Leeds United v Rotherham Official matchday thread

[HarryofOz]

And Bielsa becomes the first manager in our history to guide us to four wins from our opening four games.

[Gandalf]

The pass completion rates are amazing. Roofe 94% (I might have to apologise to Faaip, if he carries on like this), Cooper 91%, Klich 90%. Unbelievable.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/12887 ... -Rotherham

[Azkal]

I was advocating Klich as captain in the off season and I agree Coop is no captain. But MB made him his captain and captains must start for me

Not sure MB made Cooper captain. I was under the impression from previously read articles that he went with TC's thought process in allowing the players to nominate the team captain. Although from the same articles my understanding is that MB believes Cooper is a "great captain". I could be wrong though....

[The Subhuman]

It's the same thing though isn't it?

[1964white]

And Bielsa becomes the first manager in our history to guide us to four wins from our opening four games.

A marvelous achievement when you consider the short time he had to work with our squad

[HarryofOz]

A marvelous achievement when you consider the short time he had to work with our squad

Absolutely, and with the exception of Douglas all the other starting players are from last season.

[1964white]

The pass completion rates are amazing. Roofe 94% (I might have to apologise to Faaip, if he carries on like this), Cooper 91%, Klich 90%. Unbelievable.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/12887 ... -Rotherham

The Bielsa effect has well & truly kicked in, to make players who looked like plodders & turned them into top footballers is nothing short of remarkable!

The likes of Roofe, Cooper, Phillips, Berardi struggled to accurately pass a ball over the last three or four seasons, now the very same players are consistently spraying the ball all over the park.

Some fans were having a pop at our passing yesterday which admittedly was a bit loose at times however the guilty players kept their composure & improved their skills enough in the second-half to make an impact & win the game comfortably. We played some scintillating football in the 2nd half, had Saiz finished off a glorious chance it would have sealed the move of the day & been a contender for the goal of the season/

[weasel]

The Bielsa effect has well & truly kicked in, to make players who looked like plodders & turned them into top footballers is nothing short of remarkable!

The likes of Roofe, Cooper, Phillips, Berardi struggled to accurately pass a ball over the last three or four seasons, now the very same players are consistently spraying the ball all over the park.

Some fans were having a pop at some of our passing yesterday which admittedly was a bit loose at times however the guilty players kept their composure & improved their skills enough in the second-half to make an impact & win the game comfortably. We played some scintillating football in the 2nd half, had Saiz finished off a glorious chance it would have sealed the move of the day & been a contender for the goal of the season/

One word of caution is the form of the 3 teams we have faced in the league as they have all looked poor in other matches too.

Sometimes players will make sloppy passes when under no pressure - sort of like they almost literally take their eye of the ball as because it is an 'easy' pass they don't have the same focus as if they are trying a harder pass. I would see it all the time at training where you could ask a player to knock a ball to someone's feet 40 yards away and they would hit it near pinpoint but then ask the same player to do a 5 yard pass to a player and it would go a yard or two to either side giving the player receiving no chance.

Great to see the type of football we are playing and great that a lot of our players are proving people wrong. Full kudos to Bielsa for showing that a good manager can get so much more out of players than a bad one.

[paddy parrott]

Yes ok Weasel but on the passing thing . It's more about passing for passing sake, it's to find your player running into and finding that space that opens up for them. Receiving player must run into that area and onto the ball. You obviously want technically very good players and confident to not only do this but not be afraid when it doesn't come off .We at Leeds know how to crucify a player/players and wreck his confidence mate.

[The Subhuman]

Tricky to try to work out if they were poor subsequently because they got destroyed or are just poor. I think Stoke should be there or there abouts and haven't looked that bad. Derby are risking a virgin manager and that seldom goes well but they did win game one and had a bit of confidence coming into our game. Bolton are doing ok with us as their only defeat so far this season and Rotherham are scrappy and, though probably a bottom 10 team, will cause upsets this season. Swansea stank at Brum but are at home to us so another test

[1964white]

Tricky to try to work out if they were poor subsequently because they got destroyed or are just poor. I think Stoke should be there or there abouts and haven't looked that bad. Derby are risking a virgin manager and that seldom goes well but they did win game one and had a bit of confidence coming into our game. Bolton are doing ok with us as their only defeat so far this season and Rotherham are scrappy and, though probably a bottom 10 team, will cause upsets this season. Swansea stank at Brum but are at home to us so another test

Right now I would think Boro' & West Brom are the teams to fear

Pulis is a canny rugged manager who knows how to get the best out of his teams even though it may not be pretty on the eye.

Unsure how good Darren Moore is as he is a young coach on the scene but it does have a strong squad at his disposal especially striking options

Early days however I always assess a team's potential success on the coach/manager & as it stands now we've probably got the best! That is why the premiership top six clubs are predictable generally

[1964white]

One word of caution is the form of the 3 teams we have faced in the league as they have all looked poor in other matches too.

Oh I'm aware of that Weasel

It's the manner of our style of play that is so impressive & the way we have comfortably won our first three league games. On paper our first two games were a stern test, yesterday v Rotherham was a different type of task for us to overcome as the Millers parked their bus in their own half, we successfully passed that test due to the creativity & endeavor within Bielsa's team

[Cjay]

Its a better goal if you see the build up to.

[1964white]

Its a better goal if you see the build up to.

Brilliant play brilliant goal

There was one move even better than that which should have resulted in a goal had Saiz put his boot through the ball without taking two unnecessary touches

[The Subhuman]

Sooo Beckford ....but better

[gessa]

Amazong what a difference a bit of confidence can do.

[SG90]

One word of caution is the form of the 3 teams we have faced in the league as they have all looked poor in other matches too.

But that's Championship though, every team is bang average and pretty equal, then you have 1 or 2 hopelessly out of their depth and 1 or 2 genuine quality. The only two good teams left the league last season, Wolves and Fulham.

[SG90]

Tricky to try to work out if they were poor subsequently because they got destroyed or are just poor. I think Stoke should be there or there abouts and haven't looked that bad. Derby are risking a virgin manager and that seldom goes well but they did win game one and had a bit of confidence coming into our game. Bolton are doing ok with us as their only defeat so far this season and Rotherham are scrappy and, though probably a bottom 10 team, will cause upsets this season. Swansea stank at Brum but are at home to us so another test

I don't think Rotherham will go down, QPR, Reading, Hull and the Wendies look worse than them.

[weasel]

But that's Championship though, every team is bang average and pretty equal, then you have 1 or 2 hopelessly out of their depth and 1 or 2 genuine quality. The only two good teams left the league last season, Wolves and Fulham.

Was suggesting it more in comparison to how people judge teams at this early stage of the season when we don't really know how good they are - last year Forest and Sunderland were both touted as being likely to compete for promotion which made our wins over them seem highly impressive - yet they were both poor teams when judged by final league positions. Stoke could be the new Sunderland and go down again and Derby could be the new Forest strongly tipped but never really doing it on the pitch.

Like you say most teams in the championship are very similar. Hopefully our style of play elevates us above the average and is enough to get us promoted.

[Norm]

Heck of a ball from Phillips but Roofe still had to be accurate with that. Having beat 1 man he then, at a narrow angle, has the goalie and another defender to beat.
That was so cool and calm. As ges said, it's amazing what a bit of confidence can do - now proving his potential.