The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Monday 25th August) - Leeds looked susceptible and exposed as Arsenal hit five

[Irish Ian]

Nice to see some back to their bed wetting best.

[White Lotus]

Yes absolute nonsense but it generates clicks and gives the Danny bashers their chance to revel.
We all have to accept that we will lose some matches and even lose some heavily. I think the only real disappointment was the manner of goals conceded. If we lose 5-0 and the goals were all down to swashbuckling Arsenal play where they put 30 passes together then you just have to shrug and say 'welcome to the premier league.' I think it is the fact we gave away such soft goals and didn't make Arsenal have to earn it that has generated the anger.

If you actually look at our play up until the Goal off the shoulder :

1. We soaked it up pretty well v Arsenal a top Premier side at home.
2. Were very unlucky not to get the first goal ourselves from Pascal.
3. 35 minutes to the first goal, we weren't a disaster at all, they dominated as expected yes and the Saka goal 46 mins ended it as a contest because we haven't got a Liverpool team to come back from that, and i doubt Liverpool would.

It's way too early to gauge how good we are, I just hope he's taken something from it good and bad and learnt something, go through the whole game like Mr 1964 does and analyse each individual error and tell the players what they should have done.

[Orange Box]

I personally don’t think we were poor, it’s just that Arsenal were stronger and faster in just about every department, and their players moved into space with ease. Exactly as you would expect from a club of that stature, playing at their level week in week out. As others have said, these are not the teams we need to beat to stay in the league. The goal difference might be an issue 5hough, come next May. But it is lovely to see meltdown in some so early in the season.

[White Lotus]

A sharpening of knives is underway, can’t see the point of sacking DF now after giving him a big say in recruitment and building a team around how he wants to play. If we look on the bright side for once Graham Potter & Ruben Amorim should soon be available…. Big Sam anyone ?

Anyone on here disappointed with 3 points from 2 games ?

If anyone atm I think we'd be looking at Nuno to be the first because of the Fat greasy Greek wedding (what a idiot)
But we shouldn't be sharpening knives at all just yet, there's a case that our buys should've been in earlier to get acclimatised because he's now having to do it as we go which is never ideal.
We need to see what he considers his best team from these new players, then judge just how good/bad we are.
Okafor - Could be a flop at Prem level.
DCL - Will it work or not.
Nmecha - Is there a player there at Prem level.
Does Bijol strengthen or weaken us.
Does Bornauw fit in anywhere.
Is he going 4-3-3 all season, which i doubt, so is there a better outcome waiting in 4-2-3-1 or similar.
Can he find his best midfield, does it lie with players we haven't seen together yet, could it be a 4-4-2, 4-3-2-1,

I think he's gone with accustomed players to start, maybe even to see if they can hack it - They did v EFC.
There's a lot of different things he needs to get sorted on the training ground asap to get to what is his best team to put out.
We don't know what that team is yet, and i'm pretty sure he'll know that a managers job boils down to - 'it's the results that matter'

If the Newcastle game is an abomination - Then the next 4 after it are crucial to him points wise, then it becomes 'cut-throat.

[Ellandback1]

Tactical improvements.

A) Don't let a guy score with his shoulder whilst facing away from the goal.
B) Don't sloppily give the ball away on the edge of your box
C) Don't show the attacker in towards goal.
D) Clear the ball when it is bouncing in your box.
E) Don't give away soft penalties.

Strangely enough none of the goals came down to tactics or formations, style of play etc.

Well said.

DO

Do play you're strongest centre-back, especially when 6ft 4, and great with his head (when playing against a team known to be set piece specialists.

Do have a player on the back post when defending corners

Do change your tactics and line-up, dependent on your opponents.

[The Subhuman]

Well said.

DO

Do play you're strongest centre-back, especially when 6ft 4, and great with his head (when playing against a team known to be set piece specialists.

Do have a player on the back post when defending corners

Do change your tactics and line-up, dependent on your opponents.

Do
Do
Do

Agadoo?

[White Lotus]

As disappointing as it maybe for discussion/arguments/wanting to kill someone( ) on social media re - The manager.
I feel we are not going to get it i'm afraid, because :

The 49ers are American and the Premier league is vital to them selling us on, building new stadia etc.

No offence to Americans members on here (who i think are very good btw) but the 49ers totally won't see if the football we play is good or bad, it is going to be solely down to points and results i'm afraid.

So Farke is going to need points fast, or he'll be up the road, nothing anyone here can do about it.
The 49ers will NOT see whether there's something there or not, to me they won't have a clue, and panic stations will set in immediately in these first 10 games.

It is points that are going to matter and absolutely nothing else at all for the 49ers, I just know he will be sacked if we don't get the right amount of points in these first games.

If we now had a run of fixtures of Newcastle, Chelsea, Liverpool, City, Tottenham, Palace, Manshite and Villa in that order - Then i'm 100% Farke would be 'up the road - absolutely no doubt about that, he'd be doomed.

So seeing as we have Newcastle, Fulham, Wolves, Bournemouth, Tottenham, Burnley, West Ham, Brighton, Forest, Villa, City in that order - He will most definitely be sacked if we don't have the points from those, it won't matter how we play at all to them, they are American, they will not understand how we play, all they will see are £ signs and points. His job is on the line from now. Nothing at all we can do about it.
And if we've nothing to show from the next 5 and played diabolical then he's also massively under pressure - Results and points is all that matter to them, end of from now on for Farke.

[White Lotus]

You've actually got to feel for anyone that comes to Leeds in the current state. Have you seen the axe Amorim has had to take to the Manshite team and the money he has had to spend to try and get them something like into shape? Wow, and that's quite a growing list of managers now.

Difficult times lie ahead, we've to swing the axe on quite a few players yet.

[danhirons]

the biggest concern for me is that when you look at the eleven we have out there at the moment, it's not much stronger than last season's team at all. hence we're always going to struggle

the front line (in the first eleven), in particular, is weaker with the loss of solomon. maybe okafor can replace him but I'd be surprised if he's better than Solomon. We've focused on getting in strength in depth in certain positions rather than on improving the first eleven quality.

Even though we've spent a lot on defenders and midfielders, the first eleven is basically that of last year + stach and gudmundsson for firpo.

It concerns me, but let's see if those from last year can step up this season

[andrewjohnsmith]

Disappointed if Largie goes, but as we all know players come and go and its not nice if it happens to be a player you are keen on. Its a squad game and for what ever reasons, true or false about his relationship with Farke, it looks like it might be better for both parties if he goes.
Cant say i know too much about Justin but the little i do know is that he will be a good addition to the squad. We seem to be doing what Forest did a few years ago and getting in lots of players rather than cherry picking 2 or 3 ( quality over quantity ) so hopefully it pays off in the long run like it did for Forest.

It seems like we've gone after the 2 or 3 and not been able to get them (Paixao). The level of player we're signing might just be the best that are available to us at the moment

[andrewjohnsmith]

Be interesting if Newcastle beat Liverpool tonight

Hopefully Isak puts out another long post on social media this week. Keep stirring up some inner turmoil.

[weasel]

Well said.

DO

Do play you're strongest centre-back, especially when 6ft 4, and great with his head (when playing against a team known to be set piece specialists.

Do have a player on the back post when defending corners

Do change your tactics and line-up, dependent on your opponents.

The thing is that if Struyjk's header goes in then the decision to play Struyjk is a success - unless we go on to lose 5-1 but I don't think we do as it would have changed the match.

Tactics and line-up would have made little difference overall and instead we would be on here saying why did he drop Struyjk after he was excellent v Everton, why did Nmecha hardly touch the ball, Dan James would have given us more of a threat etc etc

It was simply like the Everton match in reverse. As the home team, v Everton, we pushed them back, high press and stopped them playing. Arsenal did that to us and similar to us v Everton we didn't look like scoring v Everton and Arsenal didn't look like scoring against us. Who knows if we got a jammy goal against Everton in the first half maybe we run out comfortable winners. If Arsenal didn't get that jammy goal then I think we grow into the match and compete, again like Everton did against us in the second half.

It's football. Arsenal got their opening goal at a perfect time. We'd weathered the early storm, generally untroubled, and seemed to be getting a foothold in the game. The goal stopped our momentum growing, stopped the crowd from getting restless. The second goal then basically ended the match as a contest.

At no point did Arsenal over run us and create chance after chance. 5 efforts on target, 5 goals. Apart from Goykaeres missing the chance in the first half (from our mistake) I can't recall any other chances where Arsenal missed from a good position.

[weasel]

Do
Do
Do

Agadoo?

Surely

Do
Do
Do

Ampadu

[White Lotus]

The thing is that if Struyjk's header goes in then the decision to play Struyjk is a success - unless we go on to lose 5-1 but I don't think we do as it would have changed the match.

Tactics and line-up would have made little difference overall and instead we would be on here saying why did he drop Struyjk after he was excellent v Everton, why did Nmecha hardly touch the ball, Dan James would have given us more of a threat etc etc

It was simply like the Everton match in reverse. As the home team, v Everton, we pushed them back, high press and stopped them playing. Arsenal did that to us and similar to us v Everton we didn't look like scoring v Everton and Arsenal didn't look like scoring against us. Who knows if we got a jammy goal against Everton in the first half maybe we run out comfortable winners. If Arsenal didn't get that jammy goal then I think we grow into the match and compete, again like Everton did against us in the second half.

It's football. Arsenal got their opening goal at a perfect time. We'd weathered the early storm, generally untroubled, and seemed to be getting a foothold in the game. The goal stopped our momentum growing, stopped the crowd from getting restless. The second goal then basically ended the match as a contest.

At no point did Arsenal over run us and create chance after chance. 5 efforts on target, 5 goals. Apart from Goykaeres missing the chance in the first half (from our mistake) I can't recall any other chances where Arsenal missed from a good position.

I'm also waiting to see how fixed he is to this 4-3-3, because i don't think he is. If we played last years 4-2-3-1 now in the Premier with Piroe spearheading, i don't think it would work, and until the players bought in get up to speed he thinks it's best to help Piroe by 4-3-3. So does DCL fit into a 4-2-3-1 ? Farke may have played with Norwich years back here, but he's still finding his feet with these players, he'll have an idea just like most of us have an idea who'll be good enough. Longstaff is still a mystery, along with many others.
What about a 3-4-3 in some games ? It's all a mystery, he needs time in training and games come thick and fast now.
For now he's trying to play the press and it's not looked too bad with players to come into it, i'm happy to stick trying it for now, but v Newcastle and after Arsenal something kneejerk could happen.

Can anybody here on early evidence name their best 11 and formation yet?

[Ellandback1]

If anyone atm I think we'd be looking at Nuno to be the first because of the Fat greasy Greek wedding (what a idiot)
But we shouldn't be sharpening knives at all just yet, there's a case that our buys should've been in earlier to get acclimatised because he's now having to do it as we go which is never ideal.
We need to see what he considers his best team from these new players, then judge just how good/bad we are.
Okafor - Could be a flop at Prem level.
DCL - Will it work or not.
Nmecha - Is there a player there at Prem level.
Does Bijol strengthen or weaken us.
Does Bornauw fit in anywhere.
Is he going 4-3-3 all season, which i doubt, so is there a better outcome waiting in 4-2-3-1 or similar.
Can he find his best midfield, does it lie with players we haven't seen together yet, could it be a 4-4-2, 4-3-2-1,

I think he's gone with accustomed players to start, maybe even to see if they can hack it - They did v EFC.
There's a lot of different things he needs to get sorted on the training ground asap to get to what is his best team to put out.
We don't know what that team is yet, and i'm pretty sure he'll know that a managers job boils down to - 'it's the results that matter'

If the Newcastle game is an abomination - Then the next 4 after it are crucial to him points wise, then it becomes 'cut-throat.

Nuno has turned us down before (in the past)

[GreennWhite]

We have brought in a load of new players. Whether fans think they are good enough is neither here nor there. Apart from Milan and Man U, the other teams we played in pre season games were of a fairly low standard so apart from match fitness we never really learned very much. Getting these players to gel wont happen in just 2 or 3 league games, its going to take time. I realize we dont have too much time to sort it but its what we have and what we have to work with for now.

[BlackHillsPaul]

The truth of the matter is that we looked scared to death on the pitch against Arsenal. The lack of time and space with the ball was something we simply couldn't deal with. We really couldn't string more than two passes together. They did to us what WE did to so many teams in the Championship.

I'm fine with Farke trying to play them straight up. I'm sure someone will mention how those conceded goals could hurt us down the road which is fair. But it was a good measuring stick for our guys to feel the level of the Premiership!

[John in Louisiana]

I don't think it was a soft penalty ,the schoolboy stuck his trailing leg out and took a dive i would stop his pocket money .Cheating little s**t.

Damn straight.

[Pullhard]

Tomorrow v Sheff Wed opens the door for some of the new signings.
Rodon and/or Struijk could come under selection pressure.

Hope we can settle on our best defence from what we have. From there, can the recruitment dept magic up two for the frontline - one signing and one loan.

[SG90]

A tad early to be talking about replacing Herr Farke.

If Newcastle win tonight we will be 13th having played a top team away and a lower team at home.

This is obviously a small sample size but far too early to be criticising rather than getting behind the manager in a tough old competition.

The worry is keeping him on too long, as Southampton did. A heavy defeat on Saturday and I think questions need to start being asked.