Reading

[leedsmad]

You may not be impressed but once again Varney was one of our better players last night according to a couple of my mates at the game. Just as his MOTM performance at Bolton Varney won nearly every header, ran the the channels well, closed defenders down from the front.....the real problem is the creativity from our midfield with goal chances at a premium plus we lack a
pacy prolific goalscorer in our squad. Unsure if Poleon is ready to start yet tbh !

Reading had a goalscorer on their bench in Le Fondre who came on to snatch the winner

Such a shame our manager at the time was looking in the opposite direction when Le Fondre was knocking in goals for fun only 30 miles down the road from ER at Rotherham

Fair enough you see a lot more games than I do , I think we need a striker who is more prolific up front than he is , but it doesn't help with the midfield we have that lack the creativity required or the pacy wingers .
We can't keep scraping in 1-0 results , that won't get us promoted .
Just my thoughts!!!

[Genghers]

Any reason for playing twice the allotted extra time??

More disappointed that we lost in the last minute than the loss itself (if that makes sense).

BMc has moulded last year's spineless bunch into a team which is hard to beat, and retains the ball well (though clearly can't do much with it). I know he's saying he wants to concentrate on what we have here, but he must still be looking at some attacking flair to add, as we have to find goals from somewhere!

We'll see what a bit of pace does for us on Saturday if White plays... If Pelts is out and Byram ready, maybe we'll have two young, pacey full-backs to support the attackers. Rudi will have to be very disciplined and cover them well, but I think that could be our (short term) answer.

[bloomy]

MUST win! We've dropped to 10th tonight and even fekking udds and bornmuth are above us!

Wise words & I totally agree!
Cheers from The Brazil nut!!!!!

[The Subhuman]

It's an average start to the season. No more no less

[Genghers]

It's an average start to the season. No more no less

Can't expect any more from an average (or slightly below) squad.

[paddy parrott]

Good summing up by weasel and i agree .
Only we don`t have as good a bunch of cefence as the arsenal plus george graham had a tremendous coaching outfit ,plus been the eighties loads o money.

[HarryofOz]

It's a marathon, not a sprint

[The Subhuman]

Can't expect any more from an average (or slightly below) squad.

Defence has promise, Keeper is adequate, I don't think we're there tactically yet and I still maintain extending Ross' contract will hold us back. But like BMC he's flavour of the month and thus of excluded from criticism.

Don't get me wrong BMC is the best manger since god knows when ..but there's not a lot to beat

[theleedsmango]

A season or two ago, we needed to score 2 or 3 goals to win a game. Back then, everyone was quick to point out our defensive record in the league.

Now we are hard to score against - but people are pointing out our scoring record.

We'll get the balance. Poleon, McCormack and Varney can all score, and will. Our strikers are having a lull period. A season or two ago, we'd be in deep mud because our team didn't defend. Now our midfield and defence do their job, even when our strikers are playing poorly we can still nick a game or slug it out to a draw.

A signing for the sake of it won't help. Look at Chelsea with Eto'o, Torres, and Ba - all stellar signings yet Mourinho can't get the tactics on point to get them scoring. Wenger on the other hand stuck with Giroud, who by many people's standard was a poor player, tweaked his tactics and now he looks better than Eto'o, Soldado, and many other of the big summer signings.

If the right winger or forward becomes available, McDermott will get him in on loan. Until then he can continue to tweak the tactics so that he gets the best from what we have.

Two 1-0 defeats against recently relegated Prem teams isn't bad, especially given the nature of those defeats. I'd take those results over a 4-2 defeat to a rubbish team even though the latter shows we can score.

[1964white]

Defence has promise, Keeper is adequate, I don't think we're there tactically yet and I still maintain extending Ross' contract will hold us back. But like BMC he's flavour of the month and thus of excluded from criticism.

Don't get me wrong BMC is the best manger since god knows when ..but there's not a lot to beat

Now don't you go squashing McCormack's extended contract

He is the fans hero where he can put in average performances & get away with it.....Peltier on the other hand. ....

He tweets a good game on Twitter though so that's alright !

[Emsley]

Now don't you go squashing McCormack's extended contract

He is the fans hero where he can put in average performances & get away with it.....Peltier on the other hand. ....

He tweets a good game on Twitter though so that's alright !

Clearly a match winner over the past few games.

[1964white]

Clearly a match winner over the past few games.

Yes he keeps knocking em in for fun

[hibbi86]

There are some very Pessamistic post flying around here at the moment, but also some very harsh posts on some players that in honesty is really not deserved.
If anyone thought that just because we got BMD in that we would walk through and win every game then seriously need to re-evalute your chain of thought. So far weve lost to QPR and Reading.

Two teams who are tipped to fight it out for the top spots, with squads costing multi-millions and wages that are beyond what we can afford to offer, these clubs are receiving parachute payments and can have their pick of the top players in the league as we have seen this transfer window.
The fact of the matter is that last year against this quality we would have conceded about 4 or 5 goals and been played off the park. This year we are tight and compact hard to break down which is something we havent been since we were last in the premiership in my opinion with the likes of Ferdinand, Radebe, Woodgate,

This is a two year plan as stated by the powers that be at ER and instead of jumping on the players backs or the owners backs or even the managers back. Give them the time to shape the club and adopt a new philosophy. Weve seen first hand what buying and loaning players irrantionally can do to a team so have some patience

[lufc1304]

There are some very Pessamistic post flying around here at the moment, but also some very harsh posts on some players that in honesty is really not deserved.
If anyone thought that just because we got BMD in that we would walk through and win every game then seriously need to re-evalute your chain of thought. So far weve lost to QPR and Reading.

Two teams who are tipped to fight it out for the top spots, with squads costing multi-millions and wages that are beyond what we can afford to offer, these clubs are receiving parachute payments and can have their pick of the top players in the league as we have seen this transfer window.
The fact of the matter is that last year against this quality we would have conceded about 4 or 5 goals and been played off the park. This year we are tight and compact hard to break down which is something we havent been since we were last in the premiership in my opinion with the likes of Ferdinand, Radebe, Woodgate,

This is a two year plan as stated by the powers that be at ER and instead of jumping on the players backs or the owners backs or even the managers back. Give them the time to shape the club and adopt a new philosophy. Weve seen first hand what buying and loaning players irrantionally can do to a team so have some patience

Great post, hibbi, well said!!

[Genghers]

This is a two year plan as stated by the powers that be at ER and instead of jumping on the players backs or the owners backs or even the managers back. Give them the time to shape the club and adopt a new philosophy. Weve seen first hand what buying and loaning players irrantionally can do to a team so have some patience

Year 1: Sorting the defence and getting an organised team, add a few new faces.
Year 2: Bring in pace and freshen up the attack using funds from the myriad of players out of contract.

[1964white]

There are some very Pessamistic post flying around here at the moment, but also some very harsh posts on some players that in honesty is really not deserved.
If anyone thought that just because we got BMD in that we would walk through and win every game then seriously need to re-evalute your chain of thought. So far weve lost to QPR and Reading.

Two teams who are tipped to fight it out for the top spots, with squads costing multi-millions and wages that are beyond what we can afford to offer, these clubs are receiving parachute payments and can have their pick of the top players in the league as we have seen this transfer window.
The fact of the matter is that last year against this quality we would have conceded about 4 or 5 goals and been played off the park. This year we are tight and compact hard to break down which is something we havent been since we were last in the premiership in my opinion with the likes of Ferdinand, Radebe, Woodgate,

This is a two year plan as stated by the powers that be at ER and instead of jumping on the players backs or the owners backs or even the managers back. Give them the time to shape the club and adopt a new philosophy. Weve seen first hand what buying and loaning players irrantionally can do to a team so have some patience

Believe it or not I actually agree with yours & Mango's post

I did say as soon as McDermott was appointed patience is required as he requires time to build his own team which will be significantly improved next summer when several contracts come to an end.....Rome wasn't built in a day !

I'm quite happy with the way things are progressing doesn't stop me having an opinion on certain players & the club

[The Subhuman]

Year 1: Sorting the defence and getting an organised team, add a few new faces.
Year 2: Bring in pace and freshen up the attack using funds from the myriad of players out of contract.

...play this season on it's merits and see where we are in February....two year plan can never work, plan for the long term future of course.

[rich_leeds64]

Some good posts here, ones with which I agree, we do need to be patient and as others have said the 2 year plan is underway by tightening up our defence, who can forget the humiliating 3-7 at home to forest and the 4-6 to Preston. I remember back to when George Graham arrived at ER and the first thing he did was sort the defence and I know it wasn't the most exciting of seasons we only scored 28 goals and conceded 38 but the foundations were laid for the next season.

B Mac knows his stuff, he's methodical in his approach and really cares about the club and making a success of things. This in contrast to previous managers who were only bothered about their own egos. As for the players, the manager's seen who's got the desire and right attitude and for me one or two who I couldn't wait to get rid of (Varney and Pearce) are proving they want to be part of this great club by giving 100% this season.

Steady the ship this year, a big clear out of fringe players and I wouldn't mind betting the gaffers already writing down a few names for next season. Let's not forget we've still got Sam Byram to come back so that will give the team a lift.

Onwards and Upwards MOT

[eastyorkshirewhite]

A game we should have got at least apoint out of and if Pearce had hit the target we would have had all 3 we we beaten in the air most of the time Reading got more free headers than i have seen any team have against for a long time.We shut down in injury time we should remember the game stops at the final whistle not at the 90th minute.Also showed how much we lack a goal poacher if any of the players could have read McCormacck 3 delightful balls in we again could have been coming back with 3pts.As for Smith the least said the better he seems a mix of Morison and John Pearson.

Kenny 6 not troubled much
Lees 7 Deserves to keep his place unless Byram returns
Wooton 6 Fairly solid although lucky to get away with one miastake
Pearce 3 Only because of the absolute sitter he missed
Warnock 5 Put himself in trouble with his early booking
Austin 9 A power house performance
Tonge 7 Worked hard
Murphy 7 Could not seem to get to grips with the game
Hunt 5 How many more chances is he going to get
Varney 7 Carried with his improvement
McCormack 8 If only the rest of the team had his vision

Subs
Poleyn 5 Just ran in to dead ends
Smith 1 Just for turning up

[Clyde1998]

I was pretty impressed by you last night. It was a pretty even game - which you could have easily won and the end (I thought the header by Jason Pearce(?) had gone in).

I hadn't realised that Warnock had already been booked before his red card. Which I thought would be negative for us, but we managed to score from that free-kick.

I always felt that Le Fondre would score the winner, but replays showed that he was offside when he headed home.

The people in front of me always leave five minutes early - I worked out that they would have missed 20% of our goals since 2011-12.

I reckon Leeds will do very well this season - you seem a very hard side to beat.