Leeds v Cardiff - Team/Reports/Ratings

[rab_rant]

BBC LEEDS INTERVIEW

[Brader]

He defiantly wasn't playing left wing when he scored that

[1964white]

BBC LEEDS INTERVIEW

The first manager in a long time to speak with passion about the team & the fans as oppose to a load of bulls..t

Calls Mowatt "young Alex" as i have done since i first saw his debut at Donny, Best game for young Alex this season by a long chalk.

Loves Berardi, thinks he is a class player. I raved about Gaetano's performances last season, since then he has raised his game to another level. Our best player by a country mile

[1964white]

A tetchy/messy first 30 minutes where the only consolation was we'd hadn't conceded an early goal. All of a sudden Leeds upped the tempo playing fluent football creating chances with Wood missing a strikers header, shame half-time was imminent as the break could have disturbed our rhythm. Cardiff came out in the 2nd half with more purpose without creating too much.
Then Leeds took control again & eventually the break came as Antenucci persistance on the ball feeding Mowatt whose sole intention was have a pop at goal & by golly what a strike from 35 yards into the top corner. I knew as soon as the ball left young Alex's boot it was going in with the kop going ecstatically mental Wood should have put the game to bed with ten ninutes to go as he rounded their goalie & from a tight angle attempted to shoot into an empty net, had he looked up & played the ball to the penalty spot both Antenucci or Byram had a open goal to tap the ball in. Unfortunately it wasn't to be so our hardcore fans had to endure a nervy last few minutes.

A much improved performance on the Blackburn game where everyone of our team played their part although i thought our plank upfront was the weakest performer

Well done Steve Evans & the players

[1964white]

The question is does Evans stick with the same eleven

Definitely imo

[Genghers]

The question is does Evans stick with the same eleven

Definitely imo

Bloody hope not.

WHY is he persisting with playing players out of position? Drop Ant, as neither striker is scoring (so clearly having two on the pitch isn't helping our cause) and replace him with Botaka or Buckley, moving Mowatt into the number 10 role which will put him into the position that he scored from last night much more often.

I'm pleased we won.

[1964white]

Bloody hope not.

WHY is he persisting with playing players out of position? Drop Ant, as neither striker is scoring (so clearly having two on the pitch isn't helping our cause) and replace him with Botaka or Buckley, moving Mowatt into the number 10 role which will put him into the position that he scored from last night much more often.

I'm pleased we won.

But Mowatt played on the left side of the midfield which is more natural to him than as a so-called NO.10, Mowatt's best game this season

Antenucci worked his socks off last night

[Genghers]

But Mowatt played on the left side of the midfield which is more natural to him than as a so-called NO.10, Mowatt's best game this season

Antenucci worked his socks off last night

Mowatt has always been a central midfielder. The number 10 role (or at least the way I use it) is an attacking central midfield role. Alex is best when he's picking the ball up around the edge of the area, not stuck out wide. Thom and Eddie said he was hardly in the game in the first half, with all our threat coming down the right with Dallas.

Ant may have worked hard, but how many chances did he create/how many shots on target etc. In fact, how many of those has he had since we started playing 2 up top from the start of games? There's no use playing two strikers if neither can score...

I just believe in playing players in their natural positions. We've been clamouring for wingers for about five years now, and now we have three, we're sticking central midfielders out wide?

How was Murphy? They didn't mention him much on the commentary, but was he playing a deeper/more disciplined role?

[lufc1304]

Leon, in the cold light of day, were we really that much improved, or were Cardiff poor? The impression I got from Phil Hay's tweets during the game was that it was very open, either side could have won it and for long spells it was poor enough

[1964white]

Silvestri - 7 one decent save
Wootton - 7 played RB in our last two wins
Bellusci - 8 our most composed CB on the ground
Cooper - 8 showed real maturity especially when Kenwyne-Jones came on
Berardi - 8+ didn't put a foot wrong again, class act
Dallas - 7 worked hard, still waiting for an outstanding performance
Murphy - 7 back to last season's good form
Cook - 7 did alot of the dirty stuff well
Mowatt - 8 best game this season, cracking goal
Antenucci - 7 assist for the goal, worked his socks off
Wood - 6 should have done better in front of goal twice

[1964white]

Leon, in the cold light of day, were we really that much improved, or were Cardiff poor? The impression I got from Phil Hay's tweets during the game was that it was very open, either side could have won it and for long spells it was poor enough

I haven't seen a good team in the championship yet Nick

We didn't make silly mistakes or allow Cardiff to dominate the game, yes they had periods on the ball but they didn't create too much of note with Silvestri having to make one decent save.

Our back four were superb & Murphy/Mowatt looked back in form. Key areas for me !

Bamba & Byram on the bench for the Huddersfield game in my opinion. Bellusci coasted the game with a competent display alongside the much improved Cooper. Also Wootton showed last night he can defend more efficiently than young Sam

[lufc1304]

I haven't seen a good team in the championship yet Nick

We didn't make silly mistakes or allow Cardiff to dominate the game, yes they had periods on the ball but they didn't create too much of note with Silvestri having to make one decent save.

Our back four were superb & Murphy/Mowatt looked back in form. Key areas for me !

Bamba & Byram on the bench for the Huddersfield game in my opinion. Bellusci coasted the game with a competent display alongside the much improved Cooper. Also Wootton showed last night he can defend more efficiently than young Sam

Hay was quite effusive in his praise of the back four, and Bellusci in particular. There's a very competent CH in there somewhere! I'd agree that midfield is key, good to hear that Murphy found some form again. And a great strike from young Alex. Though I still like the idea of him playing behind a solitary striker in a 4-5-1. We didn't have to go much to improve on Blackburn but, if this is the start of an upturn in both performances and results, then long may it continue

[1964white]

Hay was quite effusive in his praise of the back four, and Bellusci in particular. There's a very competent CH in there somewhere! I'd agree that midfield is key, good to hear that Murphy found some form again. And a great strike from young Alex. Though I still like the idea of him playing behind a solitary striker in a 4-5-1. We didn't have to go much to improve on Blackburn but, if this is the start of an upturn in both performances and results, then long may it continue

Lets hope we come with a similar performance on Saturday

[weasel]

I haven't seen a good team in the championship yet Nick

For me most of the teams in the championship are very similar, very average teams. The ones that are doing well are the teams making fewer mistakes and with strikers that take a higher percentage of their chances. If you looked through most of our matches where we have lost we have mage terrible mistakes and also missed sitters. Even v Blackburn last week depsite the poor performance the key was that we made big mistakes for both goals we conceded (Bamba's poor header and Byram not tracking his man for the first and Cooper's rash attempted tackle for the 2nd) and we had 2 or 3 excellent chances. Middlesborough match is another where we made mistakes for all 3 goals and they, in Nugent, had a striker capable of taking a gift. We again missed sitters.

[1964white]

For me most of the teams in the championship are very similar, very average teams. The ones that are doing well are the teams making fewer mistakes and with strikers that take a higher percentage of their chances. If you looked through most of our matches where we have lost we have mage terrible mistakes and also missed sitters. Even v Blackburn last week depsite the poor performance the key was that we made big mistakes for both goals we conceded (Bamba's poor header and Byram not tracking his man for the first and Cooper's rash attempted tackle for the 2nd) and we had 2 or 3 excellent chances. Middlesborough match is another where we made mistakes for all 3 goals and they, in Nugent, had a striker capable of taking a gift. We again missed sitters.

Indeed Weasel made a similar point on here a few weeks ago

[ldsutd]

Look lets not get overly excited. We won against a poor Cardiff who have only scored 2 goals in their last 6 matches so they aren't exactly scoring for fun so ok, our defence with Bellusci and Wootton in did well which isn't a surprise is it.
Next match get Bamba back in and now Byram has rested a bit get him back in too because we are only a game away from a calamity from Bellusci. Play Mowatt more central DON'T put him on the wing and maybe just maybe we might get another result against the dog botherers.

[1964white]

Look lets not get overly excited. We won against a poor Cardiff who have only scored 2 goals in their last 6 matches so they aren't exactly scoring for fun so ok, our defence with Bellusci and Wootton in did well which isn't a surprise is it.
Next match get Bamba back in and now Byram has rested a bit get him back in too because we are only a game away from a calamity from Bellusci. Play Mowatt more central DON'T put him on the wing and maybe just maybe we might get another result against the dog botherers.

So we change 50% of our back four which kept a clean sheet for the first time since we played Reading in August to accommodate two defenders who have probably gifted the opposition 7 or 8 goals between them

Mowatt has his best game this season finding space to score a cracking goal so we move him too !

As for Cardiff being poor, they were unbeaten in their last six matches beating Boro' with draws away at Brighton & Ipswich & conceding only two goals in that run of six games. Then we have the stat of not beating Cardiff since 1984 going into a game where we haven't won at ER since March.

Yes Cardiff are nothing special but apart from Burnley i haven't seen a decent outfit in the championship yet, certainly nothing to scare me as was the case with Bournemouth & Watford last season

[Crude]

Lets see what the pairing of Bellusci and Cooper can do for an extended run. Even Bamba isn't immune to the one calamity per match syndrome, sometimes multiples.

[rich_leeds64]

So we change 50% of our back four which kept a clean sheet for the first time since we played Reading in August to accommodate two defenders who have probably gifted the opposition 7 or 8 goals between them

Mowatt has his best game this season finding space to score a cracking goal so we move him too !

As for Cardiff being poor, they were unbeaten in their last six matches beating Boro' with draws away at Brighton & Ipswich & conceding only two goals in that run of six games. Then we have the stat of not beating Cardiff since 1984 going into a game where we haven't won at ER since March.

Yes Cardiff are nothing special but apart from Burnley i haven't seen a decent outfit in the championship yet, certainly nothing to scare me as was the case with Bournemouth & Watford last season

Agree 100% Leon,keep the same 11 for Saturday. I don't think anyone's getting carried away but we bet a half decent team last night.

[rich_leeds64]

Lets see what the pairing of Bellusci and Cooper can do for an extended run. Even Bamba isn't immune to the one calamity per match syndrome, sometimes multiples.

Last nights back four looked as good as any combination we've tried all season and it resulted in a clean sheet. They deserve another game as they should have gained confidence and understanding from it.