Leeds Banter Archive October 04 2018

04 Oct 2018 21:05:49
Interesting to see that Mason Mount has Got his international call up for the full England squad, the lad was happy to drop down on loan from Chelsea to play championship football with Derby. Wonder if Phil Foden at Man City is wondering "what if? " and had come to Leeds on loan, he hasn't had much game time at City.

05 Oct 2018 08:26:25
Maybe be he will come in Jan?

05 Oct 2018 19:43:14
Isn't Foden a central midfielder?

How I have seen the games I think it's the wide areas where we are looking like we jave less quality

I think Aloiski and Harrison are giving great accounts of themselves. Neither is hiding in any game (Hence they are making mistakes which us posters are picking apart) but neither is delivering consistently good end products
I feel if they did there would be less emphasis on Saiz having to try the impossible ALL the time
When Henandez wasn't injuries Saiz was able to play a much more controlled game. He had Pablo backing him up with good end products

I hope we BUY a good wide player in January.

04 Oct 2018 18:47:53
Aup boys and girls I'm new to the site and loving this season already ALAW.

04 Oct 2018 19:14:13
welcome to the site MOT mate.

04 Oct 2018 19:18:56
welcome Taddy.

04 Oct 2018 19:50:11
Welcome.

04 Oct 2018 20:25:14
Alright Tad.

04 Oct 2018 20:55:26
Welcome fella.

04 Oct 2018 22:30:25
Hi. Welcome aboard.

04 Oct 2018 22:53:17
Welcome on board, hope you enjoy it.

05 Oct 2018 08:28:10
Tad eh? I used to live in Tadcaster assuming that’s where you are from.

05 Oct 2018 11:46:22
Welcome on board Tad.

05 Oct 2018 13:40:00
always assuming Alf, maybe he is little or his dad is a frog?

05 Oct 2018 14:44:55
Is Tadkebab still on the go? Welcome tho, fella!

04 Oct 2018 15:49:17
Just sat with nothing to do (deadly) and I thought I would help out Mr Bielsa by picking an alternative 11 (saves him a phone call) out of players who are not exactly regulars. Adhering to the favourite 4-1-4-1;
Blackman, Coyle-Shaugnessy-O'Connor-Pearce, Stevens, Dalby-Baker-Clark-Dallas' Edmundson.
Now don't maul my selection too much, as I said I have nothing to do, til matron brings my afternoon meds.

04 Oct 2018 13:48:54
Brentford will not be easy but we have the force to overcome. As soon as they are out of the way we have a rest to help bring the walking (limping) wounded back onstream. I hope Roberts injury is not serious and that he can crack in another one or two on Sat thus giving MB a poser come the Blackburn game. Even if Roberts is out I have faith in Edmundson/ Clarke to step up and do a job. They should be on fire and really keen to show the crowd just what they can do. With the way they have both been playing there is no great panic to rush Roofe back too early.

04 Oct 2018 14:39:50
Roofe is first. Then Roberts. Roberts should be dropped as soon as roofe fit.
But if roofe doesn’t deliver.

04 Oct 2018 15:09:37
Might find some space for Roberts in the team, otherwise great bench player because he is flexible.

04 Oct 2018 17:33:09
happy to see roberts on wing, happy to see him play happy to see him bench warm and push roofe. think we have storong options.

04 Oct 2018 18:39:45
At the moment, Roberts is the man playing and scoring, personally I'm not sure that Roofe (as much as I like him) should just walk back into the team. Take Pontus for example, only got in the team because of Berardi being injured, now would you drop him when Berardi is fit again?

04 Oct 2018 20:58:35
Roofe if fit is a definite starter, he was on fire until injured!

04 Oct 2018 09:37:35
Roberts is the new injury worry. Not many forwards left unless Roofe makes an unexpected return.

04 Oct 2018 10:09:21
I've mentioned how we haven't invested enough to be promotion contenders but told to stop moaning and told I'm not a supporter. But it's plain to see this squad is light. Now some say bielsa knows is happy. I think he is underestimating how tough this league is. Has he any experience of managing a team that will 70 plus games a season.

04 Oct 2018 10:26:26
I agree wex, Mb is class but also flawed, he is known for working players hard that leads to burn out/ injuries and he is stubborn. I think he underestimated this league and english football, klopp and pep are both amazing managers but also admitted they did the same and it took them a while to get to grips with it, others such as Bale said how easy Spain is to England so there is reasonable suggestion to say this might of been possible.

not slating the manager I am so pleased he is at leeds but at same time no one is perfect and injuires already hitting us hard and not even at xmams yet!

04 Oct 2018 10:42:13
Wex, it’s an obvious criticism of his approach, using a limited pool of players and his background, never managed in the championship. Also we obviously haven’t spent as much as others.

The difference is Bielsa and I guess we are going to have to wait and see, in the Jan window and beyond to see if he is right or wrong.

My concern is that if you keep on buying new players, what do you do with them or the players they displace who need the opportunity. This year without injuries, Roberts wouldn’t have got a chance, nor Harrison, nor Shackleton, nor Pearce nor Edmondson.

At the moment, clearly you’re not right, because we are promotion contenders with almost a quarter of the season gone. I guess you believe that it won’t last and we will fall away, I guess no one really knows yet.

Bielsa clearly isn’t stupid, he watched all of the Championship games from last season, he has Carlos Corberan, who has experienced a full season at Leeds and he has his own experience with us now. If he has misjudged things, I’m sure he would want to correct that and make some changes in Jan. From what everyone is saying, he hates to lose, so I’m sure he will respond if that happens.

At the moment we are out performing teams that have spent more and teams that have parachute payments. I don’t think anyone at the club is not going to want that to continue.

I hope you are wrong and I would imagine as a Leeds supporter, so do you.

04 Oct 2018 10:55:09
I think any manager will have his flaws just like us! I can think of a few stubborn posters on here! Our strengths are usually also our potential weaknesses and that will be the same with him as it is with anyone.

The plain fact is that no one will really know until the season progresses and then ends. We can all have our views but let’s see and enjoy it.

His master plan could have failed already but it hasn’t almost a quarter of the season in. Let’s keep judging it as we move through the season. You could argue that the more experience he gets of English football the more dangerous he will become. I would imagine he is watching a lot of football, noting players in other teams and divisions, developing his contacts in English football.

Please give him time and a bit of credit for what he has been able to do with the team at his disposal so far!

04 Oct 2018 11:25:57
I can see why Bielsa prefers to work with a smaller squad as it keeps competition for places high and therefore keeps the players sharp. Unfortunately a small squad is only good when you don't have injuries. It was naive to run with such few numbers as a number of our squad have a history of being injury prone without throwing Bielsa's high press tactic into account. Roofe has not had a season where he has not been injured and has started this season with strapping on his hamstring. Forshaw has spent more time in the physio's room than on the pitch. Cooper and Jansson are prone to injury and we recruited Brown who is coming back from a serious injury. Also throw Bamford into the mix whose injury was just bad luck. I think we gambled with the size of the squad and hope we can get players back without damage to our results. We appear to be doing ok so far but that could turn as fatigue will start to set in without squad rotation.

04 Oct 2018 11:58:51
Wex The squad is not light at all. It's actually perfectly balanced. Regarding defence virtually everyone moaned at start of season with varying degrees of clamour to get in an extra central defender including me but in my defence I wasn't particularly critical trusting the Swiss Army Knife to produce good things. No-one can moan about our midfield which is skillful and abundant. Striker department slight issue you're a little correct Wex but buying not the answer. Edmondson and Wilks must be given encouragement to make the grade and not have too many hurdles in the way. That said, I'd love Maupay from Brentford. Wex, Roberts is injury prone. He's still developing. Finished article strikers cost big money. Abel wanted £5m per year. Vydra wanted a few bob too. Reality is we are a club whose been through 2 administrations in last 15 years, only just bought back the ground. Patience a virtue. Your lack of trust and appreciation for Radz disconcerting demonstrated by your icon pic of a very poor former owner. We are top of the league Wex and come January I'm sure we'll twist, not stick. Personally, I'm delighted by our progress and the foundations we've laid for our imminent PL future where we will soon go to Old Trafford and beat them and they'll enjoy it!

04 Oct 2018 12:24:04
Cannot agree with the small squad theory. You may point to the first team bodies and the number of injuries but we have performed well throughout the injury spell and I believe we have more than capable replacements in every position.
Apart from the scarey financial outlay there is the even more challenging problem of keeping everyone happy when you have a fully fit squad. We have seen from across the Pennines that it only takes one ore two malcontents to infect a whole squad. At the moment we are proving that the "reserves" are more than capable of filling shoes with more good names than slots in every department on the pitch. At the moment we have a squad of 32 and 18 out on loan, (4 or 5 of those will come back better stronger players) . So what we have on the payroll now and the big man at the helm should be enough to see us through to the promised land.

04 Oct 2018 12:38:59
Really good debate on this thread. Well said Georgie and Leodis. Notts, injuries are factored into Bielsas plan but the number 4 beginning to look a bit light. But as A few of us are repeating, you will never find out about the fringe players unless you give them a chance and those chances come with injuries.

I’m also really sure that Bielsa and the club are looking to see which one or 2 players could make a difference in Jan and if it’s only one or two, then we can do it. But again, the right kind of players who really fit in.

As you know, Eddie Gray is my guru on all things Leeds and he says, you only feel tired when you are losing, when you are winning and doing well, everyone wants to get out there on the pitch every time.

04 Oct 2018 13:18:54
Roberts in Wales squad, so if he has got an injury, he hasn’t told them yet. 2 other players have already pulled out of the squad with injury. All this success is good but too many international call ups! Mind you the players might find it more relaxing to be on international duty than doing Camp Bielsa!

04 Oct 2018 14:43:35
Spanish, Bielsa may have factored 4 injuries but I bet that he did not factor on two of them being his starting strikers.

04 Oct 2018 14:50:30
George says perfectly balanced with abundance of talent and then says who he fancies buying and you agree with him Spanish!
Am I missing something here?
It’s either perfectly balanced or not and you either think it is or don’t.
Spanish George begining to confuse me!
I don’t think injuries are a good thing either cause since injuries we have been below par so whoever is on the bench. ( when and if they are used ) are not worthy replacement for the injured.
Let’s hope poster below that says Bielsa allows sufficient recovery time, is right. Because second string are not good enough.

04 Oct 2018 15:18:59
Who is Spanish George? Sorry to confuse you Auz, must either be up to late, too early or had too many fosters. I like the way the squad is balanced, any additions should be the right type of player at the right price who fits in with Bielsas plans. Jan gives him a chance to review the situation based on his experience and the level of injuries and see if anything available fits that criteria. If it improves the balance of the squad even more than great. Not sure I agree with you about the quality of replacements, Roberts, Harrison, Shackleton, Forshaw, Dallas, I could go on.

The flip side of the injuries situation, is that it is making us rest key players and utilise the squad. So in theory, when those players get back to match fitness, they will be less knackered than the others. Here’s hoping Auz.

04 Oct 2018 15:23:17
Ausman With a purchase frequently results in a sale or offload. Balance remains. Talking of offloads, and what you're missing. Same thing. Mercilessly deprived.

04 Oct 2018 17:48:33
good debate, guess it is all hindsight and we will only know if we go up or not.

I think we have a better squad than I thought, I wanted a defender but seems we have great options in under 23s and I always had faith in roberts.

if roberts is out then this is a crisis and bad luck, not the amount of injuries but to get so many in one area is just bad luck and you can not account for that

All i do worry about is burn out but this worry is not justified and only in may will i know if i was right to worry or just being an old moaner as per usual.

04 Oct 2018 08:31:32
Although our high tempo pressing game has produced some great performances this season it's worrying that we are seeing more than our fair share of injuries to our more attack minded, flair players.

04 Oct 2018 09:08:39
I was watching the under 23s when Bamford was injured, just a normal forwards challenge going for the ball in the box. Imagine it could have happened any time and for any club. Hernadez’s Injury was a bit more mysterious because most of us didn’t realise he was injured. Roofe, again just a strikers injury no?

What is clear is that we don’t rush people back, medical treatment, recovery, resumption of training and rebuilding match fitness to Bielsa standard.

He said right from the start that he always planned for 4 out injured, but perhaps with the championship a reasonable figure is more 6 to 8 and that would have a knock on effect on his first team planning.

04 Oct 2018 10:31:03
I think it must just be a knock and bad luck as tempo was tame against hull, we won without getting out of second gear which is great, so the injury supised me a little.

03 Oct 2018 23:58:21
Top still but so tight up there. Seems like every game is another massive game and another tough team, this league is hard.
Be great to get Pablo and roofe back, we have missed his creativity and still need striker options.
Think defense looking fantastic, Pontus back to his best and coops also impressive.
Sounds like other posters on here rate this Halme, so maybe don't need foyth?
I thought we were 4 players short but think now only a couple, still feel a forward and a winger. Sorry but alioski has to be rested when Pablo returns. I also see that Phil Foden isn't playing many minutes in city team and they have K de B and mendy to come back in. Think he would be a great loan to buy in Jan or even Maddison?

04 Oct 2018 07:50:22
foden would be great but if city let him go think it would be to prem team, and by maddison do you mean from lesciter? he is there top player, i can't see them letting him go for less than 50m and it would ruin my fantasy football team.

04 Oct 2018 10:38:31
Maddison of Peterborough.