It's Friday 5th February lunchtime, and I havent got anything planned so erm


Elland Road pitch in the news again!

The Elland road pitch has been in the news again. First of all it was in the news because it was practically a bog, the ball moved at a snails pace and it looked dreadful. Now its been changed and we have some sort of hybrid pitch thing, it seems extremely slippy. Paddy Bamford (though tongue in cheek) didnt do the poor groundsmen any favours the other day when interviewed. The club have done their best i suppose but it is attracting a lot of criticism, some calling it dangerous on social media, others saying its unfair.

So is the pitch still an issue for us?
Did it play a part in us winning or losing recently at all?
Are you concerned about how slippy it is? If not from a footballing perspective how about from an injury one?
Is it any better than it was before or have we just swapped unplayable for dangerous?

Lets be honest if we were going to other grounds and the pitch was like ours we wouldn't be happy either.





Patrick Bamford

Lord Bamford, a footballer who can string a sentence together and be quite funny and charming. The 3rd highest English Premier League goalscorer behind Calvert-Lewin and Kane. The 2nd most goal contributions (goals and assists) of any English striker not named Harry Kane and the 5th most out of the entire league.

If you'd have told us fans a few years ago that these facts about Paddy would be true eventually then how many would have believed you? Even last season, if you'd have been told that in 12 months Patrick Bamford would have more Premier league goals than Marcus Rashford, Sadio Mane, Danny Ings and Raheem Sterling plus be well on his way to 20 league goals in the Premier league i think a lot of Leeds fans may have laughed at you (ok would, would have laughed at you) and yet here we are.

He is the darling of the pundits and media, a charming interview guest a good redemption story given his past in the Premier league. And he is in with a shot of being an England striker at a major tournament. However, you cant be an England striker and not score goals, the media and fanbase would crucify you (ask Emile Heskey). Jamie Carragher said yesterday how the game has moved on and the day of the goal hanger is over and people now appreciate hard work, maybe true, but strikers are judged on goals, especially English strikers playing for England.

How is this relevant you may ask, Paddy's list of achievements this season has already shown that he is a goalscorer? Partially true, if you have enough opportunities to score goals then goals will come for most Premier league strikers. The issue is conversion rate. See, Paddy Bamford plays for a very creative team, he gets a lot of chances, takes a lot of shots. In fact he takes more open play shots than any other player (Bruno Fernandes takes more but he takes free kicks and things). With that he also misses more big chances (most in the league). The fact is in a less creative team Paddy would score a lot less than certain strikers in this league.

And that brings us to England, England are managed by a fraud. A negative coward of a manager who never earned the England job and is vastly under qualified. His England arent Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds. His England create far less chances. And as we have seen with KP,Liam Cooper and others, taken out of the well drilled Marcelo Bielsa system some of our players really do struggle.

Do we really want Southgate being given the opportunity to undo MB's hard work?
Taking Leeds specs off is Patrick Bamford prolific enough for international level?
Would Paddy be able to adapt to the England system? KP struggled after all
Does Paddy deserve it over more established and experienced top level strikers?
As an England fan, would you take him to the Euros?





Gianni Alioski

Everyone loves Gianni the person. He is hilarious. He is a bit mad. He has been a reliable member of our squad for years, popping up with goals and assists and endearing himself to everyone with his personality and never say die attitude on the pitch. The Macedonian duracell bunny is a bit of a cult figure and deservedly so (love Gianni cam). However, his contract is up at the end of the season. He has been doing a job for us at left back and imo has done an admirable job. However the need for a proper left back is clear and that presents a dilemma. We cant be sentimental if we want to progress (sorry Ali). However Ali hasnt let us down in the past and is clearly great for the dressing room.

With the wing positions covered and a new left back where does Ali come in?
Is Ali worth keeping?
Is Ali worth keeping for his personality even if he isnt a regular in the squad?

If Ali was to leave and join the Turkish side (refuse to type their name) would you hold that against him? Or would you think it was a long time ago, Ali has to look after himself and frankly can we really expect a Macedonian who was only a kid at the time of the tragedy to turn down a career move based on events he will have had little or no knowledge of?