Marching On Together

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


Barcelona do NOT owe Leeds money for Raphinha

Speculation that La Liga pacesetters Barcelona may still owe Leeds £40m regarding the sale of Raphinha have been rubbished in the Spanish press. Raphinha 27, joined Barcelona during the Summer of 2022 in a deal worth £55m after add-ons, which according to new reports are all paid up, so why is there a £40m discrepancy in their accounts regarding the Brazilian ace?

The most feasible answer is that the money is owed to a creditor. At the time of the transfer, the Catalan outfit were in heavy debt, and wanted to stagger the payments over several years. This wasn't acceptable to Leeds, who then opened talks with Chelsea about a similar deal, albeit upfront payment. This forced Barcelona's hand. They obviously had to borrow the cash to close the deal.





Leeds top most shots on target stats

Leeds have produced the most shots on target so far this season of any Championship side, according to statistical data from 'fbref.com'. On average, the Whites hit the target 4.78 times a game, or 43 times in total (1st), which have accumulated in fifteen goals (joint 3rd) so far. As we know, Leeds can be wasteful in front goal. In total, they have had 131 attempts (joint second) giving them a 32.8% attempt to on-target ratio (8th), and are 9th when dividing shots on target vs goals.





Whites tight at the back

It's fair to say that Leeds are a hardworking team. They have conceded the least amount of shots of any Championship team, restricting their opposition to 7.33 shots per game, from which 2.11 are on-target (3rd). West Brom, Burnley, Sheffield Utd, Sunderland and Swansea City all have better goals per shot (and shots on target v goals) than the Whites.

Interesting to compare Burnley and Leeds. On offense Burnley have had the least number of shots on target in the championship with 25 and expected goals of 8.2. Leeds have had the most with 43 and expected goals of 15.6. But Burnley have scored 13 goals compared to leeds 15. On defense Burnley have had 86 shots against with 22 on target while leeds have had 66 shots against with 19 on target. But Burnley have only conceded 4 goals compared to leeds 6. Burnley sit 2 points above Leeds in the table because of their better efficiency. Is this chance which will turn around as the season goes on? We will see.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=the+a ... ail-viewer


Athletic looking for a new Phil Hay.

Winder what happened to Nancy.

From the games I’ve seen this year (all of them) we’ve been very good at hitting the ball straight at the keeper. That classes as a shot on target, no?
If my maths is correct, based on the table above, we’ve scored 15 from 43 on target. That means we’ve hit the keeper 28 times. Granted, the keeper may have inadvertently stumbled in to one or two, claiming a save, but that still means we are very good at finding him.
And then there’s that Pascal penalty …

The stats confirm something we've all noticed. We're wasteful in front of goal. And we concede too easily.

Apart from that we'd be flying high atop the table.

Would be interesting to see stats in terms of wastefulness in front of goal over recent seasons.
As I recall this frustration stretches back to the Bielsa days

andrewjohnsmith wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2024 3:18 pm The stats confirm something we've all noticed. We're wasteful in front of goal. And we concede too easily.

Apart from that we'd be flying high atop the table.

They don't actually.

They tell us we are about exactly where we should be.

Our xG for and goals scored basically matches and xG against and goals conceded

Cjay wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2024 10:56 am

Athletic looking for a new Phil Hay.

Winder what happened to Nancy.

She was still writing on Friday. Odd
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/581878 ... -analysis/

Clitheroe White wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2024 8:13 pm She was still writing on Friday. Odd
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/581878 ... -analysis/

The Athletic are 100% looking for a new LUFC lead writer.

Nancy hasn't helped herself. She doesn't even allow fans to post on her twitter feeds anymore. If I were a betting man, I'd say it's going to Conor. He and Nancy were tight, and I dare say she's put in a good word for him.

Following Phil Hay was always going to be a difficult gig, especially when the club now keep the journo's at arms length, making it impossible to follow his lead, which may have led him to taking on a bigger role within the Athletic.

The gig needs to go to a Leeds fan, someone that knows the club inside out. Froston is a fantastic writer, but has less knowledge about LUFC than the fans - it was never going to work!

Ellandback1 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2024 10:01 am The Athletic are 100% looking for a new LUFC lead writer.

Nancy hasn't helped herself. She doesn't even allow fans to post on her twitter feeds anymore. If I were a betting man, I'd say it's going to Conor. He and Nancy were tight, and I dare say she's put in a good word for him.

Following Phil Hay was always going to be a difficult gig, especially when the club now keep the journo's at arms length, making it impossible to follow his lead, which may have led him to taking on a bigger role within the Athletic.

The gig needs to go to a Leeds fan, someone that knows the club inside out. Froston is a fantastic writer, but has less knowledge about LUFC than the fans - it was never going to work!

Connor has previously worked for the Manchester Evening Post.

Hope it's not him, his clickbait blogs & negativity does my head in to be honest.