The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Fri 10th July) Leeds return to the top of the Championship in Style

[Ellandback1]

Good Morning. It's Friday 10th July, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...


Five star display widens gap at top of Championship

Leeds returned to the top of the Championship in style, thumping Stoke City 5-0 in the process.

Following a host of missed opportunities, Klich broke the deadlock on the cusp of half time from 12 yards following a rejuvenated Helda Costa being bought down on the corner of the penalty box. The Polish International sent Butland the wrong way as the ball seemed to travel in slow motion bobbling across the ground until it nestled in to the back of the net. It was no more than Leeds deserved. The Potters were living a charmed life up to this point due to a combination of goal line clearances and sturdy wood work which had kept the scoreline level.

Hernandez was introduced in place of Roberts at half time, and suddenly the flood gates opened! The rout began just two minutes into the second half when Dallas' through ball found Costa clean in on goal. The Portuguese star composed himself before toe poking the ball past a helpless Butland. Skipper Liam Cooper joined the party ten minutes later when his ferocious strike from the edge of the box rocketed into the back of the net off the woodwork following a delightful cut back from the magical Hernandez.

Supplier became goalscorer for the fourth. Ayling released Costa down the right wing. He cut the ball back towards Bamford who intelligently stepped over the ball, and there was Hernandez who recocked a first time shot into the corner of the net. Having been denied by a combination of last ditch defending and woodwork, Bamford completed the 5 star display with an impressive strike across goal from an acute angle following a sixty yard diagonal pass from Ayling.

If Leeds can replicate this form for the next two weeks, it doesn't matter who their opponents are! They are a class above the Championship, from anyone's point of view. Bring on Swansea on Sunday!!!

Post Match Press Conference

Marcelo Bielsa...

Every match is a new story. What happened in the previous game is not definitive for the next one. Safety and confidence are not linked 100% with the previous result. It was a positive performance. The manager always values a positive impact.

Being able to score at the end of the first half was very important. In the second half our early goal made it much easier for us, but in any case it was an exaggerated result.

Michael O'Neill:

"'d be very surprised if they don't go up. They're the best team we've played. We couldn't deal with them physically. (Bielsa) has done an amazing job. Two years of work here and you can see that in the team. They're hungry players. That's key and we are a long, long way from where they are. It will take time to change that.

Tonight you saw the difference between a team at the top and one which for two seasons has been at the bottom end of the table, a long way off where they need to be.We gave a decent account in the first half, but you can't give them a leg up, which we did with the penalty. Once behind, it was always tough.

[HarryofOz]

Still buzzing about our performance

[1964white]

Still buzzing about our performance

And me too Harry

[rrfierce]

A real quality performance, second half was as good as i've seen us play.

pablo.JPG (42.01 KiB) Viewed 3009 times

[HarryofOz]

And me too Harry

[Irish Ian]

Morning Folks,

Last night confirmed our hopes and helped dispel our fears.

Find anything like that level of performance across the last four games and noone can stop us.

[Sara]

Saw that on Waccoe. Pablo GOAT.

Haven't slept much, and still buzzing this morning. What a performance!

[mothbanquet]

Only just woken up after 5 hours sleep. No drink, no partying, just up till the wee hours completely wired on the buzz of that game. More than the performance itself, this felt like a load off my mind.

I said before the game to a mate that we need to give someone a hiding. If we do that, I said, that will really set us on a great run and when we get a streak going, it's very difficult to stop us. If that result was going to happen, it was going to happen against Stoke.

Momentum is with Leeds now and my nerves, while not completely eased, are steadied. That could've been the Wigan game last season, the game we had no right to lose but did, that Jenga piece which - once removed - caused the whole thing to collapse. This was the exact opposite. This was the performance that will make Brentford and WBA question themselves just a little bit. They stepped up to their marks, hit the bullseyes and stood back confidently to let us take our shots, only to stare in shock as we split their arrows down the middle with near perfection. We can now go back to our waiting position, cheekily throwing them a glance as if to say, "Beat that."

At this stage of the competition, this was exactly the right result at the right time. Those players are not playing like they're going to bottle it this time, and although anything can and will happen in football, I still feel like I can enjoy the Swansea game from the start, not when we're 3 goals up.

Almost there, lads and lasses. Almost there.

[Irish Ian]

Good post mothbanquet, until the results later today and tomorrow are all in, i am going to enjoy the feeling of being top of the league, for 48hrs at least.

[Sara]

Well said, Moth, that's just how I feel about it.

[wilsdenwhite]

Very possible that either Brentford or West Brom will drop points this weekend and I'm convinced it will be Brentford. On paper it's the hardest game they have left and Derby must go all out and make Shrek's signing justifiable and claim the last playoff spot themselves. It helps that Derby are so strong at home too. I won't like it but for 90 minutes I'll be willing them on. If they get anything the pressure will not be so immense for us come Sunday. Absolutely hated that nervousness all throughout the first half and until we hit those 2nd and 3rd goals then it all just melted away and how. The fact that we can still drop points and still get promoted with 4 games left is a real luxury at this stage.

This could be the weekend when playing last is of crucial advantage. Whatever happens with them I really don't fear Swansea as much as some might be doing. They have been very average this season and I think they are lucky to be where they are. Apart from their smash and grab against us in August they haven't beaten any of the other top 5 teams. We need no more motivation for this game than that game.

[rrfierce]

Only just woken up after 5 hours sleep. No drink, no partying, just up till the wee hours completely wired on the buzz of that game. More than the performance itself, this felt like a load off my mind.

I said before the game to a mate that we need to give someone a hiding. If we do that, I said, that will really set us on a great run and when we get a streak going, it's very difficult to stop us. If that result was going to happen, it was going to happen against Stoke.

Momentum is with Leeds now and my nerves, while not completely eased, are steadied. That could've been the Wigan game last season, the game we had no right to lose but did, that Jenga piece which - once removed - caused the whole thing to collapse. This was the exact opposite. This was the performance that will make Brentford and WBA question themselves just a little bit. They stepped up to their marks, hit the bullseyes and stood back confidently to let us take our shots, only to stare in shock as we split their arrows down the middle with near perfection. We can now go back to our waiting position, cheekily throwing them a glance as if to say, "Beat that."

At this stage of the competition, this was exactly the right result at the right time. Those players are not playing like they're going to bottle it this time, and although anything can and will happen in football, I still feel like I can enjoy the Swansea game from the start, not when we're 3 goals up.

Almost there, lads and lasses. Almost there.

Well said. Reading that has made me tingle. We're so close.

[onemoreslogan]

That first half started out like a rerun of a bad movie we've seen too many times. Then the penalty (what a poor decision by Tommy Smith). Then the catharsis that was the second half.

We're not out of the woods yet but they're showing a strong sense of direction. While I'll keep hoping we get that first goal, you can be sure there is bound to be a match or two or four when they must overcome some adversity. I will be curious to see how they respond when it comes.

[Chilli D]

Very possible that either Brentford or West Brom will drop points this weekend and I'm convinced it will be Brentford. On paper it's the hardest game they have left and Derby must go all out and make Shrek's signing justifiable and claim the last playoff spot themselves. It helps that Derby are so strong at home too. I won't like it but for 90 minutes I'll be willing them on. If they get anything the pressure will not be so immense for us come Sunday. Absolutely hated that nervousness all throughout the first half and until we hit those 2nd and 3rd goals then it all just melted away and how. The fact that we can still drop points and still get promoted with 4 games left is a real luxury at this stage.

This could be the weekend when playing last is of crucial advantage. Whatever happens with them I really don't fear Swansea as much as some might be doing. They have been very average this season and I think they are lucky to be where they are. Apart from their smash and grab against us in August they haven't beaten any of the other top 5 teams. We need no more motivation for this game than that game.

Derby will need to play better than they did against West Brom. They were really poor the other night.

[mothbanquet]

Derby will need to play better than they did against West Brom. They were really poor the other night.

Very true, however teams in their league position are there because they can get good results against good teams, just not enough of the time. I think it's a draw in the making, Brentford really had to bust a nut to beat Charlton and while we know ourselves that's just what it takes to get a result against teams that don't want to come out and play, that will have tired Brentford out a fair bit. If Derby, who should have Lawrence back in the team as well, take the game to them, Brentford will really have to work for the points.

I'd say 65/35 in favour of a Brentford win but I reckon a draw is on the cards. Doesn't mean we're home free by any stretch though, because I think they'll be back to winning straight after.

[John in Louisiana]

Don't think we can expect that either Brentford or West Brom will drop any points between now and the end; it would be foolish to count on it.

But after yesterday's display, I don't know that it matters.

A win on Sunday, far from home, is our most difficult task the rest of the way. Three points will be immense.

[Byebyegeegee]

I’m not sure what Marcelo means by “exaggerated result”. Perhaps he means it was an exaggerated result in Stoke’s favour because it could quite easily have been 8-0.
Stonking performance especially 2nd half although for most of the 1st half we’d played them off the park.
Roll on Sunday because on this form we can beat any team even, dare I say it, more than half of the Premiership.

[BGwhite]

Derby v Leeds Sunday 19th 2pm live on sky.

Sent from my moto g(8) power using Tapatalk

[Finnatic]

The fat lady has entered the stage...

1 She trips and falls flat on her face (Us)
2 The lighting rig crashes down on her head (EFL, Sky TV, Act of God,COVID-19, bloody Barnsley)
3 She sings beautifully!

[mothbanquet]

I’m not sure what Marcelo means by “exaggerated result”. Perhaps he means it was an exaggerated result in Stoke’s favour because it could quite easily have been 8-0.
Stonking performance especially 2nd half although for most of the 1st half we’d played them off the park.
Roll on Sunday because on this form we can beat any team even, dare I say it, more than half of the Premiership.

I personally love his descriptions, they provide fertile ground for debate in of themselves. He really is the Lao Tzu of football, intended or no.

My take on it is it's exaggerated because we were more clinical than we usually are, so perhaps indicates the result we should be reaching every time we have stats like the ones we had last night. We've had so many games with these kinds of possession, passing, defensive and xg stats but only scored 2. Sometimes even less. As such, it is exaggerated because we've smashed nearly half a dozen past one team where we'd usually expect to maybe get half that.

That's my interpretation anyway.