The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Thursday 18th July)

[Ellandback1]

Good Morning. It's Thursday 18th July, and here are the Leeds Utd headlines


Manchester Utd lesson may be a blessing in disguise

Whilst may, including myself may have pressed the social media panic button after yesterdays mauling against the Reds; having had time to reflect, there are many positives to take from it. Leeds built up some great attacks and only last ditch defending by(and I loathe to say it) one of the best teams in the World thwarted the Whites from making the game a lot closer than the scoreline .....

The Leeds squad only arrived in Australia over the weekend, whilst Bielsa landed in Perth less than 24 hours before the game. In contrast, the Reds have had over a week to acclimatise to the conditions and have already beaten Perth Glory 2-0.

The performance will certainly give Bielsa and his staff an opportunity to highlight any weak links which need to be rectified before the season starts. For me, our defence looked fragile. If we are going to stand a chance of going up automatically we need to look at our centre backs.




Casilla's performance

Much has been said about the former Real Madrid keeper becoming Leeds top earner. It is believed the shot stopper is taking home between £35,000 - £40,000 a week.

How was his performance against Manchester Utd? Can he be faulted for any of those goals? Would a better keeper have saved any of those?




Is Cooper a scapegoat

Does our Captain receive unjust criticism from the Leeds Utd faithful? I have to say sometimes, like yesterday he brings it on himself when he went sliding in on Chong getting nowhere near the ball! Unfortunately I haven't been able to etch out of my mind the last game of the season when he collided with Casilla in no mans land leaving Derby an empty net at their disposal. Out of respect for our Captain, I'm not even going to mention the needles penalty he gave away in that same game!

I have to be honest, last term was Coopers best performance in a Leeds shirt, and when you consider the many faultless displays, does he deserve some slack from the Leeds fans?



Leeds five star display against Tadcaster

A mixture of development players, and first team players which were left behind from the trip to Oz made easy work of Tadcaster Albion. Gotts, Clarke and a Edmondson hat trick saw the Whites show their superiority against their non league opponents.

A short back pass from Davis gave Albion a consolation goal.

[Ellandback1]

Anyone wondering who the trialist keeper was last night v Tadcaster.

His name is Max Johnstone. He came through the Manchester Utd academy, fell short, and joined Sunderland last season.

His older brother is Sam Johnstone, the West Brom keeper!

[faaip]

Can't read anything into the Manure game, everything was set up for them to win comfortably before they kicked off. Dallas/Roofe/Harrison were stand out for me.

Coops error v Derby was the big turning point in our season..not gonna rat on him for yesterdays pen. That was a stunning stop and turn from their player (no idea who it was) 99/100 Coop makes the tackle there ..or block, as the player turns the ball across the box.

[HarryofOz]

The Man Utd game doesn't mean much. When you play a team that is decidedly better than you, there is always a chance that you will get thrashed.

[Chilli D]

Morning All,

If we had have been playing anyone else in Australia the 4-0 scoreline wouldn't have bothered me but I hate losing to them more than any other club.
And I have to take stick from so called Man U fans that have never been anywhere near Old Trafford.
I sort of understand why this tour had to take place but the fact that Bielsa chose to leave half his first team squad in the UK says a lot about what he thought of it.

I tried to watch MU game but the picture kept freezing so I turned it off.
So I can't comment on Casilla's performance but I, like most people, are more concerned with the central defence. Beradi is a definite no no for me. A total liability guaranteed to get a least 2 red cards a season.

Ben White looked good at Tadcaster last night, very comfortable bringing the ball out of defence, but he hasn't really been tested yet.

I expect he will start the match in Italy so we will see what he is made of then.

Chilli

[Ellandback1]

Can't read anything into the Manure game, everything was set up for them to win comfortably before they kicked off. Dallas/Roofe/Harrison were stand out for me.

Coops error v Derby was the big turning point in our season..not gonna rat on him for yesterdays pen. That was a stunning stop and turn from their player (no idea who it was) 99/100 Coop makes the tackle there ..or block, as the player turns the ball across the box.

Morning Faaaip

Their player with the stop and turn is Chong.

He'd Dutch. He Captained MU's u23's last term.

He's a big unit.


You can't say that Coops error v Derby was the turning point. That was in the play off semi final second leg. Our very last game of the season!!!

[Ellandback1]

The Man Utd game doesn't mean much. When you play a team that is decidedly better than you, there is always a chance that you will get thrashed.

Evening Harry

[HarryofOz]

Evening Harry

G'day EB

[Ellandback1]

Morning All,

If we had have been playing anyone else in Australia the 4-0 scoreline wouldn't have bothered me but I hate losing to them more than any other club.
And I have to take stick from so called Man U fans that have never been anywhere near Old Trafford.
I sort of understand why this tour had to take place but the fact that Bielsa chose to leave half his first team squad in the UK says a lot about what he thought of it.

I tried to watch MU game but the picture kept freezing so I turned it off.
So I can't comment on Casilla's performance but I, like most people, are more concerned with the central defence. Beradi is a definite no no for me. A total liability guaranteed to get a least 2 red cards a season.

Ben White looked good at Tadcaster last night, very comfortable bringing the ball out of defence, but he hasn't really been tested yet.

I expect he will start the match in Italy so we will see what he is made of then.

Chilli

Morning Chilli, I share your concern for our centre backs. I did before we lost Jansson, so in effect I would want two quality signings there - but that's not going to happen.

I'd settle for Berardi only getting two reds. If he was a regular player, it would be 5 or 6.

[Ellandback1]

There has been a lot of speculation that Bailey Peacock Farrell is on his way to Turf Moor after not being selected in the squad to face Tadcaster Albion last night.

What fee would you want for him?

[SaraM]

What fee would you want for him?

3 mil?

Goalkeeper valuations are weird.

I can't ever see him featuring for the first team again tbh, so anything would be a bonus right now.

[Chilli D]

There has been a lot of speculation that Bailey Peacock Farrell is on his way to Turf Moor after not being selected in the squad to face Tadcaster Albion last night.

What fee would you want for him?

Yeah EB I immediately thought that when I saw he wasn't playing. Either he is leaving or he is injured.
Hard to know what price to put on him. He is still young but already a full international but he definitely has his weaknesses.
The fact that Miazek went to Australia and not BPF says to me that he is second choice to Kiko now.
On the subject of keepers - where is Will Huffer?

[Ellandback1]

3 mil?

Goalkeeper valuations are weird.

I can't ever see him featuring for the first team again tbh, so anything would be a bonus right now.

Morning Sara, I'd be overjoyed with 3m for BPF

[1964white]

Cooper/Casilla

Cooper is Cooper, got done by a world class turn, a defender should always stay on his feet though. The whole defence got torn apart by top quality forwards. Rashford was far too good for our lot causing mayhem every time he was on the ball.

Kiko our best defender coming out of box twice to avert danger as Man Ure thread passes straight through the heart of our defence, made a couple of fine saves.
Not only our best defender, he was our star man tbh

Tadcaster

Some strong performances but we have to remember we were playing Tadcaster Brewery who looked half-pi**ed for much of the game. Easy meat for the likes of Costa, Klich & Clarke. The only possible starter from our younger brigade on day one of the season v Bristol City is Ben White who looks a very assured & composed footballer, also possesses a touch of pace too. Would like to see him under a bit more pressure to establish how he would cope with competitive defensive duties

[mothbanquet]

You know, I thought back to quite recently when I had a 16 hours flight from the States. Just a few hours after landing back home I felt like death and didn't recover properly for a good couple of days. The flight to Oz was 24 hours I believe. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that they were all just plain knackered. They got off the plane and it was just non stop press events, training and then playing 90 mins for most of them. I'm really not surprised Coops and Berardi, even Douglas got done over like that, the timing was atrocious and they were likely in no fit mental state to be concentrating on keeping quality PL strikers and wingers at bay. I hope whatever cash we've made from this trip around the world is worth it, because those lads not only had to take pasting in an unfair game from our most hated rivals, but can't have felt too good about themselves after the result either. Really hope it was all worth it.

Taddy game was a nice training session by comparison. Ben White put only one foot wrong all game and recovered almost instantly, possesses a level of comfort with the ball at his feet I didn't even see in Pontus. Also took note of the way he moved when faced with oncoming attackers - there was one moment where their striker was coming at White and he didn't lunge in, didn't panic, just tilted his body back, kept his balance, corralled his man carefully and dispossessed him. Just that body shape alone told me this is a very good defender. You don't need power when you've got technique and White's looks very promising in that regard.

[1964white]

You know, I thought back to quite recently when I had a 16 hours flight from the States. Just a few hours after landing back home I felt like death and didn't recover properly for a good couple of days. The flight to Oz was 24 hours I believe. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that they were all just plain knackered. They got off the plane and it was just non stop press events, training and then playing 90 mins for most of them. I'm really not surprised Coops and Berardi, even Douglas got done over like that, the timing was atrocious and they were likely in no fit mental state to be concentrating on keeping quality PL strikers and wingers at bay. I hope whatever cash we've made from this trip around the world is worth it, because those lads not only had to take pasting in an unfair game from our most hated rivals, but can't have felt too good about themselves after the result either. Really hope it was all worth it.

Taddy game was a nice training session by comparison. Ben White put only one foot wrong all game and recovered almost instantly, possesses a level of comfort with the ball at his feet I didn't even see in Pontus. Also took note of the way he moved when faced with oncoming attackers - there was one moment where their striker was coming at White and he didn't lunge in, didn't panic, just tilted his body back, kept his balance, corralled his man carefully and dispossessed him. Just that body shape alone told me this is a very good defender. You don't need power when you've got technique and White's looks very promising in that regard.

Good post Moth

White looks so calm, I was also watching his positioning & movement off the ball, always seems to be in the right place at the right time. I'm praying he performs well if he's given an opportunity in August, right now the CB position is a main concern for me.

[mothbanquet]

Good post Moth

White looks so calm, I was also watching his positioning & movement off the ball, always seems to be in the right place at the right time. I'm praying he performs well if he's given an opportunity in August, right now the CB position is a main concern for me.

Aye mate, I honestly think he should be starting ahead of Berardi at CB, I've no doubts about it whatsoever. As you say though, the position is still a concern because as much as I obviously rate White, he can't do it alone. No one single defender is ever spoken of highly in a promoted team, it's the 'defensive pairing' or 'defensive partnership'. If we don't get another CB upgrade then hopefully he'll allow Cooper to play at a higher level, and maybe Strujik and Davis can learn a thing or two from him if he does well.

[Ellandback1]

According to the Daily Star Leeds are after Villa centre back James Chester.

Chester is currently out in America with the Aston Villa squad and he has established himself as a fan favourite with his no-nonsense displays as Villa won promotion back to the Premier League last season.

However Dean Smith has added Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause, after successful loan spells last term, and further additions in the form of Bjorn Engels and Ezri Konsa with competition building in defence.

[Ellandback1]

According to the Daily Star Leeds are after Villa centre back James Chester.

Chester is currently out in America with the Aston Villa squad and he has established himself as a fan favourite with his no-nonsense displays as Villa won promotion back to the Premier League last season.

However Dean Smith has added Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause, after successful loan spells last term, and further additions in the form of Bjorn Engels and Ezri Konsa with competition building in defence.

[mothbanquet]

According to the Daily Star Leeds are after Villa centre back James Chester.

Chester is currently out in America with the Aston Villa squad and he has established himself as a fan favourite with his no-nonsense displays as Villa won promotion back to the Premier League last season.

However Dean Smith has added Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause, after successful loan spells last term, and further additions in the form of Bjorn Engels and Ezri Konsa with competition building in defence.

So basically Costa-type circumstances but hopefully cheaper. Interesting...