Leeds Utd 2-2 Cardiff City - Match Debate

[White Riot]

Based on current form, it has to be Ayling at the moment.

Easily, same as Rodrigo as striker

[andrewjohnsmith]

Aye you called it right with regard to playing our best CB's, Faaip.

Especially as we had no Adams as well to protect the defence, though Gyabi impressed me in the first 30 minutes.

It needed one leader in there. Neither Llorente or Strujik look like they could organize a pub crawl. Ayling would have been a better option to start.

[BGwhite]

That was almost comical. Sandwiched in between 2 CB's and the little man still gets a full blooded header in

He's useful in the air , has a good spring on him and doesn't get knocked around being built like a BSH.

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[1964white]

Not forgetting Willy's free header first half.

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You can forgive Willy after his dribble & cross for our equalising goal.

Without him, no comeback.

[Chilli D]

Away to lower league teams is usually a mare for us

We absolutely should make the 5th round but this is us after all....

[Orange Box]

It needed one leader in there. Neither Llorente or Strujik look like they could organize a pub crawl. Ayling would have been a better option to start.

I saw Wober doing a lot of pointing and directing when he came on, perhaps he's a leader? Time will tell.

[andrewjohnsmith]

I think he's done ok, not sure we'd be any further up the table with a new manager. With the fighting spirit we have, it'd be silly to make a change imo.

It's still tough to judge. Potter, Frank, Silva have done better. Allerdyce, Hodgson done well in similar circumstances. Things could be better. The resources do hamper us. He's working with a young, thin squad and this is a long term project. I just hate that we're still treading water in the league. I thought we'd have a better idea of JM by now. But there's still a great deal to prove.

[BGwhite]

You can forgive Willy after his dribble & cross for our equalising goal.

Without him, no comeback.

You're right but you can't keep missing sitters and expect to get results. That should be about 5 or 6 goals today and comfortably through but now they've got the replay to deal with and it's certainly not a gimmee because this is lufc the balls-up champs.

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[The Subhuman]

Drameh is the best defender of the 3, gets forward well too. Kristensen is a centre back, right sided, Struijk is best as a left back...

Actually Whoscored made Llorente our second best player today behind Greenwood, which says a lot about metrics though Llorente didn't generally play badly. Cardiff's second goal needed an awful lot to go their way, one assumes. If that Cardiff player could play that ball week in week out he'd be playing CLF week in week out. Then the finish was top draw, again if that's his norm we should be snapping him up and starting him week in week out. But I suspect it was a lot of stuff that doesn't go right coming off for the one time in 50 it would

[Jaydog]

Why is everyone suddenly writing Struijk off. Cooper has a bad game and he will be your new messiah.

The usual merrygoround a la MOT. Footballers aren’t robots. They have feelings like real people

[The Subhuman]

We absolutely should make the 5th round but this is us after all....

We need help from the draw to say absolutely... but it's usually away and often to a top 6 club in the 4th round

[The Subhuman]

Why is everyone suddenly writing Struijk off. Cooper has a bad game and he will be your new messiah.

I'm not writing him off, I rate him. I'm just not sure he's a centre back. He's been excellent playing left back this season with some good games as our DMF ..

[DDB220]

Gelhardt scored 2 tap ins and our fans acted like he's the second coming of prime R9. My comment had nothing to do with his goal anyway, as I've said for a while that Perkins needs a chance, and I haven't been impressed with Gelhardt all season tbh.

We all know and recognise he has been struggling this season. But like Perkins he scored goals in the under 23’s for fun. The transition to first team football in the top league is not without set backs for a lot of players. Gelhardt should have had a loan last season IMO.

I still have every confidence he will come good. I hope he is still at the club when it all clicks for him.

[weasel]

Didn't watch the game today but my first thoughts when I saw our line up were:

1) Struyjk being shifted to centreback was a massive mistake. He is used to playing at left back and you can't just switch to playing centreback. Even though he is a centreback by trade he has been playing for months on the left and getting used to the positional side of being a left back (after watching the highlights it is clear that Struyjk's brain is in left back mode for their first goal as he is watching the player who is wide and paying no attention to the player centrally behind him). We saw it with Ayling when he got moved to centreback that he wouldn't look comfortable immediately - but after a few matches in a row would play a lot better as he would have got used to the positional side of the position - also similar to how Llorente was beginning to adapt to being left of centre and then Marsch played him at right of centre against Barnsley and then he had a stinker the following match when moved back to the left of centre. As a defender you get used to your position, where the opposition are, where you need to pick them up etc.

2) Absolutely riduclous selection acrross midfield. When I picked my side a few days ago I put Roca in as I felt we needed at least 1 experienced head in there. Instead we had a midfield and attack made up of young players.

3) RK selected. Just why? It is like JM wants Cody Drameh to leave the club. I selected Ayling in my side, again a bit of experience but also to build up his sharpness. RK would have been my 3rd choice selection there.

Once again we are weakened by the manager for no reason. We then 'risk' Rodrigo so we are happy enough to take the cup seriously enough to brisk Rodrigo coming on, so why not start him and then hopefully win the game easily and bring him off early?

[SG90]

It's still tough to judge. Potter, Frank, Silva have done better. Allerdyce, Hodgson done well in similar circumstances. Things could be better. The resources do hamper us. He's working with a young, thin squad and this is a long term project. I just hate that we're still treading water in the league. I thought we'd have a better idea of JM by now. But there's still a great deal to prove.

Fulham have promotion bounce, it probably won't last as us and blunts show. Frank has done well, but Brentford don't have the same pressure or expectation as us. I could see Frank struggling elsewhere with more pressure tbh. I think Marsch is a long term project, as we are intergrating a lot of young players in. I'd only get rid if we look doomed or he loses the dressing room, but I don't see either of those happening. Plus I'm not convinced we would find better, and I'd be saddened if we go down the Dyche, Pulis, Big Sam route.

[Barlow Boy]

I'm not writing him off, I rate him. I'm just not sure he's a centre back. He's been excellent playing left back this season with some good games as our DMF ..

I’ve never really been convinced with Struijk at CB, in fact I’ve not been convinced with him at all until he moved to LB.

He has proven me wrong that is for sure this season at LB, as our WhatsApp group constantly reminds me .

[DDB220]

I'm not writing him off, I rate him. I'm just not sure he's a centre back. He's been excellent playing left back this season with some good games as our DMF ..

He is a CB for me, in the system we play our centre backs get overly exposed to a lot of one on one situations when the full backs are up the pitch. That first goal was just as much to do with poor communication with the keeper, rather than just awareness. He did switch off because he assumed he had time to let it run through to the keeper. He needed a shout from someone to get rid, this happens in football. It certainly affected the rest of his game.

Similarly top flight strikers miss easy chances, just like top professional golfers miss a two foot putt.

[SG90]

We all know and recognise he has been struggling this season. But like Perkins he scored goals in the under 23’s for fun. The transition to first team football in the top league is not without set backs for a lot of players. Gelhardt should have had a loan last season IMO.

I still have every confidence he will come good. I hope he is still at the club when it all clicks for him.

I'm not anti Gelhardt, he's fine as a super sub. It's just the way some on here demand he starts every game, then say nothing when he does and offers nothing.

I'm not sure a loan to a mid table Championship side would make him a top level striker.

[White Riot]

I saw Wober doing a lot of pointing and directing when he came on, perhaps he's a leader? Time will tell.

He looks a leader, with ABIT of fire in his belly, same as Tyler Adams.

[Bongo1874]

No. Not praising him at all. Been here 12 months and not sure we look any better. His starting line up didnt work. But the subs did.

Great post.