Set Pieces Conceded

[weasel]

Id be surprised if he stayed past this season should we not get promoted.

I don't get that feeling about him. Everything points to long term planning by working so much with youth players and preferring to work with them than simply coming in and doing a Warnock (i.e. buying journeymen pro who know what the championship is all about). He comes across as someone that values being happy more than finances and if he feels wanted and supported (by us and the board) he will stay and work on his project. The concern for me would be that if things fell away, like they did under Monk, and that the fans turned on him he would walk away. I do feel that if we missed out this season and he did stay then next season we would storm the league as even if we lost 2 or 3 players (i.e. PJ, KP and Clarke) we would still be starting the season stronger than we did this season as the rest of the players would have a year's experience of playing this way, some more of the youth may be ready and he would have also been able to fully assess the players he has rather than having to rely on video. If 2 or 3 players were sold then evidence so far would suggest AR would use the money to bring in new players so we would also be in a stronger position as we could identify targets and have the money to get who we wanted.

Whilst it would be gutting to miss out on promotion this season I don't think it would be catastrophic.

[lufc1304]

Spot on, weasel

[BGwhite]

I wouldn't trust AR to reinvest money from any sales purely based on what has already happened with him holding the purse strings. If he had reinvested a good slice of the sales from the last couple of years Leeds would have cruised it this season given the fact that they are doing extremely well anyway another 2 quality additions would have sealed it. Leeds are in a very strong position at the moment and now is the time to invest to get over the line not in 4 months when it could all have gone shaped.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[weasel]

So Saiz, Alioski, Forshaw, Bamford, Douglas, Klich, Roberts and various others all came in for nothing? AR has balanced the books, selling Wood and Taylor last year and then Vieira this year. Yes it doesn't look like he is going to blow vast sums of his own money but the evidence is that he is looking to balance the books regarding transfers incoming against outgoing.

[SG90]

So Saiz, Alioski, Forshaw, Bamford, Douglas, Klich, Roberts and various others all came in for nothing? AR has balanced the books, selling Wood and Taylor last year and then Vieira this year. Yes it doesn't look like he is going to blow vast sums of his own money but the evidence is that he is looking to balance the books regarding transfers incoming against outgoing.

They were paid for by the Wood, Taylor and Vieira sales, nothing to do with Radz.

I can't imagine how toxic the atmosphere would be come the summer if we failed to go up and then lost Jansson and Clarke. There would be no way back for Radz at all.

[weasel]

They were paid for by the Wood, Taylor and Vieira sales, nothing to do with Radz.

I can't imagine how toxic the atmosphere would be come the summer if we failed to go up and then lost Jansson and Clarke. There would be no way back for Radz at all.

Yes that was the point I was making - since AR has been in charge we have sold players but then spent the money on incoming transfers. That is why I wouldn't be concerned if we lost PJ, Clarke, KP, Roofe etc as AR has shown he is willing to reinvest the money on players (as opposed to the likes of Bates where the money went elsewhere).

[SG90]

Yes that was the point I was making - since AR has been in charge we have sold players but then spent the money on incoming transfers. That is why I wouldn't be concerned if we lost PJ, Clarke, KP, Roofe etc as AR has shown he is willing to reinvest the money on players (as opposed to the likes of Bates where the money went elsewhere).

My point is I don't get why he's being praised when it's nothing to do with him.

We can't keep expecting to sell our best players and then have them easily replaced on the cheap. Brexit will stop us finding foreign gems and will drive up the prices of British players to ridiculous levels.

[Genghers]

They were paid for by the Wood, Taylor and Vieira sales, nothing to do with Radz.

I can't imagine how toxic the atmosphere would be come the summer if we failed to go up and then lost Jansson and Clarke. There would be no way back for Radz at all.

That's the point though, he's balancing the books. Everything this ownership have done with the club so far is with the aim of making us financially stable and put us in a strong position going forward. They bought the stadium, which has long been a millstone for us and have invested in coaching/facilities which hopefully should have a long-term effect.

One of my big hopes for the post-Bielsa era is that we've got a replacement lined up who has similar ideals/playing style. The team is having every ounce of talent rung out at the moment and that's down to coaching. Corberan has been doing a good job with the academy and is working closely with Bielsa in the first team, so he's the ideal candidate imo.

[SG90]

That's the point though, he's balancing the books. Everything this ownership have done with the club so far is with the aim of making us financially stable and put us in a strong position going forward. They bought the stadium, which has long been a millstone for us and have invested in coaching/facilities which hopefully should have a long-term effect.

One of my big hopes for the post-Bielsa era is that we've got a replacement lined up who has similar ideals/playing style. The team is having every ounce of talent rung out at the moment and that's down to coaching. Corberan has been doing a good job with the academy and is working closely with Bielsa in the first team, so he's the ideal candidate imo.

We might as well not have an owner then with that logic.

I'm not saying I want an oil billionaire throwing millions around or overspending on crap players btw, I just want him to put £10m in to get us Gomez, Zuber and an experienced GK.

If he doesn't want to, then maybe we should start a crowdfunder?

[weasel]

If he doesn't want to, then maybe we should start a crowdfunder?

Maybe put £10m of your own money in....

[Cjay]

I don't get that feeling about him. Everything points to long term planning by working so much with youth players and preferring to work with them than simply coming in and doing a Warnock (i.e. buying journeymen pro who know what the championship is all about). He comes across as someone that values being happy more than finances and if he feels wanted and supported (by us and the board) he will stay and work on his project. The concern for me would be that if things fell away, like they did under Monk, and that the fans turned on him he would walk away. I do feel that if we missed out this season and he did stay then next season we would storm the league as even if we lost 2 or 3 players (i.e. PJ, KP and Clarke) we would still be starting the season stronger than we did this season as the rest of the players would have a year's experience of playing this way, some more of the youth may be ready and he would have also been able to fully assess the players he has rather than having to rely on video. If 2 or 3 players were sold then evidence so far would suggest AR would use the money to bring in new players so we would also be in a stronger position as we could identify targets and have the money to get who we wanted.

Whilst it would be gutting to miss out on promotion this season I don't think it would be catastrophic.

Understand what your saying mate about the seeming long term planning and the focus on youngsters. But thats no different then he has done all his career and traditionally the 2nd season is when things go wrong for MB.

Usually MB fails out with the owners in the summer, he did it at Bilbao over selling Javi Martinez and lack of funds and Marseille over similar and the loss of key players.

I'm worried that should we not go up as you say then it will be toxic in the Summer, the fans would be furious, the media would crucify us and Bielsa because of the top at xmas thing.

Radz would sell players and Bielsa has already shown frustration with that, and i can just forsee a fallout.

Or Bielsa would get angry and fedup with the media backlash and walk.

Whatever happens i cant see the summer being smooth should we not go up and i think the cracks in the relationship between Bielsa and the board would grow, he has kept his counsel so far but would he do that when he is getting hammered from all sides?

[SG90]

Maybe put £10m of your own money in....

If I did have, then I would. That's why I said about a crowdfunder. 50k fans putting in £100 is £5m. I'd be happy to do that. Surely some of those "celebrity" Leeds fans could probably chip a bit in too.

[SG90]

Understand what your saying mate about the seeming long term planning and the focus on youngsters. But thats no different then he has done all his career and traditionally the 2nd season is when things go wrong for MB.

Usually MB fails out with the owners in the summer, he did it at Bilbao over selling Javi Martinez and lack of funds and Marseille over similar and the loss of key players.

I'm worried that should we not go up as you say then it will be toxic in the Summer, the fans would be furious, the media would crucify us and Bielsa because of the top at xmas thing.

Radz would sell players and Bielsa has already shown frustration with that, and i can just forsee a fallout.

Or Bielsa would get angry and fedup with the media backlash and walk.

Whatever happens i cant see the summer being smooth should we not go up and i think the cracks in the relationship between Bielsa and the board would grow, he has kept his counsel so far but would he do that when he is getting hammered from all sides?

Completely agree. If we don't go up now, we never will.

Ffp will be reset, so Villa, Wendies, Derby etc will be spending fortunes again. Stoke will be stronger. Fulham will be v strong, probably Hudds too and either Cardiff, Burnley or Newcastle will too.

We simply have to go up this season.

[Cjay]

Only a few weeks of being 2 years since this was made.

Nothing has changed.

Cant remember seeing a team so extremely weak from set pieces.

[60sUnited]

I am not an expert on stats but we surely must be the worst team at both defending set pieces and attacking set pieces, as far as corners go we may as well just give them the goal kick.....unbelievable really.

[Irish Ian]

Only a few weeks of being 2 years since this was made.

Nothing has changed.

Cant remember seeing a team so extremely weak from set pieces.

Man to man is okish if you have the physicality to deal with your target and all the distractions. What makes it harder is our keeper hasn't the power to command his area. ( still a hell of a lot better overall than Kiko though)

Zonal allows the defenders to be more proactive but tbh the problem is more down to lack of height and body mass.

Now that Cooper can't get away with manhandling his opponent he is exposed to the ariel ball.

[andrewjohnsmith]

Not sure why we're so bad at corners. In my time watching football it's always been a point where less experienced teams could compete with better teams. For us it's almost men v boys. You would think lesser players like Cooper would be able to muscle it with the big boys but he's been found wanting.

Is it Bielsa that doesn't know how to set up on set pieces? If so, he needs a set pieces coach.

Or is it just that man for man, we can't match up? Look at players like Zouma who is a beast - we don't have anyone like that.

We can't just ignore it. It won't go away. And shitty teams like West Ham will know they can win games against us just by being better on set pieces.

[Velotrax]

IMHO, this is one area MB fails miserably, we can't defend them, and we hardly ever score from them, I don't know why he hasn't addressed the fooking obvious, corners, fk's win games, yet we are abismal at them, yes we play great football in open play, but we are shite at set pieces....

[andrewjohnsmith]

IMHO, this is one area MB fails miserably, we can't defend them, and we hardly ever score from them, I don't know why he hasn't addressed the fooking obvious, corners, fk's win games, yet we are abismal at them, yes we play great football in open play, but we are shite at set pieces....

I heard a couple of guys on a podcast joking that we probably concede more goals from our own corners than we score. Almost like winning a corner is a liability for us. They also theorized that Bielsa loves open play and sees set pieces as an inconvenience he doesn't want to deal with.

Much as I say we could let a set pieces coach fix it, I just don't think we have the right physicality. Koch wins a few headers but he's no Zouma.

[Velotrax]

I heard a couple of guys on a podcast joking that we probably concede more goals from our own corners than we score. Almost like winning a corner is a liability for us. They also theorized that Bielsa loves open play and sees set pieces as an inconvenience he doesn't want to deal with.

Much as I say we could let a set pieces coach fix it, I just don't think we have the right physicality. Koch wins a few headers but he's no Zouma.

Unfortunately mate you are probably nearer the truth than you think, it frustrates me that we do fk all with fk and corners, yet are so vulnerable from them