've been, that overall game would've been more useful to us than a cold Cannon coming on and not getting up to speed. Tommy was just anonymous.

 

So, the signs are there that we're still the best team in this league. If we play like that again, we'll spank many more teams before the end of the season.

 

My issue is that when our wingers are not on form, we don't have any replacements capable of playing how they do. Akgun is a Rolls Royce and McAteer works hard but Mavididi and Fatawu are electric, with good pace, excellent close control and are so good at beating their man. With them out of sorts, that's a huge disadvantage for us. Proper squad depth in those areas should be a massive issue for us in the summer.

 

For the rest of the season, I'm confident we'll be okay. We approached that game really well. We've played a lot worse and won convincingly this season. There are tough games coming up but Enzo's the man to see us through.

[SystonFox]

20 hours ago, worthosoriginals said:

The team or the forum? 

The team. We’ve had so many late howlers.

 

leeds away

cov away

ipswich home and away

sheff weds away

millwall home didn’t look comforable

brun away was very nervy 

 

there’s probably more this season too.

 

rodgers lives on within the club

[worth_the_wait]

Have we ever had 40 pages before, on a post-match thread?

[Rossiter]

13 minutes ago, SystonFox said:

The team. We’ve had so many late howlers.

 

leeds away

cov away

ipswich home and away

sheff weds away

millwall home didn’t look comforable

brun away was very nervy 

 

there’s probably more this season too.

 

rodgers lives on within the club

All of these teams you mention are professional football clubs with professional players. All professional football teams have quality to varying degrees and can hurt their opponents. Professional sport is not a walk in the park. The players that compete in the Championship are no mugs. Every team will suffer at different points in games or over a season and that includes the elite.