With Clarke and Eddie gone we have a bit more idea of what our squad is looking like for the rest of the season.
Bamford's presence has seen us rise to the auto promotion places, but it should not be forgotten that he endured a very long barren spell and Eddie made a decent contribution at that time and Bielsa was minded to start with him.
I think Bamford is good enough to see us to promotion IF he has an able deputy, which I don't believe we have at present. Tyler Roberts is too injury prone to rely on, U23 kids really have no experience of this level.
The club MUST have known this scenario was likely, it's really down to how close to reality they are or whether they think we have what it takes.
Despite selling 20+ mill of players in the summer, I don't think we have any money. That money will have been eaten up by loan fees, loan wages and improved contracts and we have ER to start paying for in 2 months.
I hope I'm wrong.
I hope the club have kept tabs on a Charlie Austin type player who is fit and bought into playing a bit part role under a world class manager, for a massive team in what should be a historic season.
I just don't believe that the club has.
That aside, we have a very uncertain situation with Kiko looming and that is very hard to plan for.
Should they be preparing for a 6 week ban, or maybe an 8 week ban, or maybe they'll be successful and get no ban at all.
If Kiko is banned, are they confident in Meslier, who hasn't played a single minute of first team football, playing v Millwall, Forest, Brentford, Cardiff?
Or will they feel the need to bring in another keeper, when Meslier could play and Miazek be back up?
We knew the Clarke, Eddie and Kiko situations already for weeks, so we should have done some planning and I'd love it to be sorted early in window, so that players have more time to bed in, we're not left chasing third choices in last days and we actually get the targets we aim for.
Yes its Jan, yes, good players reluctant to move etc etc, but there are thousands of players out there, we keep tabs on multiple players for each position, it really shouldn't be that hard to find a match fit, injury free player who can hit the ground running. There must be some budget kept free for a January spend and hopefully some recognition that past Jan policies have not worked out.
We are in a great position to go up, take no chances Leeds, ensure we have those one or two extra players, trust the signings you have already made, and get that promotion!
Where we're at
posted on 2/1/20
Squad not team. Stevens is in the first team squad. Does that mean he should be a regular in the first team too?
posted on 2/1/20
Bit late to this party. Have we signed anyone?
posted on 2/1/20
If you're in the first team squad, you are good enough to play for the first team.
What do you think Bielsa's going to do if Kiko injured in match, not bring Meslier on but leave him on the bench because he doesn't think he's good enough?
posted on 2/1/20
I've addressed that point already so need to answer it.
Not sure why you need to persist with this. I'm not obliged to agree with you. It's my opinion. I'm not asking you to agree with me. I respect your opinion that we shouldn't recruit another keeper.
Even if you are wrong
posted on 2/1/20
Personally my view is that the young French lad was a player someone, either orta or bielsa liked the look of so they brought him in on loan to further evaluate if they felt he could be a long term solution.
They also gambled on him being able to cover for a game or two, or play in the cup.
But now we are first in the league and kiko is staring down the barrel of a long ban the gamble didnt quite pay off as they want to bring in an experienced first team keeper.
Maybe if we had been in the cup longer we might have risked him, cant really say.
posted on 2/1/20
We have a precedent here. I think it was the 2011-12 season when Rachubka made the first team. The thrashing Blackpool gave us saw the substitute keeper, Cairns, come on at half time. He wasn't, however, seen as being ready for an elongated run in the first team.
Lonergan reclaimed his place but a more experienced keeper was signed as back up for the remainder of the season.
posted on 2/1/20
comment by Mattyp (U8926)
posted 44 seconds ago
Personally my view is that the young French lad was a player someone, either orta or bielsa liked the look of so they brought him in on loan to further evaluate if they felt he could be a long term solution.
They also gambled on him being able to cover for a game or two, or play in the cup.
But now we are first in the league and kiko is staring down the barrel of a long ban the gamble didnt quite pay off as they want to bring in an experienced first team keeper.
Maybe if we had been in the cup longer we might have risked him, cant really say.
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Totally agree, well articulated.
posted on 2/1/20
Meslier was Marcus Abad recommendation. He had Monaco and Chelsea sniffing around and has been Casilla's deputy, occasionally dropping off bench in favour of Miazek when need to look at loan player limit.
I understand that Leeds have been offered keepers like Stockdale but declined the options and Bielsa has said to Orta that he will play Meslier.
posted on 2/1/20
I wonder if meslier and maizak are particularly good with their feet.. this a trait that Bielsa keepers would need?
It would explain the seen rise of maizak over the other young lad..
Personally I think we don’t need to sign a keeper.. especially if the footwork aspect is a factor of some sort.
posted on 3/1/20
comment by Shaun M - I can't see me loving nobody but Leeds! (U9955)
posted 14 minutes ago
Casilla completed 9 more passes away to joint league leaders West Brom, than Rooney did against struggling Barnsley at home. BBC claimed Rooney pulled strings last night, mean while we have Kiko de Bruyne
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saw the above on another thread, thought it might tie in a little here.. footwork a massive part of a Bielsa Keeper, I would imagine this is a massive factor in the goalkeeping situaion