Routed by Rochdale

05 Jan 2014 11:11 am, by YorkshireSquare

Rochdale 2 (Hogan 45, Henderson 84)
Leeds United 0

Only days after Leeds fans looked back on their January 3rd Defeat of Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup four years ago they were brought back to reality. The woes of the festive period continued with defeat to Rochdale in the FA Cup at Spotland at the same stage of the competition. Here are the views of our forum members;

The views of rich_leeds64...

PATHETIC...the only word that sprang to mind.

A note to the Leeds players who played against the mighty Rochdale, take a leaf out of their book. Play with pride, passion and a desire to win, work hard and play for each other and see what can happen. All Rochdale did was play simple passing football and for me their number 4 Peter Cavanagh ran their midfield, he broke up play and then surged forward with purpose on numerous occasions.

We never threatened. Ok, we had a fair amount of 2nd half possession but with no end product. Our midfield was a complete shambles. No urgency, no one wanting the quick throw in or a quick 1-2 it was all very pedestrian. I missed the final whistle as I'd headed for the exit just after their2nd but by full time I had walked over half a mile towards my car when the very loud boos rang out.


The views of paddy parrott...

As hard as it is to knock individual Leeds player`s for me .That i suppose comes for not been there week on week and paying hard earned money. But after watching us today a poor show is an understatement. No one picked up the team at half time and all we saw a very lacksy daisy midfield that were slow and second best .No creativity from our captain ,none from our most expensive player and little from our top scorer. Again we only got beat 2-0 should have been ...more but for some good goalkeeping and a lot of luck. So while i respect any Leeds united player at the club I’m sure most people do the onus is on BMCD and staff to think again .What with the window of opportunity now lets get a couple new faces in ones to impress not only BMCD but thousands of us fans alike.


The views of LUFC_BOS...

If we had a team that could reflect the support it has, we would be in a better place. I find it so hard to see relate to our current state of play and the type of "football" that BMC supposedly wants. To most that bleed the colours of this club, this was as disheartening a game I have seen over the past 45 odd years.

As most have said, we were woeful in possession, inept in defence, without guile or technical surety. A lot of people claim patience is required, but if there is no philosophy to play the game the right way from the youth set up to the first team, I cannot see any forward momentum. Rest assured we have several "imports" into the first team ala Wotton etc., who have no composure and seem to look for row "z" most of the time.

I have read several comments on commander "Z" over the past few weeks and I really thought he had some good moments today although he needs someone quicker to play alongside him. Ross tried to get involved and Paddy saved us from an embarrassment today.

On the need for new recruits - why are we looking at domestic players most of the time - surely more technical adapt players are available in the European , Asian and South American leagues. Our scouting seems to be restricted to our Isles!

Sorry about the rant but I cannot get over our Support at every game which is not reflected in the ambition of the players and club - a huge chasm between expectation on our side and the quality presented to us.


The views of Yosserwhite...

I have to say that was probably the most disheartening display by any Leeds team I can remember. Rochdale were robbed, they deserved at least 4 or 5 goals. I have seen better performance from pub teams.

No passion, guile, invention or skill on show at all. It does not matter which manager was in charge of this shower, we are extremely lucky to be where we are in the league. Our previous "good performances" were mainly due to luck, I cannot remember one "good performance" for 90 minutes in any game this year.

The signs were there from the first match of the season (or more correctly, pre-season, remember them getting slaughtered then?) we had a lucky win and most forgot how dire we had been most of the match.

Like all long serving Leeds fans I have an ability to suspend reality to remain optimistic against all logic, but this performance has really p1ssed me off. It is not as though there is much scope to make any meaningful changes, we did not exactly play a weakened team just because it was a cup match.

Read more members views of the Rochdale game

Leeds boss Brian McDermott described the result as his "worst moment in football" and many of the Leeds fans at Spotland may have felt the same and they certainly let the players know their feelings after the final whistle. McDermott went on to say "I stood on the pitch after a defeat in the play-off final and it didn't feel like that at the final whistle today - today felt worse. I said to the players they have to remember that feeling." With recent speculation around the new takeover lead by David Haigh and funds being available during the transfer window McDermott reinforced the need to strengthen the team;

"We need to invest in this team, it needs help. We seem to have run out of steam. We have to do it for those who travelled today and I'm desperately, desperately sorry we put on a performance like today. I would probably say that is my worst moment in football. This will be a driver for me in the coming weeks."

As bad as Leeds were you have to give credit to Rochdale, they outplayed Leeds in every part of the pitch and had it not been for Paddy Kenny they could have scored five or six. They fully deserve their place in the fourth round draw, the first time for ten years.

View all Showing latest two comments of two...

essexwhite wrote on 05 Jan 2014 05:37 pm

they shouldn't get their wages

Martyn wrote on 05 Jan 2014 11:48 am

Yesterday the Leeds performance against Rochdale mirrored perfectly England's performances in the Ashes series.

Gutless, clueless, embarrassing