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QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread - Pablo returns, Clarke on the bench for QPR

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:35 am
by Ellandback1


QPR v Leeds Utd

Saturday 18th January 2020 12.30 | Loftus Road


Leeds travel down to their least favourite part of the Country on Saturday as they look to bounce back from last weekends home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday. Shepherds Bush, West London is the location, home of Mark Warburton's Queens Park Rangers. Although separated by 19 points and 13 places in the Championship, Leeds record in the Capital does not read well. The Whites have won once in London in over two years, and with the gap between automatic promotion and the play offs narrowed to six points, there has never been a more important time to get back on track.

Both teams are on an identical run (One win in the last six matches), but with the Hoops playing at home, they will fancy their chances. Much will depend on exciting midfielder Eberechi Eze. The 21 year old is full of pace, and glides across the ground like the ball is glued to his foot. In his 16 appearances, Eze has netted 6 times, and has provided 6 assists. Warburton has to decide whether to recall Jordan Hugill or stick with Nakhi Wells up front.

Hernandez will start for Bielsa's team following his second half come back against the Wendies last weekend. Tyler Roberts and Adam Forshaw remain sidelined. Patrick Bamford will lead the attack as Leeds have no other striking options. Let's hope he doesn't get injured! Stuart Dallas will move to left back in place of Barry Douglas, if he can replicate the performance he put in on the right hand side of the pitch earlier in the season it could be a good move by Bielsa.




Last time the two teams faced each other at Elland Road back in November Leeds took all three points. Goals in each half from Tyler Roberts and Jack Harrison settled the contest. Leeds made their dominance pay after 39 minutes when Harrison cut in from the left and pulled the ball back to Roberts, who coolly slotted home his first goal of the season. Leeds finally got some breathing space with a second goal from Harrison. He played a one-two before bending an effort around Kelly and into the net to seal a well-earned victory.

QPR have won four of their past five home games against Leeds in all competitions, beating them twice during the 2018-19 season in the league and FA Cup. Leeds have won four of their past five league games against QPR, with their one defeat in this run coming away from home last season. QPR have scored at least five goals in their past two home games in all competitions - they last scored 5+ goals in three consecutive home matches in December 1930. In his club management career, Marcelo Bielsa has lost three consecutive away games against an opponent only once, losing three in a row away at Santos Laguna as manager of Atlas between December 1993 and November 1994.


Leeds Starting XI:
Casilla, Ayling, White, Cooper, Dallas, Phillips, Klich, Harrison, Costa, Hernandez, Bamford

Subs: Meslier, Casey, Alioski, Struijk, McCalmont, Shackleton, Stevens

Loftus Road, QPR, Leeds United

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:38 am
by BGwhite
Thought Shakleton was fit ?

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Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 10:14 am
by The Subhuman
Shack played midweek

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:00 pm
by Ratscoot
Need to win this to get many fans back on side, plus a win away in London will give the squad a lift

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:34 pm
by Gurj
Douglas, Forshaw, and Roberts all out injured. No surprise with the latter two. Really is getting ridiculous how long they have been on treatment table !

Oh and Clarke has officially joined QPR on loan now and is set to face us on Saturday :-(

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:51 pm
by BGwhite
Douglas out again ,! There's no words to explain this apart from milking it. Get rid end of season along with AF & TR. No good to any football club if they can't play most of the time. A drain on resources and certainly not contributing .

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Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:53 pm
by Irish Ian
Just read the presser.

MB sounds like he is on the war path! He is so good at reading between the lines of the questions posed to him.

" Are you and easy man to work with in January?"

Your question has a second objective
A very honest view on our team -


We have one of the best groups of players in the league, not the best team, but Leeds is between the seventh and eigth best teams in the Championship. I am one manager who limits and doing the best we can. After we have big hopes we are going to get what we are looking for.

Other clubs financials

This group of players, second in the table, is result of the work of Victor, so what we have to do is say the reality: we should analyse the work of Victor, we have to analyse if he did good or bad contributions, analyse the club’s efforts to do that, always with limits of the rules of the Championship. I don’t want to put excuses, but another club doesn’t like this economic rule, they bring players, do different things to avoid punishments. What we have to say is Leeds accepts the rules and other teams don’t accept the rules and they do whatever they want. For me, it doesn’t matter other teams don’t accept the rules, doesn’t worry me. For me, it’s the same if they don’t correct this. I am not demanding punishment for others, I am demanding you don’t value people who do accept the rules and in line with the rules because it’s easy to say the club doesn’t invest, the director of football doesn’t do his work or I am too demanding.

Love it

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:18 pm
by whiteswan
Irish Ian wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:53 pm Just read the presser.

MB sounds like he is on the war path! He is so good at reading between the lines of the questions posed to him.

" Are you and easy man to work with in January?"

Your question has a second objective
A very honest view on our team -


We have one of the best groups of players in the league, not the best team, but Leeds is between the seventh and eigth best teams in the Championship. I am one manager who limits and doing the best we can. After we have big hopes we are going to get what we are looking for.

Other clubs financials

This group of players, second in the table, is result of the work of Victor, so what we have to do is say the reality: we should analyse the work of Victor, we have to analyse if he did good or bad contributions, analyse the club’s efforts to do that, always with limits of the rules of the Championship. I don’t want to put excuses, but another club doesn’t like this economic rule, they bring players, do different things to avoid punishments. What we have to say is Leeds accepts the rules and other teams don’t accept the rules and they do whatever they want. For me, it doesn’t matter other teams don’t accept the rules, doesn’t worry me. For me, it’s the same if they don’t correct this. I am not demanding punishment for others, I am demanding you don’t value people who do accept the rules and in line with the rules because it’s easy to say the club doesn’t invest, the director of football doesn’t do his work or I am too demanding.

Love it
Well!! That told 'em :lol:

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:12 pm
by Cjay
MB publicly admitting that we aren't a playoff level team/squad.

Seems a bit pissed off today.

Douglas, Forshaw and Roberts, cant we just take parts from two of them and use them to build the other? :lol:

Best part of £10mil spent on those 3.

Also wasn't Roberts only meant to be our for a small time? Is he going to be another one like Forshaw?

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:28 pm
by The Subhuman
I don't think MB said anything of the sort...

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:37 pm
by Cjay
faaip wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:28 pm I don't think MB said anything of the sort...
We have one of the best groups of players in the league, not the best team, but Leeds is between the seventh and eigth best teams in the Championship. I am one manager who limits and doing the best we can. After we have big hopes we are going to get what we are looking for.

How can you read that as anything else?

We are doing the best we can with what we have and effectively overachieving is how i read it.

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 4:29 pm
by dezzy
That was a worrying presser, MB seems really pi$$ed off. I think Saturday is a really really important game, we need to steady the ship and settle the nerves of everyone, the pressure is on big time.
Bielsa seemed very defensive, the comment about us being between 7th and 8th best team has to be lost in translation

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:15 pm
by The Subhuman
Assuming the translation is clean which I doubt then this is Bielsa throwing his players under a bus..and I don't think he's that kind of man. Also one of the best group of players WOULD ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO MEAN ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS. If you want to live and die by the translation then that statement makes absolutely no sense..

What is a team if IT'S NOT A GROUP OF PLAYERS. That has to be the text book definition of "ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS"

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:29 pm
by weasel
I think he is probably right if you look at the starting XIs that teams can put out. WBA still have a few of their players from the premiership, likewise 3 teams came down with premiership players. Contrast that with our team where I think only Forshaw, Pablo and Bamford have played at Premiership level and 2 of those were fringe players. So straightaway that would have us as the 5th best team in the league in terms of player pedigree. Then you look at Stoke and Middlesboough who also have a fair few players who have played in the premiership. So we are already down to 7th and that is without even looking at the league to see if any other teams may be better.

I think if Bielsa sounds p*ssed off it may be because he reads forums like ours and finds people continually criticising him despite these people having no idea how to manage people, let alone a whole team of players and get them performing like Bielsa does. The constant criticism of him and the players is just ludicrous given our league position.

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:47 pm
by gessa
weasel wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:29 pm

I think if Bielsa sounds p*ssed off it may be because he reads forums like ours and finds people continually criticising him despite these people having no idea how to manage people, let alone a whole team of players and get them performing like Bielsa does. The constant criticism of him and the players is just ludicrous given our league position.

100% this.


Radz comes in for hell a lot of flack but I'm trying to imagine where we'd be without him, he took the reins off Celino when no one else was interested, who inturn took over from Bates the crook, when there was the same lack of interest. Celino's biggest crime was his inability to pick a good coach and more importantly keep one, I remember being ridiculed everytime I went out and saw someone I knew, who's your manager this week etc..frankly it was very embarrassing. So we have no Radz and Celino still at the helm, we'd very likely on our 8th manager since the time Bielsa's been here, most likely mid table at best and players of any value, still being sold off, you could bet your bottom dollar Phillips would have gone by now, that is if he was the player he is now, the player Bielsa has made him.
It's not perfect but it's a damn sight better than anything else in the last 15 years.

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:48 pm
by BGwhite
weasel wrote:I think he is probably right if you look at the starting XIs that teams can put out. WBA still have a few of their players from the premiership, likewise 3 teams came down with premiership players. Contrast that with our team where I think only Forshaw, Pablo and Bamford have played at Premiership level and 2 of those were fringe players. So straightaway that would have us as the 5th best team in the league in terms of player pedigree. Then you look at Stoke and Middlesboough who also have a fair few players who have played in the premiership. So we are already down to 7th and that is without even looking at the league to see if any other teams may be better.

I think if Bielsa sounds p*ssed off it may be because he reads forums like ours and finds people continually criticising him despite these people having no idea how to manage people, let alone a whole team of players and get them performing like Bielsa does. The constant criticism of him and the players is just ludicrous given our league position.
Not sure there's many who criticise Bielsa in a nasty kind of way but more because we don't understand his way of thinking, ie team selection, substitutions being a couple of the main things. People in the public eye must accept criticism it comes with the territory.
If he follows this forum he'll probably understand that we're pissed off as well at the club once more for stalling in the transfer window yet again when we're so close to getting over the line but I think he's in for a shock if we don't go up from here. Can't see the fans holding back in that case.

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Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:57 pm
by 1964white
He mentioned doubt after Sheff Wed game and I was wondering if he meant the fans.

The doubt is there after last seasons collapse and also because of the missing chances which was also there last season, if we sort the goalscoring the doubt will disappear.

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:57 pm
by gessa
BGwhite wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:48 pm Not sure there's many who criticise Bielsa in a nasty kind of way but more because we don't understand his way of thinking, ie team selection, substitutions being a couple of the main things. People in the public eye must accept criticism it comes with the territory.
If he follows this forum he'll probably understand that we're pissed off as well at the club once more for stalling in the transfer window yet again when we're so close to getting over the line but I think he's in for a shock if we don't go up from here. Can't see the fans holding back in that case.

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He hasn't got a plan b
He's substitutions are baffling
He plays square pegs in round holes
His not flexible enough
He's stubborn
Tinkerbielsa.
Plus others.

Not endearing if he reads

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:04 pm
by 1964white
weasel wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:29 pm I think if Bielsa sounds p*ssed off it may be because he reads forums like ours and finds people continually criticising him despite these people having no idea how to manage people, let alone a whole team of players and get them performing like Bielsa does. The constant criticism of him and the players is just ludicrous given our league position.
Really I don't think Bielsa has received that much criticism on here, also I doubt he reads MOT

It those silly tw*ts who booed our team off the park after the Sheff Wed game that has rattled Marcelo's cage

Re: QPR V Leeds Utd Match Thread

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:17 pm
by 1964white
gessa wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:57 pm He hasn't got a plan b
He's substitutions are baffling
He plays square pegs in round holes
His not flexible enough
He's stubborn
Tinkerbielsa.
Plus others.

Not endearing if he reads
Oh come on mate, surely fans are allowed to post constructive criticism, if not we may as well close forums down

I love the man but he's not exempt from making errors as he's only human as we all are.

Bielsa was referring to the appalling booing from our fans last Saturday not what folk on MOT think.