My Sheff Utd relatives said this yesterday:
"You (Leeds) have absolutely no defence.
Does MB even play defence."

I went and read quite a few post match
articles and the recurring theme is along
the lines of my relatives bleating. And
the way Meslier is gifting the opposition
the ball so often through his distribution
setting up attacks.

Tough time right now.

maybe some can now admit cooper is a lot better player than they thought

no sh!t sherlock

This season Meslier has constantly been our best performing player but his one massive failing is his distribution. How many times have I found myself screaming 'Play it out Meslier, and stop hoofing it!' But then you realise that the root of the problem is that all too often our defence retreats further and further back with the ball until the last man, with no one else to pass it to, inevitably passes it to the goalie who is equally under pressure. To be fair, when this happens he usually has few other options but to kick it and hope. In the last match there was a spell where 4 out of 5 distributions went to Arsenal players. The fact that this is clearly not addressed in training reveals so much about the lack of priority given to defence generally.

comment by LIW Radchancer (U8453)
posted 2 hours, 21 minutes ago
maybe some can now admit cooper is a lot better player than they thought
----------------------------------------------------------------------
👍

Cooper's had another solid season. And he's had to
deal with a revolving door at left back. Love the bloke.

comment by Batty (U4664)
posted 27 minutes ago
Cooper's had another solid season. And he's had to
deal with a revolving door at left back. Love the bloke.
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this

Disagree the defence is the issue - never has been. Midfield is the issue, and playing people out of position (which includes the defence eg Ayling, Dallas, James, Roberts, Rodrigo, Shackleton).

When you give the opposition the run of the middle of the park, it does not matter how good your defence is on paper, the opposition will score

We now have zero box to box midfielders, and no tactics on how to have players in a good formation in the middle to snuff out their attacks or win the ball back.

And that midfield has to be able to feed the front by being in easy to find positions for the defence to pass to them and to each other - we have pretty much none of that.

I understand fully why Klich was upset at being subbed yesterday

comment by kammys left foot (U21862)
posted 18 hours, 39 minutes ago
no sh!t sherlock
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Sorry, should have more of the amazing insight you provide

comment by LIW Radchancer (U8453)
posted 20 hours, 50 minutes ago
maybe some can now admit cooper is a lot better player than they thought
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not a chance people will do that.

Easier to just keep digging.

Meslier distribution or opposition pressing our defence far more, stopping the play out from the back we're used to previously.

Personally I think without Meslier in last 2 matches, both could have ended up in double figures against. He's pulled off some great blocks and saves. Distribution and passing out from defence seems to cause us problems. Conceding possession too easily.

Left back is a bit of an issue for me

Do we just hope that Firpo will get better or do we need another lb in January?

He's had about two half decent games so far. We shouldn't have gone into the season with one untested left back.

Actually thought Firpo was great vs Palace, decent next game and then not particularly at fault for anything vs Chelsea. It’s more those games we should judge him on rather than City. Stick with him I think, there’s a good player in there

Id stick with him but what I'm saying is we have no other options unless you move Dallas. We should have a back up LB ideally.

comment by Long Short Tall 666 (U19233)
posted 17 hours, 47 minutes ago
Disagree the defence is the issue - never has been. Midfield is the issue, and playing people out of position (which includes the defence eg Ayling, Dallas, James, Roberts, Rodrigo, Shackleton).

When you give the opposition the run of the middle of the park, it does not matter how good your defence is on paper, the opposition will score

We now have zero box to box midfielders, and no tactics on how to have players in a good formation in the middle to snuff out their attacks or win the ball back.

And that midfield has to be able to feed the front by being in easy to find positions for the defence to pass to them and to each other - we have pretty much none of that.

I understand fully why Klich was upset at being subbed yesterday
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A lot of truth in this. The way opposition defenders and midfielders pick up the ball either in their own half or about half way and then carry it almost to the edge of our box without challenge has worried me for a long time. Often it happens because we lose/give the ball away when trying to go forward and a lot of our lads are heading forward so out of position.
Defenders then have to try to compensate for no midfield cover in front of them. Playing a RB as a CB and a utility player as LB while there is an actual CB sitting on the bench does not help either (not this last game admittedly - we were struggling to find 11 fit players)
We have been extremely unlucky with injuries but trying to play our usual style with a totally makeshift young side against top opposition could only end one way

comment by Outwood White (U9610)
posted 6 hours, 39 minutes ago
Id stick with him but what I'm saying is we have no other options unless you move Dallas. We should have a back up LB ideally.
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Agreed, Alioski would have been great to have around for another year while Firpo eased in