Leeds Utd v Middlesbrough Match Thread - Farke Names Unchanged Line-up

[mentalcase]

Did you think we played that well?

I dunno mate I think we are on the verge of a huge car crash.

We made nothing of the extra man apart from concede a huge chance.

In any case we have the hardest run of the season coming up and will have to play a bit better imo

Yes, I thought we dominated as usual but again without the rewards, we too frequently live like this, I think it's the norm for us now, we showed against Leicester, when we have to have a different shape we can, Ipswich was , we can score more than you, it appears to be a theme, I agree, we look like we could get caught out one day, but by who ?
Aslo, I think we are going to smash some team as well with what we create, we just seem to lose rythm when we go in front.
I'd like us to put 3 in midfield with Gray, Ampadu & Kamara, just to open up defences a little more, but DF has his preferred system and in all honesty, its working out so far.
Tis good we're grumbling when we're winning eh

[mentalcase]

Oh to add to thet Ian, as you say, tough games coming up noe, lets have a reet good look at procedings mid January.
Whisky kicking in

[weasel]

Did you think we played that well?

I dunno mate I think we are on the verge of a huge car crash.

We made nothing of the extra man apart from concede a huge chance.

In any case we have the hardest run of the season coming up and will have to play a bit better imo

I felt we deservedly won. Boro could have scored more, we could have scored more, they got a bit of luck with their goals, we got a bit of luck with ours. I felt we could step up a gear but generally took the sting out of the game when their man was sent off, yes a couple of lapses during that time and we nearly got punished but equally we could, and should, have added to our lead during the last half hour. In some ways them having a man sent off made us less likely to score as they seemed to be happy to sit back at 3-2 and hope to get something from the game rather than trying to get something by trying to attack us. If they had have stayed at 11 they would have probably tried to take the game to us more and left us gaps to exploit.

I don't know if there is such a thing as a 'hardest run of the season' when it comes to the championship. If you look at our last 10 matches we have won 8 and lost 2 but the 2 we lost were probably the 2 matches where we would have been comfortably expecting to win (v Rotherham and Stoke).

I do think in the last four matches we hae looked shakier at the back. On the flip side though I think we have also looked far more likely to bang a few goals in during those matches. As such I would think that we have perhaps played slightly different and what we have gained going forward has made us weaker defensively - it might just be something as simple as Kamara being more attacking.

[Kennyb41]

2nd coming of Jurgen Klopp.

Happy?

But if you really think we battered Boro etc and they didn't look a well coached team that lacks quality (and is injury ravaged incidentally) then you aren't the football oracle you've claimed.

We didn't.

Incidentally aren't you going to go shout at Leon? His comments hardly reflected yours about Boro.

Shout ?

Perhaps i just wish you'd give us something Cjay, like when you comment about defensive or coaching woes, why don't you tell us what you'd do, why it is going wrong in your view, where it's going wrong and what's causing it.

You cannot have it ALL these days, if you want our attacking flair/creativity and goal scoring ops, then things are sacrificed elsewhere.

He's been getting some cracking results, and we've had some cracking clean sheets, but some days are going to be a bit off, some days other teams will have their chances and take them. Appreciate our forward play. I myself have concerns probably along with everyone else when we face a corner/free kick, and yes it becomes squeaky arse time sometimes, but i appreciate what he's trying to do, and i'm not expecting miracles in such a short space of time.

I'm of the opinion you just can't wait to pounce on any negative happenings,

At least we are not parking the bus, and far from it.

So instead of telling us 'we're wide open at the back' or 'being played straight through' perhaps tell us what you yourself would do to put it right or 'fix it'....coz you just cannot have it all these days in 'football'

[Chilli D]

Fine margins all round yesterday
Leicester score a 94th minute winner, Coventry miss a penalty in their 2-1 loss to Ipswich and Boro hit the post at 3-2.
All three results could have been different.

[weasel]

Shout ?

Perhaps i just wish you'd give us something Cjay, like when you comment about defensive or coaching woes, why don't you tell us what you'd do, why it is going wrong in your view, where it's going wrong and what's causing it.

You cannot have it ALL these days, if you want our attacking flair/creativity and goal scoring ops, then things are sacrificed elsewhere.

He's been getting some cracking results, and we've had some cracking clean sheets, but some days are going to be a bit off, some days other teams will have their chances and take them. Appreciate our forward play. I myself have concerns probably along with everyone else when we face a corner/free kick, and yes it becomes squeaky arse time sometimes, but i appreciate what he's trying to do, and i'm not expecting miracles in such a short space of time.

I'm of the opinion you just can't wait to pounce on any negative happenings,

At least we are not parking the bus, and far from it.

So instead of telling us 'we're wide open at the back' or 'being played straight through' perhaps tell us what you yourself would do to put it right or 'fix it'....coz you just cannot have it all these days in 'football'

I think a good lesson would be to see George Graham's Leeds. Made us a lot tighter at the back by playing low risk football. As such we scored feck all - think we scored 28 in a 38 game season. George then brought in Hasselbaink and we were better purely because we had a more clinical striker, same as in George's day at Arsenal where he had Alan Smith and then Ian Wright.

To attack the way we do then we inevitable put a lot of pressure on our defence and will often see times where we are stretched or outnumbered at the back. Man City play the same way but have rapid players so they can get back in position, they also give the ball away far less so they get exposed less often and they have basically the best player in every position and players that would probably rank at 90%+ in each of the attribute needed for that position. Similar to with Bielsa we are Man City Lite. So we get exposed but playing the way we do we should get far more opportunities than the opposition - if the law of averages works out (seeing as we can't play football with robots) we will win most games but of course there will be times when the opposoition score 2 of their 3 shots on target and we miss plenty. We saw it often under Bielsa in the champiosnhip where we were often the better side but didn't get the results we should have

[Kennyb41]

I think a good lesson would be to see George Graham's Leeds. Made us a lot tighter at the back by playing low risk football. As such we scored feck all - think we scored 28 in a 38 game season. George then brought in Hasselbaink and we were better purely because we had a more clinical striker, same as in George's day at Arsenal where he had Alan Smith and then Ian Wright.

To attack the way we do then we inevitable put a lot of pressure on our defence and will often see times where we are stretched or outnumbered at the back. Man City play the same way but have rapid players so they can get back in position, they also give the ball away far less so they get exposed less often and they have basically the best player in every position and players that would probably rank at 90%+ in each of the attribute needed for that position. Similar to with Bielsa we are Man City Lite. So we get exposed but playing the way we do we should get far more opportunities than the opposition - if the law of averages works out (seeing as we can't play football with robots) we will win most games but of course there will be times when the opposoition score 2 of their 3 shots on target and we miss plenty. We saw it often under Bielsa in the champiosnhip where we were often the better side but didn't get the results we should have

Tell it to the blind please Weasel

[Leeds1000]

Farke obviously didn't trust his back-up players holding onto a 3-2 lead against a strong Boro' team, leaving it late to make changes. Daniel probably realises, we become worse with each substitute that enters the pitch.

DF Needs to lean to trust a bit more. Bringing the fresh legs of Gnonto & Anthony would have given us a bit more impetus. Rutter was having a stinker by that point so Bamford also made sense and with them having 10 men for the last 30mins a perfect time to let Spence ease himself back into things. Credit Boro they never stopped attacking.

[Leeds1000]

We will always pick fault in this age of perfection. After the last two years of dour football and almost ending up with Big Sam. I just pinch myself now and again to let myself know how thrilling the football currently is. Its Keegans Citeh all over again...

[Kennyb41]

We will always pick fault in this age of perfection. After the last two years of dour football and almost ending up with Big Sam. I just pinch myself now and again to let myself know how thrilling the football currently is. Its Keegans Citeh all over again...

Oh jeez, i thought with all the garbage we had that Big Sam was about the only guy that could plug us up and start some sort of building work from the back.

[Leeds1000]

Oh jeez, i thought with all the garbage we had that Big Sam was about the only guy that could plug us up and start some sort of building work from the back.

He would have sorted the last bit out Kenneth. He would have bought in all the tallest players we could afford and then we would have murdered teams at set-pieces. A bit like the Monk stint.

[weasel]

He would have sorted the last bit out Kenneth. He would have bought in all the tallest players we could afford and then we would have murdered teams at set-pieces. A bit like the Monk stint.

The Monk stint is another good example. Lots of games where we weren't the better side but won cos Chris Wood had a monster season and Rob Green did too. Throw in Bartley and Jannson being no nonsense defenders (who could also score a few from set pieces) and we had a team that overachieved. The only trouble was that we had no real control, we weren't going to get top two and in the play-offs we'd be facing better teams.

[Kennyb41]

The Monk stint is another good example. Lots of games where we weren't the better side but won cos Chris Wood had a monster season and Rob Green did too. Throw in Bartley and Jannson being no nonsense defenders (who could also score a few from set pieces) and we had a team that overachieved. The only trouble was that we had no real control, we weren't going to get top two and in the play-offs we'd be facing better teams.

I can just see some now salivating over Jannson and Bartley wishing they were back, and that they're just what this team needs now to make us complete.

[andrewjohnsmith]

I thought we got lucky today.

Both headed goals were deflected towards the scorers, and the pen and sending off were gifts.

However 7 out of 9 points isn't a poor return from a busy week.

Middlesborough looked a very good side. They should be a playoff team. IT's always going to be tough against teams like that. But we did have the better quality and better chances overall.

We looked a little sloppy. Maybe expected after 3 games in a week - following several players coming back from internationals too. Chance to refresh and go again next week.

[andrewjohnsmith]

It is a tricky one to bring on the subs at the right time. I made a post earlier saying about the ideal scenario being that we have games under control by the 60-70 minute mark and can then makes subs to rest players. If the game isn't under control then it is very easy to make a mistake that can cost you the game - if you are behind it is easier because you bring on attacking players but if you are in front and you take someone off who is flagging a bit then you are gambling that the player coming on will get straight into the game and be able to play at the intensity of the players that have been on the pitch for the full game. Get the decision wrong and you can throw away the lead. If you are chasing the game and you make a sub and it doesn't pay off well you haven't lost anything.

Even today at 3-2 up you could say to bring on another midfielder or defender and take off an attacker. But if you do that you might lose your attacking threat and simply invite pressure on yourself.

So for me it is start with your strongest side and try to get the win in the bag and then make subs. I wouldn't have made the subs any earlier than Farke did today, I felt he got it spot on.

The problem with making subs is that our replacements haven't shown great form. They can't be fully trusted yet.

Gruev, Anthony, Gnonto haven't done well when they've started. Bamford still hasn't scored. Defence looks less assured when its not Strujik AND Rodon.

All our replacements have only been reliable for short periods.

Firpo might have been a good sub if available

Spence would have improved us, but it seems Farke doesn't want to risk him yet unless he has to

So ... like you, I was happy with the timing of the subs and would have been more nervous in a tough game like this if we'd made them earlier. Next week - 3 games in 7 days - it will be interesting to see how Farke manages game time

[1964white]

The problem with making subs is that our replacements haven't shown great form. They can't be fully trusted yet.

Gruev, Anthony, Gnonto haven't done well when they've started. Bamford still hasn't scored. Defence looks less assured when its not Strujik AND Rodon.

All our replacements have only been reliable for short periods.

Firpo might have been a good sub if available

Spence would have improved us, but it seems Farke doesn't want to risk him yet unless he has to

So ... like you, I was happy with the timing of the subs and would have been more nervous in a tough game like this if we'd made them earlier. Next week - 3 games in 7 days - it will be interesting to see how Farke manages game time

Spot on, Andrew

[1964white]

The good, bad & the ugly

Good

• Two headed goals from our tiny tots

• Piroe's penalty, that's how to take a pen, Paddy.

• Our child putting in a MOTM performance against the best side I've seen at ER this season. An assist to his name.

• Rodon sensational goal saving block.

• Sam's dynamic display & an assist.

• Piroe looking more comfortable in Farke's formation.

• Summerville's energetic running & dribbling.

• Georginio's assist to win the penalty.

Bad

• Pascal worst game of the season.

• Georginio's abysmal shooting (five in all). Rutter poorest show this season.

• Meslier beaten at his near post again, to be fair Latte Lath's shot was struck with velocity.

Ugly

• Boro' are a dirty/cynical side, very fortunate not to be down to eight men with some crude challenges. I shall highlight the culprits on the 'Rate the Ref' thread

Amusing

• Bamford's new image. --- If we play in our black kit, he will look like a pint of Guinness

• Infiltrators in the second-half on LUTV's coverage of the match ---- Anyone worked out who was causing the interference?

[Irish Ian]

Middlesborough looked a very good side. They should be a playoff team. IT's always going to be tough against teams like that. But we did have the better quality and better chances overall.

We looked a little sloppy. Maybe expected after 3 games in a week - following several players coming back from internationals too. Chance to refresh and go again next week.

I agree andrew I thought Boro looked handy and I reckon Carrick will get a PL job one day. They were carrying a few injuries yesterday and were of vourse denied the services of Greenwood too. I wouldn't begrudge them a play off slot..

As you say it was the third game in a week and on the back of the Internatinal break.

The games will be comimg thick and fast again soon enough, with us doing so well with a settled side I hope the rotaton players will do well.

[Irish Ian]

The good, bad & the ugly

• Infiltrators in the second-half on LUTV's coverage of the match ---- Anyone worked out who was causing the interference?

I heard there was pair of very large antannae getting waved about in the LUTV studio every time we attacked.

[John in Louisiana]

Amusing

• Bamford's new image. --- If we play in our black kit, he will look like a pint of Guinness