Leeds Utd v WBA Match Thread

[whiteswan]

Kept my head down lately while some on here questioned Beilsa picking the same team? Hang your heads in shame

Why hang our heads in shame? Did you watch the Bolton game and the QPR games Newport? Absolutely awful. Every one of us is entitled to our opinion, without 'shame'! We haven't performed well in recent games, some of us thought a change might be the way forward, that's all.....we won well tonight, brilliant, but non of us should have to hang our heads in shame because of our thoughts and opinions.

[leic white 63]

Why hang our heads in shame? Did you watch the Bolton game and the QPR games Newport? Absolutely awful. Every one of us is entitled to our opinion, without 'shame'! We haven't performed well in recent games, some of us thought a change might be the way forward, that's all.....we won well tonight, brilliant, but non of us should have to hang our heads in shame because of our thoughts and opinions.

well said swan.
i for one was also screaming out for a change but more than happy i was proven wrong in fact i'm absolutely f**king ecstatic .
the beautiful game of ours is all about opinions .

[Genghers]

Why hang our heads in shame? Did you watch the Bolton game and the QPR games Newport? Absolutely awful. Every one of us is entitled to our opinion, without 'shame'! We haven't performed well in recent games, some of us thought a change might be the way forward, that's all.....we won well tonight, brilliant, but non of us should have to hang our heads in shame because of our thoughts and opinions.

True. I've stopped doubting Bielsa though! The man puts so much effort into match preparation that I can't believe that he would start a team that can't compete. He's shown ruthlessness when needed with early subs etc, but clearly has the utmost faith in this squad.

[Genghers]

So many positives from last night, getting away from the overall team performance:

Roberts growing into the number 10 role with some great direct running and lovely link up play. Would have been nice for him to get a goal just to cap the performance.

Bamford scoring another two. Is that 6 now in something like 7 games? He had an incredible run-in the other year, so hopefully he can repeat that and fire us over the line!

Alioski was absolutely everywhere. At one point he made a tackle on the right wing following a corner, only to be at left back to make a tackle on the edge of the box about 20 seconds later. For him to pop up in the 6 yard box in the 94th minute whilst playing as a full back just optimises his workrate and the mindset Bielsa has instilled in the players.

Midfield bossed it tonight. Phillips had a great game doing the simple stuff well, including a couple of excellent tackles to stop breaks before they were on. Klich and Pablo sublime - Klich especially caused their midfield some nervy moments.

Shackleton coming on for 5 minutes and creating 3 chances. He really does look the part and really versatile. He's played right back, centre mid and right wing for the first team this season and never looked out of place (other than the fact that's he has a 12 year old's face!).

Absolutely in love with everything about this team. I'm not only desperate to get to the Prem for the sake of it now, they all deserve to go into the history of the club. I doubt we'll forget Bielsa, even if we don't go up and he leaves, but I want him to carve that 'club legend' badge for himself.

[leic white 63]

So many positives from last night, getting away from the overall team performance:

Roberts growing into the number 10 role with some great direct running and lovely link up play. Would have been nice for him to get a goal just to cap the performance.

Bamford scoring another two. Is that 6 now in something like 7 games? He had an incredible run-in the other year, so hopefully he can repeat that and fire us over the line!

Alioski was absolutely everywhere. At one point he made a tackle on the right wing following a corner, only to be at left back to make a tackle on the edge of the box about 20 seconds later. For him to pop up in the 6 yard box in the 94th minute whilst playing as a full back just optimises his workrate and the mindset Bielsa has instilled in the players.

Midfield bossed it tonight. Phillips had a great game doing the simple stuff well, including a couple of excellent tackles to stop breaks before they were on. Klich and Pablo sublime - Klich especially caused their midfield some nervy moments.

Shackleton coming on for 5 minutes and creating 3 chances. He really does look the part and really versatile. He's played right back, centre mid and right wing for the first team this season and never looked out of place (other than the fact that's he has a 12 year old's face!).

Absolutely in love with everything about this team. I'm not only desperate to get to the Prem for the sake of it now, they all deserve to go into the history of the club. I doubt we'll forget Bielsa, even if we don't go up and he leaves, but I want him to carve that 'club legend' badge for himself.

excellent summary fella.

[Newport white]

Why hang our heads in shame? Did you watch the Bolton game and the QPR games Newport? Absolutely awful. Every one of us is entitled to our opinion, without 'shame'! We haven't performed well in recent games, some of us thought a change might be the way forward, that's all.....we won well tonight, brilliant, but non of us should have to hang our heads in shame because of our thoughts and opinions.

Point taken Whiteswan, I did watch the last two games and can understand your thoughts about changes however Beilsa knows the players inside out and their capabilities ( knows every opponents capabilities as well it happens) if he made two or three changes last night would we have seen a performance like that? I very much doubt it but everyone is entitled to their opinion

[Irish Ian]

Last night was an example of what it looks like when all parts of the machine are working in harmony. That performance was a real vindication of Bielsas ' methods. There were so many plus points to pick up on.

While there was a lot of creative play to enjoy I thought our tackling, especially in the midfield area was such a joy. We forced them time and time again to give up the ball easily. Hernandez was like a man possessed last night. And Ali, I wonder how many miles he ran?

[weasel]

Absolutely in love with everything about this team. I'm not only desperate to get to the Prem for the sake of it now, they all deserve to go into the history of the club. I doubt we'll forget Bielsa, even if we don't go up and he leaves, but I want him to carve that 'club legend' badge for himself.

Beautifully put and I would love to see Bielsa get the success with us that he deserves and to end his career with us (in a few years) and for his legacy to have the defining chapter it deserves. It is not just about tactics and formation but the dignity in which he does things and the way he wants the team and players to be more than just footballers. You can see why fans and players love him.

[weasel]

I don't think it is Bielsa's vocabulary to sit on a lead. There's gonna be a goal soon just no idea at which end!

I made this point when we were 2-0 up and WBA were looking threatening and we were starting to look dangerous when we broke. A lot of fans made the point that against Forest when we went in front we should have sat on the lead and gone defensive. However at that point in the Forest match we looked more likely than them to score.

In last night's match at 2-0 up if we'd gone defensive it would have just invited wave after wave of pressure and if WBA got 1 back we would have ended up camped in our half trying to cling on. Either method has its plusses and minuses but I felt we played our way out of trouble and looked more threatening than them and had wrestled control of the match back from WBA even before we scored the third.

[HarryofOz]

I made this point when we were 2-0 up and WBA were looking threatening and we were starting to look dangerous when we broke. A lot of fans made the point that against Forest when we went in front we should have sat on the lead and gone defensive. However at that point in the Forest match we looked more likely than them to score.

In last night's match at 2-0 up if we'd gone defensive it would have just invited wave after wave of pressure and if WBA got 1 back we would have ended up camped in our half trying to cling on. Either method has its plusses and minuses but I felt we played our way out of trouble and looked more threatening than them and had wrestled control of the match back from WBA even before we scored the third.

It is dangerous to try sit on a lead and defend for too long. But once you go two goals up you can keep attacking but be more circumspect about it. Although that is easy to say from the sideline

The Forest game was different. After we took the lead, Forest equalised before we had a chance to change the line-up. so there was no point in doing so.

[SG90]

Why hang our heads in shame? Did you watch the Bolton game and the QPR games Newport? Absolutely awful. Every one of us is entitled to our opinion, without 'shame'! We haven't performed well in recent games, some of us thought a change might be the way forward, that's all.....we won well tonight, brilliant, but non of us should have to hang our heads in shame because of our thoughts and opinions.

I agree. Fans had a right to be angry and upset by Tuesday's performance and it does start to concern you when we're fighting for promotion and play like that. I admit I was annoyed to see the same line up again, but thankfully the boys were excellent and everyone put in a performance. Hopefully this will make them more confident in their abilities if they can do that to a promotion rival.

[SG90]

Does anyone know when the cut off for 10 yellows is? Is it after Bristol City? I think Klich might be on 8, so hopefully it is soon.

[The Subhuman]

Second sunday in April apparently

[SG90]

Second sunday in April apparently

Oh really? That's very late in the season then. There'd only be about 5/6 games left, no?

[The Subhuman]

Was just a quick Google check

[The Subhuman]

http://www.ablueheart.com/premier-leagu ... cumulation

[weasel]

It is dangerous to try sit on a lead and defend for too long. But once you go two goals up you can keep attacking but be more circumspect about it. Although that is easy to say from the sideline

The Forest game was different. After we took the lead, Forest equalised before we had a chance to change the line-up. so there was no point in doing so.

I think a lot of managers, for the Forest game, would have made the sub immediately we went in front. Whether it would have worke dis a different matter because as you say Forest scored immediately. My feeling was that the players completely switched off when we went in front, it was coming on the back of those Villa and Blackburn wins and I feel the players felt they had won almost as if it had been another 95th minute winner. The celebration, when we went in front, worried me as it was way over the top considering how long was left in the match.

That said what a great game it was until the Forest goals. How many managers would have gone for it at 1-0 down and down to 10 men? I remember Monk getting praise for a match that we lost 2-0. It was against Brighton and they scored early and we had a man sent off. So at 1-0 down and a man down Monk just went completely defensive, trying to keep the game tight in the hope we could nick a goal from nothing. We conceded a late goal and he got praised because we were 'still in the game' for so long.

[weasel]

I agree. Fans had a right to be angry and upset by Tuesday's performance and it does start to concern you when we're fighting for promotion and play like that. I admit I was annoyed to see the same line up again, but thankfully the boys were excellent and everyone put in a performance. Hopefully this will make them more confident in their abilities if they can do that to a promotion rival.

It will hopefully give the players a big lift and hopefully restore confidence amongst the fans, however I fancy that most of our remaining matches will see performances much more like the Bolton and QPR ones. The hope though would be that Hernandez, Bamford and Roberts will have got their confidence back and we will be able to take the chances that we missed in the Bolton and QPR matches and especially like the QPR match get the win that we would have got if we had been more clinical, despite it being a poor performance.

Rarely does a team win promotion playing great football. I am sure last season Wolves edged a lot of scrappy matches due to a moment of individual quality rather than simply blowing opposition away.

[gessa]

I know the game was as good as over but just love Shackleton's attitude to the game, in general not just when he came on, his forward drives are very impressive, every bit as good a prospect as Clarke.

[1964white]

We've had some great games but that goes down as our :

Performance of the season

Every man jack of that side played their part. We played like champions making a team with plenty of premiership experience look very ordinary

Positives

Early goal, one of the quickest goals in our history.
Team performance.
Totally dominated the game.
First time we've scored four goals since Derby back in August.
At last we finished a team off & made it a comfortable ride for our fans.
Pablo's sublime strike + influential throughout the game once again.
Roberts growing into a top player, scared the living daylights out of the Baggies with his runs through the heart of their defence.
Alioski was everywhere, on the left, down the middle, on the right, at that back & finally from his LB role pops up in the six-yard box to tap in the 4th goal. Ali is like battery operated bunny.
Casilla deserved his clean sheet at last.
Ayling back on song.
Pontus & Cooper solid as a rock against their free-scoring front three.
My boy Phillips tenacious in midfield & at the back, some of those tackles.
Klich looking good again.
Harrison's best game of the season.
Bamford's two goals, led the line brilliantly up top.
Dallas, steady eddie.
Shackleton's impact in the few minutes he was on the park.
Magical atmosphere from the start to finish

Negatives

Only one quibble, we are still giving silly free-kicks away just outside box, on the plus side we are defending them well

Ratings

8 Casilla
8 Ayling
9 Cooper
9 Jansson
9.5 Alioski joint MOTM
9 Phillips
8 Klich
9 Hernandez
9.5 Roberts joint MOTM
9 Bamford
8 Harrison
7 Dallas
8 Shackleton