Leeds Utd v Ipswich Town Match Thread

[Norm]

Rab, I thought that guy was very good, analytical, unbiased.
Well done to pick this clip up!

[NorfolkWhite]

Don't ever remember seeing a teams goalkeeper time wasting when the team is losing, seemed as though they were content to be losing 1-0, very strange

It seemed like they were willing to hang on at 1-0 and try and snatch a draw late on

Don’t understand the negativity, we totally outplayed a team that recently won away against Swansea, yes they are bottom, but from the game itself there looked a gulf in class. Not sure what more we want.

[Gurj]

Got the job done, efficiently and effectively ; was never going to be pretty last night as Ipswich came to stop us rather than play. Has to be said they are one of the worst teams I have seen in the Championship for many a year. Absolutely awful.

Samu looks jaded and unable to break free of the closer attention he gets from markers he gets now. Would make sense for Forshaw to take he's place. Forest will be a much sterner test of our credentials of challenging for automatic promotion. They have some very gifted players in midfield especially therefore he's combative style will probably make more sense than the Spaniard.

Phillips was majestic last night, Bielsa really has brought this lad on in leaps and bounds, that position in between the two central defenders is perfect for him and some of he's passing and interceptions last night were superb.

Great to have Pablo - back missed him so much and he showed why last night. Brings us that touch of class that no one other player can match in our squad.

[rich_leeds64]

A good number of posts expressing disappointment that we didn’t score 20 goals against a poor Ipswich side las night, up to our game they’d conceded 20 in 13 games which is roughly 1.5 per match so we actually scored more than the average goals per game.

It’s not always easy playing a poor side as at times you end up going down to their level. Last night we were never really threatened but when we were in stepped the outstanding Kalvin Phillips who dictated everything from the back.
Pablo shone in midfield with the creativity we’ve been missing in recent games.

The first half was where I thought we could have stamped our authority a bit more but 1-0 with a great header from Roofe was good enough for me. The second half we absolutely dominated and a great strike from Cooper made it 2-0.

All in all more goals would have been nice but a win is a win, we’re top of the League and our GD is +14 and the next best is West Brom on +10 who got thumped at home 1-4 by Derby. I dread to think how long the thread on here would’ve been if we’d lost by that score line at home to Derby!!!

[YorkshireSquare]

Pablo, oh Pablo, how I have missed you!

[HarryofOz]

Highlights

A couple of cracking goals and unlucky there weren't more

[herefordbornleedsboy]

Don't ever remember seeing a teams goalkeeper time wasting when the team is losing, seemed as though they were content to be losing 1-0, very strange

I agree. Unless they were looking at damage limitation with an important fixture on the weekend (pick your battles and all that)

[Newport white]

Some negativity on here is truly amazing!! I’m quite sure Boro and Sheffield Utd would have been delighted with a dominant display and most importantly 3 points this week!!!

[The Subhuman]

I think every other team would swap their performances for ours up to this point. Including the defeats, both of which we still played well in

[herefordbornleedsboy]

Are we maybe the victims of our own success? I don't think anyone (myself included) could have predicted we would win our first 4 games. Toppling relegated prem teams and promotion contenders home and away. I think the results and how we have performed over the last 8-9 games is closer to where I expected us to be at this stage! Flashes of brilliance. Good levels of creativity and a never say die attitude with some momentary lapses letting us down in places.
Interestingly, how well do you think West Brom would cope without Gayle and Barnes? That is the equivalent to what we have been without the last 6 or 7 games with roofe and Hernandez missing.
Top of the league. Important players back. Not conceding many goals and I think personally not far away from really taking a team to pieces. This season is there for the taking. MOT

[YorkshireSquare]

Are we maybe the victims of our own success?

I think so, we are not as good as many would have you believe after the first few games. That said we aren't bad side but will suffer when we have injuries due to to our relatively small squad. If we get our first choice players on the pitch we can beat any team at this level.

It's a competitive league, 6 points between top and thirteenth. Derby absolutely walloped West Brom last night and we made Derby look average. Teams at the top will be taking points off each other all season. If we can remain in the mix for the late push we have a great chance.

[Cjay]

Thought that was a pretty average performance against a side who offered little to no Resistance.

I dont think we ever got out of 2nd gear, yet we were still comfortably the better side, which says a lot about how good we are but also how bad Ipswich were.

Kalvin Phillips played really well, particularly liked the interceptions he did, where he just stole the ball by being a bit quicker then his opponent, that was good and showed a level of intelligence i didnt think he had.

Klich was limited in the role he was playing 1st half, but he was still calm and composed and really drove us on 2nd half imo, his passing again was brilliant, and he is underrated as a dribbler to, driving runs on quite a few occasions.

Roofe, thought he was ok, just ok not particularly good, but he scored a goal so that was his job really.

Berardi was a liability and while its never good when a player gets injured it was a blessing in disguise because he was a red card in waiting.

Alioski had a great game, far more threatening then the winger ahead of him and very unlucky not to score.

Pablo was just brilliant, better then everyone else and it was joyful to see him back

We will need to be better vs Forest, but we were comfortably good enough to beat a poor Ipswich side.

Bielsa got his subs spot on imo, Ipswich offered nothing going forward so Dallas at wing back made sense.

Saiz was dreadful once again, and is starting to annoy me, Forshaw was far better when he came on and it allowed Klich to get forward more.

Harrison was anonymous, how he got in ahead of Jack Clarke ill never know, hopefully Bielsa will correct that vs Forest. Alioski was fa more threatening as a winger then Harrison, and good to see Pearce come on and do well although i would have preferred Clarke.

[Dalton]

pretty much on the money CJAY. I would with Pontus for Berardi, Clarke for Harrison and start Forshaw for Saiz
both Saiz and Harrison can warm the bench with Dallas and Roberts.
Forshaw will bring a bit more bite to the midfield in a trickier contest on Saturday

[The Subhuman]

Saiz probably needs a rest to reset himself, he's trying way too hard. Klich steps into that position and Forshaw into Klich' for me. If we get douglas back soon then Alio to stay on the left over Clarke but I'd like to see Clarke over Harrison who for me is still not ready for English football. He will get there though by which time he's back at city and being loaned out to another Ch. side and playing against us ...

Unless we can afford to buy him and I would if it's at a decent price point and we agree a better wage than 50K is it?

Saiz can give Philips a break as we can rotate our 4 into 3 centre mids

[The Subhuman]

I too thought Berdadi yellow harsh and the tackle on the by line wasn't bad either with Beradi winning the ball as the Ipswich player fell into him.

[60sUnited]

pretty much on the money CJAY. I would with Pontus for Berardi, Clarke for Harrison and start Forshaw for Saiz
both Saiz and Harrison can warm the bench with Dallas and Roberts.
Forshaw will bring a bit more bite to the midfield in a trickier contest on Saturday

Agree with all of that Dalton and with those changes that would probably be our strongest side ( apart from Douglas), Saiz just isnt doing it for me.

[rab_rant]

Agree with all of that Dalton and with those changes that would probably be our strongest side ( apart from Douglas), Saiz just isnt doing it for me.

What about the pass to Hernandez who then crosses it to Roofe to power head the ball into the net.
I would have him on the field for that 1 second of vision. The lad will come good if we sing his song
loud enough.

[gessa]

What about the pass to Hernandez who then crosses it to Roofe to power head the ball into the net.
I would have him on the field for that 1 second of vision. The lad will come good if we sing his song
loud enough.

But then you can counter that with the twice he easily gave the ball away against Blackburn which lead to both goals, he's not playing well imo

[rab_rant]

But then you can counter that with the twice he easily gave the ball away against Blackburn which lead to both goals, he's not playing well imo

Cut the boy some slack. He is man marked by about 3 players. Most danger players get
doubled up on he gets trebled up on, so he is bound to lose the ball sometimes.
(Anyway where is the press when he loses the ball... it is not entirely his fault, but we do need a scapegoat don't we???)
You have to think with 3 players on him the rest of the team are only playing against 7
outfield players which makes a pretty good advantage.

[gessa]

Cut the boy some slack. He is man marked by about 3 players. Most danger players get
doubled up on he gets trebled up on, so he is bound to lose the ball sometimes.
(Anyway where is the press when he loses the ball... it is not entirely his fault, but we do need a scapegoat don't we???)
You have to think with 3 players on him the rest of the team are only playing against 7
outfield players which makes a pretty good advantage.

Rab he's not always marked by 3 players, if so then the others need a kick up the arse for not taking more advantage, not saying he's not a good player but the last half dozen games he's been very poor, as always all about opinions but personally I think he needs a rest. I'm never looking for a scapegoat but we can always look for improvement no matter who you are and if that means dropping our of form players then so be it.