Cardiff City v Leeds Utd Match Thread - Bamford Starts Up Front

[AcrossThePondAsh]

Loved Paddy’s dummy in the Georginio goal, not greedy or desperate.

Great teamwork for all the goals but especially the last.

[DDB220]

PB makes a huge difference occupying defenders.

We'll go up with him fit, and as long as neither Soton or Leicester are in the play offs if we are.

His work off the ball has generally always been his best attribute. If he could finish consistently he would have spent most of his career in the prem and probably got a few more caps.

I cannot see Farke changing the top two now unless one gets injured. The team looks far more balanced - but we shall get a better idea when we face Leicester.

[Broad Ford]

Watched the game on my way home from work at the 50 minute mark. Leeds looked good with Bamford back to his best.

It's an important win as is the Ipswich game I'm watching now. Come on Sunderland.

[JoeDenver]

His work off the ball has generally always been his best attribute. If he could finish consistently he would have spent most of his career in the prem and probably got a few more caps.

I cannot see Farke changing the top two now unless one gets injured. The team looks far more balanced - but we shall get a better idea when we face Leicester.

Think the choice to go with Paddy or Piroe boils down to having a side that creates more chances (Paddy) or one that is more clinical with their chances (Piroe). Bielsa favored the former for good reason. Definitely worked today.

[Kennyb41]

Loved Paddy’s dummy in the Georginio goal, not greedy or desperate.

Team play and awareness, i love it.

[Sean_Nile]

Noticed that two of the goals came from players getting stuck in.
Kamara robbing the ball and passing to Jimmy
Then Dan not giving up, emerging from a two player sandwich to break forward with the ball.

That's the attitude and tenacity that will win you games
as well as scoring when you are sitting on your backside.

Most players if they are flat on their back won't even attempt to score a goal
it really is not something you can practice on the training ground

All you can put it down to is grit and determination.

Well done Lord Bamford.

[JoeDenver]

Question from me - were they dreadful or was it a case that we made them look totally abject. I would suggest the latter - what I really enjoyed about today’s performance was how hard we worked to regain possession. We have been doing this most of the season but today we looked very ruthless at hunting the opposition down.
Everyone had a decent game.

Think it was a bit of both. After twenty minutes, they looked ripe for the taking. It just took us a while to put them away.

They let go of Ugbo up front and I think they lost another player to the Africa Cup of Nations, which I suspect left them a little off quality and chemistry-wise (less depth too). But as everyone has said, we were relentless in regaining possession and frustrated them enormously. They were lucky to string together three passes in the final third, let alone get a shot off.

[Leeds1000]

His work off the ball has generally always been his best attribute. If he could finish consistently he would have spent most of his career in the prem and probably got a few more caps.

I cannot see Farke changing the top two now unless one gets injured. The team looks far more balanced - but we shall get a better idea when we face Leicester.

Agreed regards the balance of the team. It will be a good option to have at home depending on how teams set-up. With Piroe i think we are a little more fluent with runners on the transition but Bamford his our number 9.

[AcrossThePondAsh]

Phil Hay reporting Firpo's injury is a dead leg and that DF said it shouldn't be anything major.

[weasel]

It has been noticable for me how well we have done against bogey sides this season. The away matches to Cardiff and Millwall have always been toughies in the past no matter how well the team had been playing going into those games. Under Bielsa we still struggled against them

[airedale]

All this bamford love he has a useless stump of a right foot and is as soft as shite ,we have played 3 poor teams in a row ,sorry i don't buy it .

[Sean_Nile]

Just noticed that Geo's goal started with him playing the ball out of our 18 yd. box and ended with him scoring at the other end. That's effort

Also nice Luke Ayling tribute with the air guitar celebration
I hope Bill sees it. It is little gestures like that which delight the fans
and it speaks volumes that Georginio expresses his admiration in such a public way.

Georginio was nowhere near Leeds when Luke was playing air guitar
so he must have absorbed that piece of Leeds history and made it his own.

[1964white]

Commentators saying Firpo has picked up an injury.

Predictable, Firpo is one of our broken biscuits.

[1964white]

Cardiff commentators virtually crying at the talents we have in our squad.

Yes, was amusing

"This Leeds team has so much technical ability, it's extraordinary at this level" or words to that effect.

[1964white]

That'll do fert correct score

And me too!

[The Subhuman]

Phil Hay reporting Firpo's injury is a dead leg and that DF said it shouldn't be anything major.

Excellent ... at the very least it gives us choices

[andrewjohnsmith]

FT Stats

xG*
Leeds: 3.73
Cardiff: 0.37

Possession
Leeds: 61%
Cardiff: 39%

Shots
Leeds: 15 total = 7 on target, 7 off target, & 1 blocked
Cardiff: 9 total = 1 on target, 5 off target, & 3 blocked

*Expected goals (xG) measures the quality of a chance by calculating the likelihood that it will be scored from a particular position on the pitch during a particular phase of play.

In terms of xg we were 10 times better than them

[The Subhuman]

Also nice Luke Ayling tribute with the air guitar celebration
I hope Bill sees it. It is little gestures like that which delight the fans
and it speaks volumes that Georginio expresses his admiration in such a public way.

Georginio was nowhere near Leeds when Luke was playing air guitar
so he must have absorbed that piece of Leeds history and made it his own.

TBF, Bill might do it at training or generally larking around.

[andrewjohnsmith]

Thought Ayling had scored for a minute there...

Fantastic gesture

I doubt Rutter was ever on the field to celebrate an Ayling goal

[YorkshireSquare]

I doubt Rutter was ever on the field to celebrate an Ayling goal

West Brom in August?