Leeds United v Fulham FC - MATCH THREAD - Cooper & Rodrigo in for Struijk & Hernandez

[andrewjohnsmith]

Magnificent strike from Costa



Screenshot 2020-09-19 at 20.39.58.png

I was yelling at him for not hitting it first time. And then ... he was a Genius

[Cjay]

Playing against better teams really reduces the margin for error too. We could get away with a lot more last year than we will this year

It does although it was acceptable against Liverpool but not against Fulham.

There are teams in this league whose entire plan is to sit back and nick the ball during sloppy moments.

Wolves, Leicester, we have to be better we arent scoring at the rate we have been for the entire season.

[rab_rant]

My name is Robin, I am a German, and i must apologise for all the penalties my country has scored against England.

For this reason i must make amends by giving away penalties in every game i play in. It is the only way we as a nation can redeem ourselves, and by performing this act of contrition we can only hope that we will be forgiven.

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[Cjay]

That angle from behind to me looks like Bryan puts his right boot out to force contact?

Koch was definitely trying to pull out (hehe) but definitely the shot from behind makes me think Joe Bryan was determined to make contact.

[andrewjohnsmith]

That angle from behind to me looks like Bryan puts his right boot out to force contact?

Koch was definitely trying to pull out (hehe) but definitely the shot from behind makes me think Joe Bryan was determined to make contact.

Nobody on the Fulham team thought it was a penalty either, not even Joe Bryan. They all seemed caught off guard when the referee pointed to the spot.

[danhirons]

That angle from behind to me looks like Bryan puts his right boot out to force contact?

Koch was definitely trying to pull out (hehe) but definitely the shot from behind makes me think Joe Bryan was determined to make contact.

i'm obviously a leeds fan and I think it's a penalty and we'd be going mental if that wasn't given the other end

but does it really matter? the whole incident was totally avoidable if Koch had just stayed on his feet, why would you even take a risk like that?

[danhirons]

couldn't watch the second half as I had my own football game but Koch must be a bit of a concern for Bielsa

first game - handball penalty (arm in a crazy high position) and lost his man on the van dijk goal

second game - stupid penalty given away (almost lost one of the fulham players on a corner as well in the first half, just about recovered though!

need to sure up the back and quick otherwise we're going to struggle - great that we could hold on though

[Brolins_Ghost]

All agreed

I think Koch is fine. The only reason I fell sorry for him is when the fans who don't see the whole picture start knocking him for a single mistake. He was fantastic today. Anyone who really watches the game sees that. We've got a quality defender there. Better than Maguire, Stones, Ake for a fraction of the price

Agreed, Rob is going to settle into being a top class CB,he is just trying a bit too hard right now to prove himself to the team, but a couple more games to let him bed in and we will see just how good the lad can be.

[Cjay]

i'm obviously a leeds fan and I think it's a penalty and we'd be going mental if that wasn't given the other end

but does it really matter? the whole incident was totally avoidable if Koch had just stayed on his feet, why would you even take a risk like that?

It was avoidable, Costa should have tracked Bryan for a start and as you say Koch should have stayed on his feet.

But Koch did have a good game imo that aside, he had some vital defensive contributions, Hector header and one time when it looked like Mitrovic was going to get a chance Koch came across.

I'm more worried about our defensive structure as a whole and our goalie than just 1 person.

If Kiko had conceded the goals Meslier did today people would lose their minds.

[1964white]

[danhirons]

It was avoidable, Costa should have tracked Bryan for a start and as you say Koch should have stayed on his feet.

But Koch did have a good game imo that aside, he had some vital defensive contributions, Hector header and one time when it looked like Mitrovic was going to get a chance Koch came across.

I'm more worried about our defensive structure as a whole and our goalie than just 1 person.

If Kiko had conceded the goals Meslier did today people would lose their minds.

good to hear the rest of his game was ok except for the pen tackle, did look decent first half

i'd rather an average keeper who isn't going to flap at every second cross to be honest and so i'm more than happy with meslier - not sure he could've done too much different today other than being a bit in no-man's land for mitro's header

[andrewjohnsmith]

i'd rather an average keeper who isn't going to flap at every second cross to be honest and so i'm more than happy with meslier - not sure he could've done too much different today other than being a bit in no-man's land for mitro's header

I gave Meslier credit for a composed display. But you just reminded me of something I forgot. There was a cross that came right to him. It was so easy that I had time, to say, "Oh nice, easy take" and pick up my coffee cup before I was saying "WTF?" when he punched it. It was a strange choice because it was right at him and there was nobody near him. Other than that (the 2nd goal which he might have saved) he had a good game

[nickjett]

I gave Meslier credit for a composed display. But you just reminded me of something I forgot. There was a cross that came right to him. It was so easy that I had time, to say, "Oh nice, easy take" and pick up my coffee cup before I was saying "WTF?" when he punched it. It was a strange choice because it was right at him and there was nobody near him. Other than that (the 2nd goal which he might have saved) he had a good game

yeah I know exactly what cross you mean...and it wasnt exactly a great clearance of a punch

I'm not sure about meslier atm..everyone remembers the arsenal game. His distribution was insane..but since then, its been know where near as good. Yes hes an improvement on casilla and hes pretty good with his feet. But I'm not as fully confident as I should be if we had a been there and done it prem keeper.

He also seems to fall in slow motion to low shots lol.

I'm not saying hes not one for the future..just feel atm we need something stronger. Especially with how much space we seem to be giving opposing teams .

[Aussieleeds]

Some of us going negative pretty early. This is the same Meslier who kept those clean sheets last season under pressure. Same Meslier who made a couple of great saves against Liverpool. A different keeper and there’s no 2nd goal for Costa.

[rab_rant]

under unfair scrutiny

But the post match interview and the "Chichigua". incident will have endeared Marcelo and his interpretor to the hearts of the Spanish speaking nations.

With the smiles and laughter i thought they were both going to loose it, and had to do their best to keep it under control.
Wonderful to see the playful side of their nature.

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[BobHirst]

Last year I was convinced Orta misunderstood Bielsa when he said "I want Costa" I thought he was ordering a cup of coffee. This year it's starting to look like he did mean Helder Costa after all.

If that's the case, I wonder what he meant this year when he said "I want Koch".

[hector]

If that's the case, I wonder what he meant this year when he said "I want Koch".

[Smudge3920]

Spent the last couple of hours reviewing my thoughts on the game... earlier in a post I said we need to give serious consideration to acquiring a rock solid defenceman, I have since accepted that was an over reaction on my part based on going from 4-1 to 4-3.
Cooper can help Koch with his transition to Bielsa ball, and I do believe on reflection they will be a stand out duo given more game time (the next few weeks), as the season progresses and both Cooper and Koch get time with Struijk I think we will be just fine in this area of the field.

Glenlivet and a cuban havana do wonders to to help you settle down and really reflect on things ...

[mothbanquet]

Spent the last couple of hours reviewing my thoughts on the game... earlier in a post I said we need to give serious consideration to acquiring a rock solid defenceman, I have since accepted that was an over reaction on my part based on going from 4-1 to 4-3.
Cooper can help Koch with his transition to Bielsa ball, and I do believe on reflection they will be a stand out duo given more game time (the next few weeks), as the season progresses and both Cooper and Koch get time with Struijk I think we will be just fine in this area of the field.

Glenlivet and a cuban havana do wonders to to help you settle down and really reflect on things ...

The issues with this game weren't our CBs. Break down the specifics of each goal and you'll see just that. Maybe Meslier could have done a bit better but the crux of the issue was a) an unusually large gap left between Cooper and Dallas for the Fulham second because Harrison didn't track all the way back, and b) Harrison not getting back in time to stop the cross for their third. You can actually see him arrive too late and waft a leg up to block even though he was six feet away.

It's a well known fact that if you stop Mitrovich's service, you stop Mitrovich. He would've scored that header against most teams in the league, it's his bread and butter. The failure was in stopping the service.

Honestly I was worried that Harrison had picked up some sort of injury not long into the second half. He wasn't moving right all game.

[Smudge3920]

The issues with this game weren't our CBs. Break down the specifics of each goal and you'll see just that. Maybe Meslier could have done a bit better but the crux of the issue was a) an unusually large gap left between Cooper and Dallas for the Fulham second because Harrison didn't track all the way back, and b) Harrison not getting back in time to stop the cross for their third. You can actually see him arrive too late and waft a leg up to block even though he was six feet away.

It's a well known fact that if you stop Mitrovich's service, you stop Mitrovich. He would've scored that header against most teams in the league, it's his bread and butter. The failure was in stopping the service.

Honestly I was worried that Harrison had picked up some sort of injury not long into the second half. He wasn't moving right all game.

Hence my reflection and reversal of acquiring a rock solid defenceman. Also Mitrovich used Coops as a ladder on his goal, so the challenge wasn't as good as it could have been....the point I was making was that Coop's and Koch will be fine.