Aston Villa v Leeds Utd Match Thread - Struijk starts in defensive midfield

[mothbanquet]

Leeds have now scored 12 league goals, the most by a newly promoted club after six games of a season in the competition since 1992-93.

[Smudge3920]

Leeds have now scored 12 league goals, the most by a newly promoted club after six games of a season in the competition since 1992-93.

Some stats are just great to see hey ...

[andrewjohnsmith]

[1964white]

On Sky Sports News last night after the game the presenter asked Agbonlahor if Leeds could finish top 6 and he replied by saying "No, they'll finish 13th or 14th"
#Bitter and twisted

Goon like opinion from a very average ex-footballer

[John in Louisiana]

[CHAPELALLMAN]

Because Bamford scored a hattrick in the 2nd half

Paddy been brilliant this season

Time for his distractors to congratulate our No.9 for once

64 - my comment was written after Paddy had missed 2 chances in the first half, and before the 2nd half started. He had just had a stinker of a game against Wolves remember ...

I think the Daily Express put it well when they wrote ' it has to be said that whilst Bamford's laid-back style can drive some mad, it's a sight to behold when it comes off. '

As the Times put it ' Bamford's record in the top flight had been far from convincing, though, with only one goal in 27 PL appearances before this season. And two missed chances in the first half would have added to the discussions over his credentials. '

So the national press has been very much involved with the debate about Bamford's ability as a striker ( as well as many tv pundits ) - it's not just a moan by some of our whinging fans as some on here would like to believe. Also, fans of other clubs who we have faced have been known to take the p*** when it comes to Bamford missing chances in the past.

Bielsa said about Bamford after the game ; ' He deserves it.It's not that there have been any significant changes, it's just that now he is being more efficient. ' So that is a straight admission by none other than Mr Bielsa Himself that Bamford has been profligate in the past with his finishing.

I firmly believe that we would have been promoted the season before last with better finishing, however Paddy has undoubtedly made a good start to life in the PL. Hopefully his goal droughts of 10 to 12 games which happened twice before in the championship are now behind him. What seemed to happen is that he transforms into a much better player when he gets a bit angry - why do you think that John McEnroe virtually fed off volcanic feelings of anger in matches in order to perform at his very best ? Sports people have very different psychologies - anger will distract some, and make others transcend their normal level of performance.

[1964white]

64 - my comment was written after Paddy had missed 2 chances in the first half, and before the 2nd half started. He had just had a stinker of a game against Wolves remember ...

I think the Daily Express put it well when they wrote ' it has to be said that whilst Bamford's laid-back style can drive some mad, it's a sight to behold when it comes off. '

As the Times put it ' Bamford's record in the top flight had been far from convincing, though, with only one goal in 27 PL appearances before this season. And two missed chances in the first half would have added to the discussions over his credentials. '

So the national press has been very much involved with the debate about Bamford's ability as a striker ( as well as many tv pundits ) - it's not just a moan by some of our whinging fans as some on here would like to believe. Also, fans of other clubs who we have faced have been known to take the p*** when it comes to Bamford missing chances in the past.

Bielas said about Bamford after the game ; ' He deserves it.It's not that there have been any significant changes, it's just that now he is being more efficient. ' So that is a straight admission by none other than Mr Bielsa Himself that Bamford has been profligate in the past with his finishing.

I firmly believe that we would have been promoted the season before last with better finishing, however Paddy has undoubtedly made a good start to life in the PL. Hopefully his goal droughts of 10 to 12 games which happened twice before in the championship are now behind him. What seemed to happen is that he transforms into a much better player when he gets a bit angry - why do you think that John McEnroe virtually fed off volcanic feelings of anger in matches in order to perform at his very best ? Sports people have very different psychologies - anger will distract some, and make others transcend their normal level of performance.

Fair enough Chapel

Lets hope Paddy has less goal droughts & also scores more hattricks this season

[1964white]

Leeds have now scored 12 league goals, the most by a newly promoted club after six games of a season in the competition since 1992-93.

Another string to Bielsa's bow

[mothbanquet]

Another string to Bielsa's bow

He's going to end up with more bowstrings than Agincourt.

[Smudge3920]

[CHAPELALLMAN]

The man cannot win with some pople...lol that was a classic striker's goal "the tap in"... if it had been someone else you probably would have said .." where was our striker out of positiion as usual, he should be the one doing that" ...

Easy to look back at my comment retrospectively written before he scored two superb goals - see my reply to 64. It's not just certain fans who have questioned PB's finishing ability - the national press have too plus several tv pundits. PB's record in the PL prior to this season was one goal in 27 appearances, as was pointed out by the Daily Express in their match report.

Plus Bielsa conceded after the match that Bamford is now ' being more efficient ' which clearly means he feels that in the past PB has been profligate with his finishing....Now you wouldn't question Bielsa would you ?

[1964white]

[CHAPELALLMAN]

Fair enough Chapel

Lets hope Paddy has less goal droughts & also scores more hattricks this season

Cheers 64. At the end of the day I want this side to suceed as much as anybody. If Paddy becomes a legend like say Lee Chapman then I would be delighted about that too. Hopefully he has now turned the corner.

[Smudge3920]

Easy to look back at my comment retrospectively written before he scored two superb goals - see my reply to 64. It's not just certain fans who have questioned PB's finishing ability - the national press have too plus several tv pundits. PB's record in the PL prior to this season was one goal in 27 appearances, as was pointed out by the Daily Express in their match report.

Plus Bielsa conceded after the match that Bamford is now ' being more efficient ' which clearly means he feels that in the past PB has been profligate with his finishing....Now you wouldn't question Bielsa would you ?

Stop being defensive man... you just don't like him, it is apparent from your post's...and that's ok...we are all entitled to our opinions... but if as you say I am being "retrospectibve"...may I suggest you wait to the end of the game before commenting instead of jumping on him every move during the game.

[rab_rant]

Easy to look back at my comment retrospectively written before he scored two superb goals - see my reply to 64. It's not just certain fans who have questioned PB's finishing ability - the national press have too plus several tv pundits. PB's record in the PL prior to this season was one goal in 27 appearances, as was pointed out by the Daily Express in their match report.

Lord Bamford put the one goal in 27 appearances to bed in his post match interview.
In many of the games he came on in the last 5 minutes as a substitute. Wouldn't be
surprised if you only got less than 150 minutes under his belt.

You have lies, damned lies, and statistics.

[CHAPELALLMAN]

Stop being defensive man... you just don't like him, it is apparent from your post's...and that's ok...we are all entitled to our opinions... but if as you say I am being "retrospectibve"...may I suggest you wait to the end of the game before commenting instead of jumping on him every move during the game.

I've got nothing against him at all - I'm only interested in how effective he is as a striker. If anything, from what I have read about his academic background and his life away from football -. and judging by his unassuming manner whilst being interviewed - I think as a person he's a bit of a cut above many footballers. If he turns out to be a prolific striker for us in the tradition of Clarke, Chapman, Becchio and Beckford then I will be delighted.

This article below is a good one about PB. Notice how it mentions that at one point last season Bielsa got so frustrated with him that he dropped him. Of course, Bielsa does not publicly criticise players, and rightly so. Nketiah's subsequent untimely injury masks this fact ;

https://www.thesquareball.net/leeds-uni ... -provoked/

[Smudge3920]

I've got nothing against him at all - I'm only interested in how effective he is as a striker. If anything, from what I have read about his academic background and his life away from football -. and judging by his unassuming manner whilst being interviewed - I think as a person he's a bit of a cut above many footballers. If he turns out to be a prolific striker for us in the tradition of Clarke, Chapman, Becchio and Beckford then I will be delighted.

This article below is a good one about PB. Notice how it mentions that at one point last season Bielsa got so frustrated with him that he dropped him. Of course, Bielsa does not publicly criticise players, and rightly so. Nketiah's subsequent untimely injury masks this fact ;

https://www.thesquareball.net/leeds-uni ... -provoked/

But why is it so important to you to prove he is not worthy of his position... we have discussed time and agin in this forum, (and probably more since before my time) Just how much more than goals he bring's to the team... I will also point out (again) that Brentford had an amazing strike rate and 3 VG goal scorer's, so good totalled 57 goals for the team last season... Yet they did not even get promoted, let alone win the championship by 10 clear points... Yet with Paddy's all around skills and efforts involved , we did.

[CHAPELALLMAN]

But why is it so important to you to prove he is not worthy of his position... we have discussed time and agin in this forum, (and probably more since before my time) Just how much more than goals he bring's to the team... I will also point out (again) that Brentford had an amazing strike rate and 3 VG goal scorer's, so good totalled 57 goals for the team last season... Yet they did not even get promoted, let alone win the championship by 10 clear points... Yet with Paddy's all around effort involved , we did.

Bielsa clearly thought at one point last season that he was not worthy of his position - he dropped him. He then got an immediate reprieve through Nketiah's injury. I personally think that Roofe was a more effective striker for us in the championship. If Nketiah had started for us, then I suspect that he would have kept his position until the end of the season. You seem to think that Bamford played the major role in us securing promotion, but I think that Nketiah would have done the job just as effectively, if not better in the last half of the season.

A point I made a few days ago was that we were in the market for Haaland in the summer of 2018, but we opted for PB instead. I still think that this was a mistake, however hopefully Bamford will now lose his reputation for being a ' streaky' player, as that has definitely caused problems for us in the past. As the article mentions, he now needs to disprove that reputation through continuing to score in something like every other game. 16 goals last season in by far the most attack minded team in the division was really nothing to write home about. If you mean him leading the press as an example of what he brings to the side beyond just goals, then somebody on here pointed out that Roofe did this just as effectively. It's not a major skill for a striker to harry the keeper and defenders.

[1964white]

Bielsa clearly thought at one point last season that he was not worthy of his position - he dropped him. He then got an immediate reprieve through Nketiah's injury. I personally think that Roofe was a more effective striker for us in the championship. If Nketiah had started for us, then I suspect that he would have kept his position until the end of the season. You seem to think that Bamford played the major role in us securing promotion, but I think that Nketiah would have done the job just as effectively, if not better in the last half of the season.

A point I made a few days ago was that we were in the market for Haaland in summer 2018, but we opted for PB instead. I still think that was a mistake, however hopefully Bamford will now lose his reputation for being a ' streaky' player, as that has definitely caused problems for us in the past. As the article mentions, he now needs to disprove that reputation through continuing to score in something like every other game. 16 goals last season in by far the most attack minded team in the division was really nothing to write home about.

Strangly enough I wouldn't be surprised if Bamford scored 16 goals in the Premier League which would be a decent haul in the top tier of English football

[CHAPELALLMAN]

Strangly enough I wouldn't be surprised if Bamford scored 16 goals in the Premier League which would be a decent haul in the top tier of English football

Certainly a better haul than in the championship - it may turn out that the PL suits him much better.