Leeds United vs Newcastle United - Match Thread

[1964white]

Our whole defender line is an upgrade on last year. As much as I was a Pascal fan, Tarik is a way superior player.
We are stronger in defense and have formation options we simply didnt have last year.
The results are showing it.

Muharemovic will be our player of the season

Tarik has already been my MOTM four times in our first six games, with an average rating of 8.6, imo!

His class has seen Tarik settle in Premier League football immediately.

[Jammy 07]

Only if you make the assumption they're better than Struijk who was brilliant for us, Bornauw who was excellent everytime he played and Byram who never let us down.. Bard has made a number of errors already, Elvedi looks a slightly quicker version of Bijol but seems very clumsy at times and slow in his decision making. Tarik looks class but so was Struijk

Aaronson was overplayed last season, his replacement this season was with us last season. Unless the replacement is Wilson who's been benched


I've already said Trafford is a huge upgrade, but 55M plus to "find" our keeper is a lot of money

No clue what to expect of Bahoya, he's the joker in this comparison. If he plays a fair bit this season and plays well that does probablyu make us deeper this season. But we didn't replace Piroe and we didn't replace Gnonto


IMO

I'd suggest you watch Struijk for his new club Brighton and then come back to us with a revised assessment of his abilities. Bottom line is you've always overrated him.

[The Subhuman]

Our whole defender line is an upgrade on last year. As much as I was a Pascal fan, Tarik is a way superior player.
We are stronger in defense and have formation options we simply didnt have last year.
The results are showing it.

Again that can only be opinion, because we do have formation options we had last year. Give me an example and I'll match it in quality

The whole Muha/Struijk argument is basically an argument in semantics, both are high quality left footed CB. We signed Muha not as an upgrade but as a like for like replacement because Pascal wanted to move on. If Pascal stays, Tarik doesn't get bought

Bornauw = Elvedi
Bard = Byram
Bijol = Bijol
Rodon = Rodon
Muha ≈ Struijk
Bogle = Bogle
Gudmundsson = Gudmundsson
Justin = Justin

If we have more defenders than last year then I've had a brain fart and forgotten to include them in my list

I like this defence we have now, prefer Bijol over Elvedi tbh at sweeper but that's a toss up. I'd rate it as an 8 if forced to do so
I liked last seasons defence, I'd rate it as an 8 if forced to do so

[The Subhuman]

I'd suggest you watch Struijk for his new club Brighton and then come back to us with a revised assessment of his abilities. Bottom line is you've always overrated him.

Played very well last night as mentioned by more here than just me ... Bottom line is actually you've always underrated him.

[weasel]

Again that can only be opinion, because we do have formation options we had last year. Give me an example and I'll match it in quality

The whole Muha/Struijk argument is basically an argument in semantics, both are high quality left footed CB. We signed Muha not as an upgrade but as a like for like replacement because Pascal wanted to move on. If Pascal stays, Tarik doesn't get bought

Bornauw = Elvedi
Bard = Byram
Bijol = Bijol
Rodon = Rodon
Muha ≈ Struijk
Bogle = Bogle
Gudmundsson = Gudmundsson
Justin = Justin

If we have more defenders than last year then I've had a brain fart and forgotten to include them in my list

I like this defence we have now, prefer Bijol over Elvedi tbh at sweeper but that's a toss up. I'd rate it as an 8 if forced to do so
I liked last seasons defence, I'd rate it as an 8 if forced to do so

The trouble we had last year is that Bornauw was injury prone and despite Byram's quality we knew that it would be problematic to start him in 2 or 3 games per week.

So we have replaced a player, Bornauw, that was never likely to be considered a first team starter with someone who has become a first team starter (and would be even if Rodon was available as it would be Elvedi, Rodon and Tarik).

And we have replaced a right footed left back, Byram, with Bard. At this point it is hard to compare as we haven't seen much of Bard and similarly we didn't see much of Byram in the prem. But Bard's cv looks decent enough and many seem to prefer a left footer at left back. Plus there are not the injury concerns that we had with Byram. As such whereas Byram couldn't be considered as a regular starter if GG was out long term that is not the case with Bard.

So we have replaced 2 players that couldn't be viewed as first team regular starters with 1 that is a regular starter and one that could be considered as a first team regular if GG was out for a considerable period.

So even without debating whether Tarik is better than Struiyk we have clearly improved our options, flexibility and potential first team starter numbers.

[The Fish]

Losing Elanga for a sustained period is a massive blow, Fish.

New reports are that it'll only be 6-8 weeks which isn't great, but way better than it could have been. My concern is that it's soft tissue injury and, for a pacy winger, that could spell doom.

[The Subhuman]

New reports are that it'll only be 6-8 weeks which isn't great, but way better than it could have been. My concern is that it's soft tissue injury and, for a pacy winger, that could spell doom.

Should have bought man sized kleenex

[DDB220]

The trouble we had last year is that Bornauw was injury prone and despite Byram's quality we knew that it would be problematic to start him in 2 or 3 games per week.

So we have replaced a player, Bornauw, that was never likely to be considered a first team starter with someone who has become a first team starter (and would be even if Rodon was available as it would be Elvedi, Rodon and Tarik).

And we have replaced a right footed left back, Byram, with Bard. At this point it is hard to compare as we haven't seen much of Bard and similarly we didn't see much of Byram in the prem. But Bard's cv looks decent enough and many seem to prefer a left footer at left back. Plus there are not the injury concerns that we had with Byram. As such whereas Byram couldn't be considered as a regular starter if GG was out long term that is not the case with Bard.

So we have replaced 2 players that couldn't be viewed as first team regular starters with 1 that is a regular starter and one that could be considered as a first team regular if GG was out for a considerable period.

So even without debating whether Tarik is better than Struiyk we have clearly improved our options, flexibility and potential first team starter numbers.

Spot on - perception about ability is pointless- as Farke wants players he can trust to employ the tactical details he desires.

[weasel]

Spot on - perception about ability is pointless- as Farke wants players he can trust to employ the tactical details he desires.

Indeed. Many scoffed when I suggested that Elvedi would be replacing Bijol in the starting line-up, I even outlined the scenario which was that Bijol would start the first league match, Elvedi would start the cup match and then at some point Elvedi would take BIjol's place.

Elvedi is clearly someone Farke sees as a fit for how he wants us to play and despite Bijol's qualities it is Elvedi who is the better fit for Farke.

[Jammy 07]

Played very well last night as mentioned by more here than just me ... Bottom line is actually you've always underrated him.

Struijk was great for us but now I’ve seen the future with Tarik I’m mightily pleased that Pascal declined a new contract and has sought pastures new.

[The Subhuman]

Struijk was great for us but now I’ve seen the future with Tarik I’m mightily pleased that Pascal declined a new contract and has sought pastures new.

And it's a perfectly reasonable opinion, and I don't disagree he probably should have moved on and yes I cannot deny Tarik is the future, go back to early in the transfer thread and I was very excited about getting Tarik knowing the Pascal was leaving. Perfect like for like replacement with power to add

But doesn't really impact the depth question. Which is the argument being made, "we have more depth this season" the basis for that argument being Tarik is much better than Pascal. You just used great for us, I'm wondering what that superlative becomes when talking about Tarik's half dozen games for us.

[Jammy 07]

And it's a perfectly reasonable opinion, and I don't disagree he probably should have moved on and yes I cannot deny Tarik is the future, go back to early in the transfer thread and I was very excited about getting Tarik knowing the Pascal was leaving. Perfect like for like replacement with power to add

But doesn't really impact the depth question. Which is the argument being made, "we have more depth this season" the basis for that argument being Tarik is much better than Pascal. You just used great for us, I'm wondering what that superlative becomes when talking about Tarik's half dozen games for us.

Time will tell with Tarik but so far he’s been outstanding.

Pascal improved considerably second time around in the PL after Jesse Marsch did him no favours by playing him at left back. However his performances and leadership for us in the Championship were top class so of course we should wish him well.

[Jammy 07]

Also we have to accept that sometimes you can’t have top class cover for your best players;

Trafford
Tarik
Ampedu
DCL

That’s the spine of the team and all are simply irreplaceable and so at best we just cope when any of those are missing.

[The Subhuman]

Time will tell with Tarik but so far he’s been outstanding.

Pascal improved considerably second time around in the PL after Jesse Marsch did him no favours by playing him at left back. However his performances and leadership for us in the Championship were top class so of course we should wish him well.

Ahh damning with feint praise, well done. Pascal was also top class for us in the Prem last season and a huge reason why we stayed up.

[Jammy 07]

Ahh damning with feint praise, well done. Pascal was also top class for us in the Prem last season and a huge reason why we stayed up.

We had similar circumstances with Liam Cooper after promotion and a good first season back.

This time though we’ve been fortunate that Pascal asked to seek pastures new meaning we could try to find an upgrade at a fairly minimal overall cost. There were no guarantees that would be the case but so far so good.

[The Subhuman]

We had similar circumstances with Liam Cooper after promotion and a good first season back.

This time though we’ve been fortunate that Pascal asked to seek pastures new meaning we could try to find an upgrade at a fairly minimal overall cost. There were no guarantees that would be the case but so far so good.

Not really

[Jammy 07]

Not really

In the sense that we needed to replace good players with younger, quicker and more talented players I’d say we definitely did.

Even you seem to concede that Tarik looks an upgrade on Struijk.

[weasel]

We had similar circumstances with Liam Cooper after promotion and a good first season back.

This time though we’ve been fortunate that Pascal asked to seek pastures new meaning we could try to find an upgrade at a fairly minimal overall cost. There were no guarantees that would be the case but so far so good.

I would agree. Seems they knew that there was a strong possibility of PS leaving so they had been planning for a long time over who to buy and presumably Tarik was top of the list which is why we swooped early and made sure we got him. Pascal leaving softened the financial hit of signing Tarik. Without Pascal leaving we might have been still looking to upgrade but would have only had around £15m-£20m to spend to find someone to replace PS in the starting line-up with PS relegated to the bench.

I do think this season we'd have been looking to upgrade on PS and Bijol in terms of starting places regardless of whether they were sold or not - but easier given PS deciding to leave.

[The Subhuman]

In the sense that we needed to replace good players with younger, quicker and more talented players I’d say we definitely did.

Even you seem to concede that Tarik looks an upgrade on Struijk.

A small upgrade, yes. I've never said anything else. But again not the point I was debating.

[malcolmw]

Again that can only be opinion, because we do have formation options we had last year. Give me an example and I'll match it in quality

The whole Muha/Struijk argument is basically an argument in semantics, both are high quality left footed CB. We signed Muha not as an upgrade but as a like for like replacement because Pascal wanted to move on. If Pascal stays, Tarik doesn't get bought

Bornauw = Elvedi
Bard = Byram
Bijol = Bijol
Rodon = Rodon
Muha ≈ Struijk
Bogle = Bogle
Gudmundsson = Gudmundsson
Justin = Justin

If we have more defenders than last year then I've had a brain fart and forgotten to include them in my list

I like this defence we have now, prefer Bijol over Elvedi tbh at sweeper but that's a toss up. I'd rate it as an 8 if forced to do so
I liked last seasons defence, I'd rate it as an 8 if forced to do so

Oh for heaven sake.
Bard = Byrum and Bornaauw = Elvedi???
And Struik defintely does not equal Tarik.

Trafford does not equal Darlow

Give your head a shake

But you are now arguing for the sake of arguing. Nothng productive here anymore.