8 games in
Beaten by 3 sides we may of expected to lose to - Liverpool - Wolves - Leicester
Beaten by a side we would have maybe wanted something from - Palace
Drawn with a side we would have expected to lose to.
Beaten 3 teams we needed to beat - Sheff Utd - Fulham - Villa
Pretty much on par for where realistically should be and there is no reason to panic. There are 9 sides that should finish in the top 9 places and the rest of the league is competing to stay up. Thats my interpretation of the league. Of course there is always the odd anomaly like Sheff Utd doing better than expected last season.
We are doing ok. Our owner is the 3rd least wealthy in the top flight. Our squad cost is the 4th lowest. We have a team full of players who were struggling to finish in the top half of the championship only 2 year ago.
Its worth mentioning that we have not had a great deal of luck this season with decisions.
Koch handball would now NOT be a handball after changes to how the law can be used by referees.
The Bamford offside labelled the worst decision ever in football by a player who was verbally abused by Leeds fans for his entire career.
The Bamford no-penalty appeal against Palace. Absolutely this is given to Pen Utd.
The Costa slight touch and over no-penalty appeal against Wolves. Again this is absolutely given to Martial and co.
Personally i dont think we got the run of the ball against Leicester or Palace, although this evens itself out. Our equaliser against Man City was due to an error on their part. Van Dijk made his first error in ages gifting us a goal. Dallas goal versus Leicester was equally as fortunate as the Costa own goal was for Palace. To a degree you make you own luck.
The worry is next up is 3 tough games against top9 sides - Arsenal / Everton / Chelsea. Hopefully we can pick something up to keep us above those below.
So where are we?
posted on 9/11/20
Survival in the Prem this season would be good enough for me. To finish anywhere above 17th would be a bonus. There are definitely 3 worse teams than us in the Prem at the moment, so in answer to the original question, that's where we are right now.
posted on 9/11/20
You may well ask & the answer is that we have the worst defensive record in the division.
All the talk on this forum about when Phillips comes back, when Rodrigo returns, how promising Raphina is etc means nothing if we don't have a defence.
Defending has never been a Bielsa strongpoint, really doesn't bother him.
We have maybe one premier league quality defender in Ayling. The rest are championship level at best. Llorente we haven't seen yet & it is now thought it might be next year before we do. Does anyone think we would have shipped all those goals had we still got Ben White? What a disaster that was letting him slip through our fingers & replacing him with Koch, I have lost count of the penalties & free kicks in dangerous areas this guy has cost us.
So yes we might be exciting to watch but unless we address the defensive issues we will go back down as the team with the worst defence invariably does.
posted on 9/11/20
Koch has been fine for us. Had a hard time adapting because of the constant changes in the back line. Would make it difficult for any player. Dallas has also started the season well, again, a lack of consistency doesn't help in these positions.
posted on 9/11/20
Koch is better than White!..
Defence has been chopped and changed lots since the season started but he's been there more than any, and correct if wrong but he's had man of the match as well!..
When Bielsa gets his defence sorted Koch will play a big part no matter what anyone thinks/says!..
posted on 9/11/20
Koch looks great on the ball, but the defensive lapses are stacking up. The back pass against Leicester was one of those things, but the weak defensive headers and getting turned/free kicks are a cause for concern. Our game does leave centre halves exposed at times, I’m happy to cut him slack while he gets used to the system and partnerships, but he needs to up it defensively for me. So does coops to be fair.
posted on 9/11/20
comment by milkyboy (U12731)
posted 6 minutes ago
Koch looks great on the ball, but the defensive lapses are stacking up. The back pass against Leicester was one of those things, but the weak defensive headers and getting turned/free kicks are a cause for concern. Our game does leave centre halves exposed at times, I’m happy to cut him slack while he gets used to the system and partnerships, but he needs to up it defensively for me. So does coops to be fair.
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agree. generally happy with koch. don't think white would make a bit of difference.
posted on 9/11/20
Koch is also good with his head, something we seem to lack in our team!..
He has come a few times close to scoring for us from corners, gets one then he'll know where their goal is!..
posted on 9/11/20
We look great going forward, especially when we have a creative midfielder like Rodrigo or Pablo pulling the strings, but there is no hiding how vulnerable we are to direct, pacy strikers. Palace and Leicester roasted us down the flanks. We are facing world class footballers every week. Zaha, Vardy, Salah and co are a handful for the best defences. They thrive on half-chances. The number of times our defenders have been turned for pace is a worry. All of them are struggling. When we lose the ball high up the field, the quick counters have really killed us
posted on 9/11/20
It was a well known fact that the way Bielsa sets his teams up they're always open to the counter attack, its his style of play and how he's always done it!..
We're doing it exactly the same as we did in the Championship, and he ain't going to change it!..
Bielsaball is the press, and the press is the new Leeds, Bielsa knows it'll leave us open at the back, but this group of nobody players ain't going to let him down, they'll get it together and it will get better!..
posted on 9/11/20
I suspect that the level of skill in the Premier League means that it more possible for opposing players to use that skill to skip around a one-on-one man marking press... thereby utilising the space left by the Leeds pressing man, and creating a man extra in the process.
Whilst the press itself still means we recapture the ball in the opponent’s half frequently, we haven’t yet acquired the same skill levels to take advantage as often as our opponents are. That can only come over a number of years of building the squad with players with those skill levels.
We’ve just gotta trust in Bielsa to work out a way to keep us in this league for 3 years. I sure as hell couldn’t name another manager who could get these same players to play ‘better football’, but could name loads who’d bankrupt us or turn us into 11 defenders.