Leeds v Cardiff Team News/Ratings

[1964white]

Even though he had a poor game v Brum hopefully Snoddy if fit to start th game & we field the same eleven. Unfortunately we have to perservere with Rachubka until Lonnie is fit again

Cardiff appear to have problems, their very impressive & best defender Antony Gerrard is suspended & Kenny Miller is a doubt as he had 20 stitches in a head injury last week

This is probably our best chance of beating the bluebirds for sometime, our record v Cardiff in recent years is very poor indeed !

Rachubka

Connolly Lees O'dea White

Snoddy Clayton Howson Pugh

Keogh McCormack

Subs : Cairns Bromby Vaynrnan Sam Becchio

Larry will choose Kisnorbo on the bench, i would select LB as he is more versatile, has played RB, CB & even midfield in one of his away sub appearances, he is also fitter & more reliable than Kis

[white.riot]

We are at a pivotal moment in our season. Two of the last 3 games have not been great [4 points dropped]. The next two are vital. 6 points and we will know that we are contenders. Lose one or both and 6th place may be the target. A pivotal moment - the time has come to beat our nemesis. They aren't great, they never were, but they do have a psychological hoodoo over us and that has to be dealt with. A horrible scrappy 1 : 0 is the requirement.

[Charity Shield 69]

Yes, I would also accept any kind of victory v. CCFC. I agree also that the importance of this pair of home matches can't be overstated. Time for big performances, hopefully by our GK as much as anyone. These historical runs of results have a remarkable way of perpetuating, so we badly need to smash the mould this time.
Hopefully last season's embarrassing home result v. Cardiff will be motivation enough.
I would expect an unchanged lineup barring fitness issues.

Cheers,
CS69

[joelufc20]

Team picks itself 2-1 Leeds

[Genghers]

Bar any new injuries/assuming Snoddy's fit:
Chubby
Conns-Lees-O'Dea-White
Snods-Howson-Clayton-Pugh
Keogh-McCormack

Bench: Cairns, Kis/Bromby, Vayrynen, Sam/Nunez, Becchio/Forssell

This 5-man bench is a headache this year!

[jack_gc]

Apparently viduka is in the crowd... someone please take a spare kit in case we find ourselves 2-1 down with 10 to play!

[Ronan]

Leeds 5/4 Draw 11/5 Cardiff 11/5...........let's exorcise this evil spirit !!!


...tho' 11/5 Cardiff looks mighty tempting.......Ronan...behave yourself !!!!

[Genghers]

Spot on, '64! Including Kis for Bromby

[billie1]

Well I suppose the second half might be better ?

[lufcsp8]

whats happening with howson i didnt know he was on the field till 36 th minute

[Genghers]

whats happening with howson i didnt know he was on the field till 36 th minute

Was pinging some lovely passes about throughout the second half though and getting into lots of dangerous positions... He's just letting young Adam do all the legwork to begin with!
That said, I though that Clayton was excellent again today, he was running the show for a good 10 minute spell of pressure in the 2nd.

[Rod_Wallace]

Decent performance form Leeds there, not buying any excuses for O'Dea, if he wasn't feeling right he should have said so before the game started.

[Gino 1959]

In patches, excellent - but not often enough. Their keeper was outstanding, but we had a couple of clear cut chances that should have been buried.

[billie1]

To be fair a much better performance after the break . It looked like we were never going to score so I guess I'm happy we dug something out of it . A point won in the end .

[Twiggster]

Why does every ba***rd keeper play the game of their life against Leeds?? That prat today had let in SEVEN in the last 2 games, FFS!

[Martyn]

Our crossing makes it too easy for opposition keepers and defences - time after time today we hit little floated crosses into their box with no pace on the ball. That makes it easy for defenders to clear but very difficult for our forwards to generate any power on the ball, though Keogh and Snods both did very well to get headers on target. That changed when Sam came on, he put in 2 really good crosses almost immediately.

One of the things that made Beckham such a potent player for so long was that he would whip crosses in with pace - do that and you'll get quite a few own goals too as any touch makes it difficult for the keeper.

[CardiffWhite]

Well, I can walk into work with my head held high for once after playing Cardiff. Yes, they could have nicked it but we looked the more likely too and it would have been deserved. Marshall did so well for them didn't he? The final ball wasn't always there, but when we upped the pace I thought we were impressive. Snoddy had a good game as did Clayton and I was impressed by our full-backs Conolly and White with his pace and the way he galvanised the team with his attacking flair when things went a bit flat. Hopefully O'Dea will learn from his mistake and retain his confidence. I was a bit nervous about Kisnorbo comings on, but I thought he did well considering apart from a couple of league-one hoofs.

[CardiffWhite]

McCormack was like a man possessed. Remember Gradel when we played Leicester? Shame it didn't pay off for him, but hopefully he'll get his chance again and we'll do Cardiff on their own turf come their last home game of the season.

[white.riot]

That's 5 points thrown away in 4 matches due to basic defensive mistakes. Unacceptable. Worst goalie at ER in some time. He strikes fear into the hearts of our defence - that I think is why O'Dea cocked up when row Z beckoned.

Same old problem really - nice football on the ball, killer instinct missing in front of goal and no venom in the side from 1 - 11. Cardiff were there for the taking. We let them off the hook.

Howson by the way is playing out of position for the good of the team. Some of his passing was superb at times today but Larry needs to get him on the front foot a bit more. Becchio did really well when he came on [solo], so too Sam who always creates and is a smashing crosser of a ball - he doesn't kick and hope like some he places it on someone's head [step forward Lees].

Wasting opportunities is not for champions. Play offs continue to look the likely outcome.

[Emsley]

Lucky sheep shagging w**ker masters
If Our keeper had been in their net today would you have seen a better result?

Leeds did everything right.