To Panic Or Not To Panic

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Cjay
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To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by Cjay »

That is the question.

The Transfer Window has been officially open for a surprisingly long time already.

It opened officially on May 17th, thats 49 days.

It closes in 36 days which means there is about 40% of it left.

There is a myth that most of the Championship havent made signings yet so its to early to worry, not true, 13 teams have made more signings then us already.

At the same time though there are still 10 teams who havent, so its not all gloom and doom.

But, then there is another question, how many teams have a new manager and with it a totally new playing style to try and get ready in time for August 5th.

Thats the key part, if we had a stable base from last season, a manager who had already implemented his ideas and philosophy on the squad then maybe there wouldn't be such a concern.

But we havent, Marcelo Bielsa is notorious for his demanding style, its nothing like what the players had under our last manager, its intense and requires organisation and tactical awareness on the pitch otherwise gaps open and it goes wrong.

Dont take my word for it.

"It was agreed, as an essential condition to the implementation of the work program, that we would sign at least four footballers before July 5, with the aim that they would participate in pre-season training.

"For my method of working we needed to have these players arrive in a timely manner to train."


A direct quote from Marcelo Bielsa upon leaving Lazio.

Not saying he expects players by July 5th (tomorrow) but he clearly wants signings in a timely manner, i dont imagine he expects anything less from us.

Our squad isnt built for his style, think we all agree, like Bielsa himself said, we need improvement in 4 or 5 areas at least. But this style requires extensive training, so they cant be arriving on the Friday with us playing on the Sunday.

Ideally probably a month minimum under Bielsa to train and prepare his squad would have been ideal.

Thats not going to happen for our new lads.

Theres nothing to suggest anyone arriving today, tomorrow etc, we probably looking at next week at the earliest and even that seems optimistic.

Hernandez has stalled, Vydra is no further forward, Bartley has gone silent, Stockdale is at a stalemate.

We kick off a month tomorrow.

We still require a cb, gk, striker, lb and imo an attacking midfielder as an alternative to Saiz, Pablo and Alioski.

In truth we probably need 2 strikers and 2 centre backs.

We are currently not close to one of either.

Our opponents for August 5th recently confirmed there 3rd signing and have a better squad then us to start with.

Marcelo Bielsa put his faith and reputation in Radz, Orta and LUFC hands.

They owe it to him and to us to give Bielsa the best chance they can.

He needs time with his squad, he needs new players (he said so) things need to start moving or we are going to be starting at a disadvantage again.

Bielsa isnt Jesus, he can only do his job if given the correct tools.

Radz and Orta need to start providing them.

The time to panic isnt here yet, but its getting close.
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MightyWhites
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by MightyWhites »

Correct. Not sure what is going on but the silence speaks volumes. I personally think we need a new keeper, two centre halves, two strikers and another midfielder. I few players have left now so technically player wise we are even weaker than last season!

I hope plenty is going on in the background because as has happened before El Loco won't stand for it, like he won't stand for signing rubbish!
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by weasel »

Agree with you Cjay - I keep logging on to various Leeds site expecting to see us either signing someone or being at an advanced stage (i.e. player having a medical) of a signing and yet day after day nothing - it seems like deja vu all over again as it seems to have been this way for every season in recent memory.

The glimmer of hope for me is that the Baker signing seemed to come completely out of the blue and was done and dusted almost before anyone had even got wind of it and likewise it appears that one or two players have been training with us that hadn't been linked with us at all. Equally Bielsa might have been really impressed with some of the under 23 players and as such informed the board that we now don't need 4 or 5 and maybe it is just 2 or 3 - for all he saw the videos of our matches last season he didn't say that he had watched any of the U23s or U18s. We do know that he likes to work with young players as they are more likely to listen and be willing to learn and it may be that they are already far more suited to playing the Bielsa way than new signings would be or even some of our first team.

It does seem strange though that armed with our supposed £20m war chest for transfers that we haven't made a couple of big signings already though.
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1964white
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by 1964white »

Why am I not surprised :roll:
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by liggy »

Cj chapter 8 paragraph 2 subsection 4
Biesla isn't jesus. Hmmmm
Jc was a canny joiner on that new estate, with just a mallet and a chisel,in Nazaerth circa 652bc
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by The Subhuman »

Not panicking at all, no one should be if we believe Biesla is a good manager and teacher. Probably need a pair of forwards and a sweeper at the minimum. We haven't taken Roberts out of the box yet and added a box to box centre mid..
"Never debate an idiot, they'll only drag you down to their level and they have the advantage of experience"
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by HarryofOz »

faaip wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:35 pm Not panicking at all, no one should be if we believe Biesla is a good manager and teacher. Probably need a pair of forwards and a sweeper at the minimum. We haven't taken Roberts out of the box yet and added a box to box centre mid..
Agreed
Un Marcelo Bielsa, solo hay un Marcelo Bielsa. Gracias Marcello. Marsching on together.
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by 1964white »

faaip wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:35 pm Not panicking at all, no one should be if we believe Biesla is a good manager and teacher. Probably need a pair of forwards and a sweeper at the minimum. We haven't taken Roberts out of the box yet and added a box to box centre mid..
So Faaip who are our CB's for the season ?
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by The Subhuman »

Maybe ask Biesla but Jansson right, new Sweeper centre and then one of Halme, Cooper or Hugo Diaz who has been impressing. If Biesla needs elite footballers ready to play from game one then he's not the manager everyone says he is, he's just another throw money at it guy doomed to failure
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by 1964white »

faaip wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 7:55 pm Maybe ask Biesla but Jansson right, new Sweeper centre and then one of Halme, Cooper or Hugo Diaz who has been impressing. If Biesla needs elite footballers ready to play from game one then he's not the manager everyone says he is, he's just another throw money at it guy doomed to failure
So the emphasis is on Pontus once again with two inexperienced defenders or Captain Chaos as options around him
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by Cjay »

Cooper will never ever be good enough imo, if we start the season with him, Philips and Berardi as 1st 11 then promotion if of the cards.

None of them are technically good enough imo, Bielsa has a reputation for unlocking talent, Payet, Martinez, Llorente etc but he cant work miracles.

One concern regarding Bielsa and one reason i think he hasnt quite made it trophy wise is i think the style of play requires top class talent.

Barcelona, Bayern under Pep, Atletico Madrid, Spurs.

All use it successfully and all have real talent.

Is it feasible to play an elite club style without the level of players that the elite have?

Short term maybe, consistently?

Have my doubts.
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1964white
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by 1964white »

Cjay wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 8:41 pm Cooper will never ever be good enough imo, if we start the season with him, Philips and Berardi as 1st 11 then promotion if of the cards
I'll be absolutely astounded if the above three played a major part in a promotion winning team, there are a few more too Cjay
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by danhirons »

if we play three at the back I think Jansson and Ayling would be perfect as left and right centre backs, then we need a new sweeper and a new centre back to go on the bench along with Cooper.
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by Cjay »

MightyWhites wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 1:55 pm Correct. Not sure what is going on but the silence speaks volumes. I personally think we need a new keeper, two centre halves, two strikers and another midfielder. I few players have left now so technically player wise we are even weaker than last season!

I hope plenty is going on in the background because as has happened before El Loco won't stand for it, like he won't stand for signing rubbish!
That gives hope.

TC was a lovely fella and he was grateful I'm sure for the opportunity.

Hecky was incredibly lucky to be employed at all never mind a pay rise.

Neither of them were in much position to object.

Bielsa is, and we know he will, so that suggests something is happening.

I hope :)
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

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weasel wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 2:42 pm Agree with you Cjay - I keep logging on to various Leeds site expecting to see us either signing someone or being at an advanced stage (i.e. player having a medical) of a signing and yet day after day nothing - it seems like deja vu all over again as it seems to have been this way for every season in recent memory.

The glimmer of hope for me is that the Baker signing seemed to come completely out of the blue and was done and dusted almost before anyone had even got wind of it and likewise it appears that one or two players have been training with us that hadn't been linked with us at all. Equally Bielsa might have been really impressed with some of the under 23 players and as such informed the board that we now don't need 4 or 5 and maybe it is just 2 or 3 - for all he saw the videos of our matches last season he didn't say that he had watched any of the U23s or U18s. We do know that he likes to work with young players as they are more likely to listen and be willing to learn and it may be that they are already far more suited to playing the Bielsa way than new signings would be or even some of our first team.

It does seem strange though that armed with our supposed £20m war chest for transfers that we haven't made a couple of big signings already though.
Hope your right regarding the u23s Weasel.

Do think there are some potential gems there who could break through next season, Rey and Clarke mentioned before but Pascal Struijk is another, Bryce Hosannah etc.

But even being optimistic we need a senior striker, a senior cb and a gk absolute minimum.

Dont see why its taking so long, we were talking to Abel Hernandez in May!!!! Either sign him or tell him to get lost if he is to greedy and move on.

Derby want £11mil for Vydra, thats not a bad price.

Not ready to panic yet, but every passing day is less time for training.
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by Norm »

1964white wrote: ↑

So the emphasis is on Pontus once again with two inexperienced defenders or Captain Chaos as options around him
I'm not panicking but I am a little uneasy because of what happened 12 months ago. Everything needed to be ready for TC and it wasn't. He probably requested the proper replacements for the players who left and wasn't given the full squad he needed. I do hope that problem has been fixed this year, otherwise Bielsa is not going to be happy. On the other hand, maybe we do have extras already appointed and in training, maybe Bielsa has promoted a couple of U23s to the main squad - after all they've been playing a lot of the Bielsa way for 12 months or more.

We'll have to wait to find out it seems - the silence is deafening.
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by 1964white »

The delay in signings could be salary related I suspect, not signing players too early so they save on the wage bill plus our board are desperate to offload some of the surplus crap they signed last summer, meanwhile we could miss the boat on potential signings, would be typical of a LUFC board.

Must be something in the water in Leeds as the people at the top have screwed up at the Rhinos & Yorkshire County Cricket Club, tight-fisted & obstinate comes to mind. For a city the size of Leeds we should be achieving much more, the sporting fans of my home city deserve better!
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by Azkal »

Really? can't seem to find an emoji to show shaking head and biting ones tongue.........
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by weasel »

Norm wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:49 pm I'm not panicking but I am a little uneasy because of what happened 12 months ago. Everything needed to be ready for TC and it wasn't. He probably requested the proper replacements for the players who left and wasn't given the full squad he needed. I do hope that problem has been fixed this year, otherwise Bielsa is not going to be happy. On the other hand, maybe we do have extras already appointed and in training, maybe Bielsa has promoted a couple of U23s to the main squad - after all they've been playing a lot of the Bielsa way for 12 months or more.

We'll have to wait to find out it seems - the silence is deafening.
Agree with you there and we find ourselves in the same position as last season in trying to replace Green, Bartley and Wood and seem no nearer. If these 3 had been replaced with players of similar, or even slightly worse, then I still think we could have made the playoffs - same again this year.

A big shame that PH didn't give more youth players a chance as for example Dalby and Edmondson may be nearer being able to make the step up than we (the fans) think. I guess we won't really know until the friendlies start but in terms of this season's ambitions I think it would be a huge gamble to again go into the season hoping that loan signings or youngsters can make the grade rather than getting players that are proven capable.

From the noises we heard previously the suggestion would be the 4 or 5 key signings but the U23s would provide the back up in case of an injury crisis etc.
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Re: To Panic Or Not To Panic

Post by 1964white »

Azkalwhite wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 5:35 am Really? can't seem to find an emoji to show shaking head and biting ones tongue.........
Fans have every right to feel sceptical & uneasy about the lack of progress so far

I was at our local Supporters Club AGM last night & everybody were unhappy about the situation right now, fans who spend a fortune on the club, the majority for thirty years plus. Our hardcore fans at the main AGM in Leeds also feel the same, usually one of the players turn up at the Leeds meetings, not the case this year, also some information is usually given by LUFC about future signings, nothing was forthcoming this time. Josh Washington did attend the meeting though !

As I said in my previous post our fans deserve better, without our support Leeds United wouldn't have a club
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