Blackburn Rovers v Leeds Utd Match Thread

[1964white]

This young man gives a fair assesment of Blackburn' woes about 5mins 35secs into his video.

Didn't realise Rovers had so many players out injured, to be fair to the lad he didn't use players missing as an excuse.

He wasn't impressed with the team selection & many of their players, including the supposed star striker Sammy Szmodics.

[weasel]

I don't get all this stuff about us being out of sorts etc yesterday. People seem to want to moan all the time. Blackburn have been hitting teams on the counter attack with great success yet have had mixed results. I think Farke probably analysed what has brought them success and what hasn't and set us up to not play to Blackburn's strengths. Let them have possession at the back and let them makes mistakes. Not have us over commit and let them break against us. So guess what we had a plan B and it worked. We didn't have an off day we simply put in a professional display to lessen the risk of losing and also set traps for the opposition.

[1964white]

First win in the fruit salad shirt!!

A solid win that could have easily Gone another way. 3 points away at a lively Blackburn in bloomin awful conditions is great!!

Or Rhubarb & custard comes to mind.

Apparently, we haven't won in away colours since Brentford two seasons ago. I'm gonna have to check that stat!!!

[1964white]

I don't get all this stuff about us being out of sorts etc yesterday. People seem to want to moan all the time. Blackburn have been hitting teams on the counter attack with great success yet have had mixed results. I think Farke probably analysed what has brought them success and what hasn't and set us up to not play to Blackburn's strengths. Let them have possession at the back and let them makes mistakes. Not have us over commit and let them break against us. So guess what we had a plan B and it worked. We didn't have an off day we simply put in a professional display to lessen the risk of losing and also set traps for the opposition.

We were comfortable without being outstanding for long periods.

I was totally relaxed for the whole of the game, generally I'm hiding behind the sofa come the final 20 minutes

[Kennyb41]

I don't get all this stuff about us being out of sorts etc yesterday. People seem to want to moan all the time. Blackburn have been hitting teams on the counter attack with great success yet have had mixed results. I think Farke probably analysed what has brought them success and what hasn't and set us up to not play to Blackburn's strengths. Let them have possession at the back and let them makes mistakes. Not have us over commit and let them break against us. So guess what we had a plan B and it worked. We didn't have an off day we simply put in a professional display to lessen the risk of losing and also set traps for the opposition.

Quite possible yes,

But i'm not sure we're quite good enough yet to 'control games', Blackburn had a good few chances that shouldn't have been hard to find the target, some headers were woeful. If your thoughts are correct then fair enough for trying it with all the fixtures coming up, i feel it takes us down to the oppo's level and gives them a chance.

In fact now i'm thinking of it, there was a definite difference in us when we went a goal up.

[Chilli D]

I don't get all this stuff about us being out of sorts etc yesterday. People seem to want to moan all the time. Blackburn have been hitting teams on the counter attack with great success yet have had mixed results. I think Farke probably analysed what has brought them success and what hasn't and set us up to not play to Blackburn's strengths. Let them have possession at the back and let them makes mistakes. Not have us over commit and let them break against us. So guess what we had a plan B and it worked. We didn't have an off day we simply put in a professional display to lessen the risk of losing and also set traps for the opposition.

Fair comment but there was quite a few times where a promising passage of play broke down due to a poor pass or a pass to the wrong player who was then put under pressure and lost possession.
But for the most part we were fairly comfortable.
On to Sunderland.

[mentalcase]

We weren't at our best yesterday, but were comfortable, blackburn were as good a side we've laked this season along with saints and leicester, we looked a bit tired and jaded, but still had enough to win.

[whiteswan]

Or Rhubarb & custard comes to mind.

Apparently, we haven't won in away colours since Brentford two seasons ago. I'm gonna have to check that stat!!!

Seems crazy but for sure we play better in all white.

[mentalcase]

Around 5.20 in, watch Meslier how he deals with the corner under NO pressure whatsoever

[Orange Box]

Around 5.20 in, watch Meslier how he deals with the corner under NO pressure whatsoever

Absolutely shocking. Makes me want to spit!

[whiteswan]

Around 5.20 in, watch Meslier how he deals with the corner under NO pressure whatsoever

I see what everyone means now. Ridiculous by Mes. Yes....why

[AcrossThePondAsh]

No Ash, a sprog is a child

Thanks for the assist and clarification, BB. Love to learn new vocabulary when I can

[weasel]

Fair comment but there was quite a few times where a promising passage of play broke down due to a poor pass or a pass to the wrong player who was then put under pressure and lost possession.
But for the most part we were fairly comfortable.
On to Sunderland.

I think that's the key comment and has been made by others. We kept them at arms length. Yes every team is gonna get a chance or two but they weren't great chances, not sure what the xg for the match was but it would probably suggest their chances weren't high probability ones. We definitely could play better in terms of passing not being great but that can happens regardless of anything, no one intentionally looks to play a bad pass.

By inviting Blackburn to attack us in a normal way (as opposed to on the counter) it meant they committed more men forward which plays in to our hands. If I recall correctly they committed a lot of men forward when we got our first goal. Archie won a tackle and we quickly moved the ball up the pitch. We sort of played them at their own game in the knowledge that with them being the home team they would have to attack us more than they would have liked to. If it had been at Elland Road then I could see the game being the opposite in terms of tactics as the onus would have been on us to attack. We have seen in our last two matches that we have started off very attack minded yet both matches been behind very quickly, if we'd done that yesterday then the game is set up perfectly for Blackburn.

I feel Farke is confident that this team can play in different ways. He has the confidence that we can go toe to toe with teams in this division and create more chances and hopefully score more goals - like we did spectacularly v Ipswich. He has then also shown that we can be more cautious and still win like we did v Leicester and yesterday against Blackburn. The key for me boils down to just 3 players being asked to play differently and those players are Kamara and the full backs. They either have license to go forward without the worry of having to get back or they are told to play more conservatively and keep shape.

I think that he has been able to implement this quite quickly as he has the benefit of a number of these players having had the influence of playing under Bielsa where we would do both the above tactics in much the same manner. We saw it, especially at championship level, that we would apply both these tactics in matches, we'd go toe to toe and steamroller the opposition stats wise but then usually only be at best a goal up. The opposition would then try to attack us more, late on in the match, as they founf themselves only a goal down and we would soak up the pressure and then hit teams on the break. Having players like Ayling, Cooper, Dallas etc around has likely helped in this despite their limited game time. It is probably like having a few coaches helping out who are all on the same wavelength. They can give tips to the other players without stepping on the manager's toes or giving them different instructions.

I see a lot of similarity between this side and the Bielsa promotion sides but do feel that this side is a lot stronger going forward than the Bielsa side was. The Bielsa side was probably better defensively but not by much.

[AcrossThePondAsh]

Sorry for missing posting yesterday--on the road to a niece's volleyball game and could barely watch the match, let alone post, for bad buffering in the VA mountains (wife driving).

FT Stats

xG*
Leeds: 1.0
Rovers: 0.68

Possession
Leeds: 46%
Rovers: 54%

Shots
Leeds: 8 total = 4 on target, 2 off target, & 2 blocked
Rovers: 12 total = 2 on target, 7 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.

[mentalcase]

I see what everyone means now. Ridiculous by Mes. Yes....why

Absolutely no idea why swannie, had that ball dropped to an oncoming midfielder and he scored
It simply isn't good enough and the coaches need to smack it out of him before it does become costly, that punch blew our cover yesterday as I shouted at him to catch it, luckily we were fine.
But what was that all about for a so called seasoned professional !

[Finnatic]

Or Rhubarb & custard comes to mind.

Apparently, we haven't won in away colours since Brentford two seasons ago. I'm gonna have to check that stat!!!

It’s even longer in the away kit, Brentford and Blackburn were the 3rd kits.
Barnsley a year before Brentford was the last win in our 2nd kit if I remember correctly.

[The Subhuman]

Around 5.20 in, watch Meslier how he deals with the corner under NO pressure whatsoever

Is that not a coaching issue?

[The Subhuman]

There's a QB issue some QB's get called seeing ghosts, maybe that's what Ilan has?

[mentalcase]

Is that not a coaching issue?

No not at all, you should only punch it clear when in danger or can't catch it, that was pathetic, why would you concede the ball for no reason ?
No SH, that was just pure bad goalkeeping, collect the ball, take the sting off the attack, don't invite a second wave.

[The Subhuman]

No not at all, you should only punch it clear when in danger or can't catch it, that was pathetic, why would you concede the ball for no reason ?
No SH, that was just pure bad goalkeeping, collect the ball, take the sting off the attack, don't invite a second wave.

So why isn't Farke saying catch the ball Ilan? ... Drum it into him... he must have thought he was about to be challenged.. I do think our D doesn't communicate, the goalkeeper needing to be a huge part of that.. Keepers aren't at their peak till 25/26... We've a while to wait. Unfortunately I don't think Darlow is the answer, he was bloody awful in the cup game he started