Match Thread - Manchester United vs Leeds United (Wed 17th July)

[Cjay]

ffs Jack, good chance to play Roofe in and overhit.

[mothbanquet]

The problem with Cooper is what he has just done, a stupid lunge has been a common theme all the time he has been here.

He has no composure, see the playoffs.

He might be a nice guy and a decent backup but he shouldnt be a first choice cb, he is to unreliable imo.

The result isnt a huge issue but the mistakes are tbh.

No one can argue that after this performance, and all but 1 of those goals (maybe) could and would have been put away by Championship sides. Totally takes away from the positive signs we've seen elsewhere.

[lufc1304]

Seriously, aside from the fact that it is the scum, does anyone really give a s**t? A meaningless friendly, with some likely first teamers missing, on a tour we should never have signed up to with a fortnight until the league kicks off. Someone mentioned a gulf in class. Top 6 Prem to top 6 championship, there IS a massive gulf. Calm down, this is not indicative of how our season will pan out. Do agree that we need another CB. I like Cooper, he was much improved last season, but he does lack composure.

[mothbanquet]

Seriously, aside from the fact that it is the scum, does anyone really give a s**t? A meaningless friendly, with some likely first teamers missing, on a tour we should never have signed up to with a fortnight until the league kicks off. Someone mentioned a gulf in class. Top 6 Prem to top 6 championship, there IS a massive gulf. Calm down, this is not indicative of how our season will pan out. Do agree that we need another CB. I like Cooper, he was much improved last season, but he does lack composure.

Sums up my feelings tbh, no one likes losing but it was a weaker team we put out in key areas and our marquis signings are still in sunny Yorkshire. Final product may not match description.

Cooper though, mate...

[Cjay]

4-0 we werent that bad tbf, we had our own chances (which we didnt take, sounds familiar that).

plenty of first teamers missing to.

But the defence is a worry, Phillips was poor again to, Cooper is an enigma to me, much improved last season but even that that only meant he was ok at Championship level, we really should have been looking to find a partner for Jansson, not selling him.

[SG90]

I watched a bit on Scum TV, hardly much to take from it given half our team was missing, jet lag and Bielsa not being arsed. We all know Cooper, Berardi and Douglas aren't good enough defensively, I said that before Jansson was sold. We have to hope Ben White is some sort of prime Maldini clone.

Just seems like another pointless excursion so Radz can sell some tv deals. Hopefully the club profits financially from it rather than him.

[Cjay]

Seriously, aside from the fact that it is the scum, does anyone really give a s**t? A meaningless friendly, with some likely first teamers missing, on a tour we should never have signed up to with a fortnight until the league kicks off. Someone mentioned a gulf in class. Top 6 Prem to top 6 championship, there IS a massive gulf. Calm down, this is not indicative of how our season will pan out. Do agree that we need another CB. I like Cooper, he was much improved last season, but he does lack composure.

Not really to bothered about the result its self but all that has done is confirm what a lot of people thought.

We lack height and pace (aside from Costa) , defensively we have a lot of ok defenders rather then good ones (at Championship level), and we still have to many average players in our first team.

Same as last season, individual quality is lacking imo even with the full squad available.

But it was just a friendly and we did play some nice stuff which was nice for a Wednesday afternoon

[mothbanquet]

If you know what to look at in a defender, you'll very much like White based on what's been seen, a big improvement. However, if we fail to go up then it's back to square one with a new manager, our good players gone as well as our good loanees.

Hopefully this was just a case of Bielsa not taking the game seriously and ordering everyone to play at half effort to save their legs, but if not then I'll have to settle for praying that something happens to sort that defence out before Bristol.

For all this was a friendly, and for how much I rave about White, he's not going to take us up by himself. I guess we can only wait and see what last moves we'll be making in the market.

[Cjay]

If you know what to look at in a defender, you'll very much like White based on what's been seen, a big improvement. However, if we fail to go up then it's back to square one with a new manager, our good players gone as well as our good loanees.

Hopefully this was just a case of Bielsa not taking the game seriously and ordering everyone to play at half effort to save their legs, but if not then I'll have to settle for praying that something happens to sort that defence out before Bristol.

For all this was a friendly, and for how much I rave about White, he's not going to take us up by himself. I guess we can only wait and see what last moves we'll be making in the market.

Thats why i really hoped we would be really ambitious in the transfer market, Costa aside have we really improved or are we just hoping?

Hoping a kid with half a season in league 1 might be decent.
Hoping Jack Harrison might improve.
Hoping Clarke will be the player he showed he could be.

After finishing 3rd i hoped we would just add maybe 3 or 4 quality additions to what we had, sell the dross and give it a real go, but that hasnt been the case so far.

Hopefully a few more Costa level signings on the way

[paddy parrott]

Indeed , nothing ventured now't to gain as they say.
We are Leeds .

[mothbanquet]

Thats why i really hoped we would be really ambitious in the transfer market, Costa aside have we really improved or are we just hoping?

Hoping a kid with half a season in league 1 might be decent.
Hoping Jack Harrison might improve.
Hoping Clarke will be the player he showed he could be.

After finishing 3rd i hoped we would just add maybe 3 or 4 quality additions to what we had, sell the dross and give it a real go, but that hasnt been the case so far.

Hopefully a few more Costa level signings on the way

I do think the signings we have made will made a huge difference, I thought that before and still do now, but stacked against those improvements is the fact that we won't have six months to trample teams while they figure us out. This will definitely be a more challenging season in every aspect, with arguably stronger relegated teams thrown into the mix as well.

The question is, which way do the scales lean in that regard? Towards our improvements or the increased challenge?

[SG90]

We still haven't replaced Saiz, so why does anyone think we will replace Jansson? Last season showed we need more than 2 CBs and we haven't learned our lesson. Jansson is a huge hole and will just leave us open and vulnerable against hoofball teams like Millwall, Cardiff etc.

[1964white]

Just the same as we witnessed last season when we played poorly

Awful defending
Errors all over the park
Caught on the break far too often
No pace
No punch upfront
Shots over the bar
Tired legs as the game went on
Nothing off the bench to make an impact

Thank god we're not playing in the premiership next season

[SG90]

I get why Bielsa is fuming about this whole thing. Why are we going all the way to Australia two weeks before the season starts? He made the right decision to leave some big players home, as jet lag will catch up with the players.

[Irish Ian]

If you know what to look at in a defender, you'll very much like White based on what's been seen, a big improvement. However, if we fail to go up then it's back to square one with a new manager, our good players gone as well as our good loanees.

Hopefully this was just a case of Bielsa not taking the game seriously and ordering everyone to play at half effort to save their legs, but if not then I'll have to settle for praying that something happens to sort that defence out before Bristol.

For all this was a friendly, and for how much I rave about White, he's not going to take us up by himself. I guess we can only wait and see what last moves we'll be making in the market.

We had Pogba being marked man to man which hardly suggested they were taking it easy.

While MU had many quality players we looked ordinary in so many places and employed the same old same old from last season, no pace, no power, and very little flair. Bamford looked lost at times and Harrison when he did find room preferred to knock it back to Douglas instead of try and create something. Some of the balls we gave away was cringeworthy too.

But sometimes you can learn more in defeat and maybe that will be useful going forward.

[1964white]

We still haven't replaced Saiz, so why does anyone think we will replace Jansson? Last season showed we need more than 2 CBs and we haven't learned our lesson. Jansson is a huge hole and will just leave us open and vulnerable against hoofball teams like Millwall, Cardiff etc.

I was screaming for two CB's last season even when we had Jansson on our books, fans kept telling me we have cover in Berardi, Ayling, Phillips, U23's.

Did we fook !

Play Ayling & Phillips as CB's & you infinitely weaken the position they've vacated.

Berardi is not a CB, he's a liability imo, Gaetano has been a good servant at Leeds however his best years are over

Still require a experienced strong CB with leadership qualities, one who can organise his troops around him

I'm desperately hoping Ben White lives up to his billing, he needs too or else we have real problems at the back

[1964white]

Harrison looking much better too. Is it just me or has he been eating his spinach over the summer? Looks much stronger.

Popeye the sailor man

[1964white]

We dont really have a properly good defender in the back 4, Dallas, Cooper, Douglas and Berardi are ok but not really really good.

Bl**dy frightening mate

[mothbanquet]

I think we're all agreed on something here - we either need a quality strength & aerial-based CB or hope that Strujik is the second coming of Lucas Radebe. Probably both.

Otherwise, I think Bamford is just plain wrong for this team, not that he's a bad player, just doesn't fit. He doesn't have the pace or work rate to apply pressure from the front, can't time a run (or run) to save his life and just looks out of sync with all those around him. Compare that with the snappy back and forths between Roofe and Harrison and it's a different world. Again, not saying he's shite but the whole team look disjointed and sluggish when he's up front compared to Roofe.

[Cjay]

On the plus side we can watch the friendly tonight for free.

I have a horrible feeling our season will hinge on Costa the same as it has on Pablo last few years.

We need a minimum 3 more players imo, Jansson level cb, number 10 and a striker.

Desperately need more pace in attack to help Costa and give Pablo more room