Rotherham United Preview
Rotherham United Preview
Saturdays game looks likely to be a big occasion for both managers. For those of you who fancy our chances after two wins on the bounce Leeds can be backed with a free bet to beat Rotheram this weekend. For Steve Evans, he welcomes a team in which he had an incredible level of success with for 3 years and for Neil Redfearn, he comes back to the club in which he is mostly remembered for his fantastic work at the Leeds United academy as well as doing a good job as head coach last season.
Unfortunately, Redfearn has so far (results wise) found things difficult taking just 1 point from 6 games. However, having played Ipswich, Derby, Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday during this spell it was always going to be difficult. I would imagine Redfearn will not be getting too worried yet having got most of the games against the teams, who I think will be around the top 6, out of the way. At the same time however, Rotherham are 5 points off 21st (safety) so will they be looking at Saturday as a must win/winnable game?
Leeds themselves are nowhere near out of the woods yet, however, a win on Saturday would make it 3 wins in a row and go a long way in making sure we are not going to have a repeat of November-December of last season- I hope. Steve Evans has made a great start with 8 points from 5 games, and the individual form of most if not all of our players has improved since Evans arrived at the club. The target between now and 2016 should be at least 10 more points and it would be fantastic if we can head into 2016 with more than 30 points.
The last 2 games haven't seen us put in the best performances, however, our game management in the last 2 games has been superb and Steve Evans deserves a lot of credit for that. The trio of Wood, Dallas and Antenucci was also one of the main reasons for our win at Huddersfield with all 3 putting in exceptional performances. Hopefully, we will see a better performance v Rotherham but a similar result.
Rotherham are bottom of the league but that does not mean it is going to be an easy game, Redfearn masterminded results v Bournemouth,Middlesbrough and Ipswich last season plus many more. Their squad does appear to have plenty of championship experience which is a massive help for them, for Saturday and for the rest of the season. Leeds record v Rotherham also does not make good reading. We haven't won against Rotherham (in the league) since 1982. And our last 6 games (in all competitions) against them has seen 1 win, 2 draws and 3 defeats.
Predicted Starting 11: 4-3-3: Silvestri, Berardi, Bellusci, Cooper, Taylor, Murphy, Cook, Mowatt, Dallas, Wood, Antenucci.
My Prediction: I expect it to be a close game and both teams to score, I think we will just about have enough and will be able to keep up our superb recent form. Leeds 2-1 Rotherham.