Thought it was a good match first half in terms of patterns but reverting to type in terms of not creating really clear cut chances.
I thought the defence was very good, much better than last season when we were conceding early goals.
Cooper was immense, the whole match, White was great and Dallas was superb today, I'm not his biggest fan but he's cementing himself into this starting line up, I'm not sure Ayling walks back into this side.
Philips was awesome too, Klich a little quiet.
Alioski...does ok at left back but his distribution around the box is awful and he can't go past a player and it just does not seem to work with him and Harrison on that side which means we get less end product from Harrison as well, and end up dinking pointless crosses into box.
Thought Bamford put a good shift in and that Pablo looked good at times, but his influence was patchy.
I'd really like to see Costa/Eddie combination given more match time, they've surely got to be starters soon, Costa is a real handful.
I hope we come up with some variety at corners because crossing them in when our players are 5'11" gets us nowhere, be creative, pass to edge of box and have a shot once in a while....in fact, in open play, have some more shots, it feels we try and walk it into the net too often.
We're down to third, I'm not too worried about that as teams top at this point tend to not get promoted, BUT, we need to be better at home. This match and Forest are 5 points dropped in 2 matches. We have to be beating our promotion rivals (of which I said earlier in season Swansea were one).
Overall I feel our defence is much better, solid and creative but up front I'm not sure we're seeing much difference from last season, lots of half chance type chances created but not many really clear cut ones and we are not efficient at converting at all.
Not too down, but its concerning that like last season we go out of EFL cup and then we gave up loads of points in the next 8 games or so, we should have done more in terms of playing first team players to win that match, but the same signs are there as last season, we can't be seeing this with 5 games to go like last year, Bielsa has to fix this efficiency problem
Thoughts from today
posted on 1/9/19
When did our form start slipping last season?
I'll tell you when, it was when Harrison was given a regular starting position.
He very rarely has an end product and we have started well this season in spite of him but he kills this team.
posted on 1/9/19
Agree that Costa has had more than enough time to get up to speed with Bielsa's programme or whatever he uses to determine bedding newcomers into the team.
He must surely be more effective to us helping break the deadlock early in a game rather than coming on later when the pattern of the game is set in or even chasing it if we fall behind.I bet the opposition are relieved each time they see him on the bench rather than starting.
posted on 1/9/19
What the team needs imo is an out and out
instinctive striker with good technique and decision
making...unfortunately that costs money and we
don't have the financial resources, so we have to go
with what we've got and hope one of our attacking
players steps up to the plate...we live in hope!
Yes we need to create more but how long is a piece
of string, every team needs to create more chances,
don't they? Creating chances is not the problem for
me, it's translating the possession we normally have
into more goals, comes down to the quality of
strikers or potential goal scorers.
I think changing the midfield would be taking a big
gamble with the teams dominant midfield, with
possession, the numbers game say the defence
wouldn't have the same guarantees of protection.
Crowd support is always there I know but there is
another side to the coin as it quite often motivates
the opposition and makes the home team too
anxious...I would say taking one from midfield,
having 2 strikers would compromise possession its
also not proven that having crowd support always
works in our (Leeds) favour...you only have to look
at our home results at the end of last season and
beginning of this.
posted on 1/9/19
comment by Stoopo (U4707)
posted 17 hours, 20 minutes ago
Two up top at home is the answer. Get at them. Bamford is good at movement and creating space for others but there is no 'other' there at the moment.
Start Costa and bench Forshaw at home. Move Pablo central.
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Pablo is crap centrally
posted on 1/9/19
When did our form start slipping last season?
I'll tell you when, it was when Harrison was given a regular starting position.
—————
That’s just pure crap.
If you don’t think he should start that’s one thing, if you think we have other better options in the team, again that’s another thing.l and fair enough.
However don’t just make stuff up, our form didn’t dip or change when he was introduced into the side.
It’s really easy to find our form stats and compare it to when Harrison started and the periods he was out of the team, do that next time instead of talking bull
posted on 1/9/19
Watching the old firm derby on Sky...so far the pre
match talk is about the midfield, who wins that
usually wins the game, that observation comes
from present players and ex players...
My take from that is don't mess with your midfield
formula if it's successful....
posted on 1/9/19
comment by Mattyp (U8926)
posted 15 hours, 10 minutes ago
we were top of the league on goals this morning.
we have two players on the bench who easily have double figure goals in them.
we start with one of the best strikers in the league.
Pablo has goals in him
Both our full backs have goals in them
the side is not wanting for goals
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Not sure how can you justify this really. 21 shots was it, only 3 on target and zero goals.
The lack of goals from shed loads of possession is what scuppered us last season, That and the inability to defend set pieces so always likely to concede makes for a struggle to win games like yesterdays.
Don't get me wrong, I love the way we dominate opponents and pass the ball around but in terms of effectiveness ie. getting the ball in the net we are lacking something
posted on 1/9/19
If anything, we’re scoring less goals so far I think it’s about 50% less compared to this number if games in last season.
posted on 1/9/19
Scoring at home seems to be the issue. Against a packed defence we need to get more of our bodies in their box. We are putting crosses in and usually there are 6+ defenders in there and often only Bamford for us. No wonder we struggle to score.
As some have said on here we should try 2 up top at home as teams are sitting in and making it difficult with an isolated lone striker as we have.
posted on 1/9/19
The issue is not about creating chances, it's about putting them away. And not just Bamford. Pablo, Coops, Alioski, Eddie and Klich all had clear sight of goal and fluffed their lines. After a while, when you miss chances, you start to believe you won't score. The opposition start to believe it too. I think that's what happened yesterday. Make no mistake, though, there are goals in this team and I think Barnsley are going to find out how many. Hopefully, yesterday is a valuable lesson for Bielsa. My 'f' and 's' keys are worn out from last season and do not need any more practice.