Leeds Utd v Arsenal Match Thread - Raphinha, Phillips and Alioski start, Rodrigo makes the bench by

[1964white]

I worry about Koch's confidence.
He has been part of defences that have conceded 16 goals in the last 3 games.

Personally, I would settle for a boring 0-0 draw. Just to stabilise things a little.

A clean sheet would be a massive improvement

[1964white]

Llorente is starting to worry me.

He missed 9 games through injury last season.

15 the year before.

There was a whisper that he is a bit injury prone which isnt going away.

Its also still a bit odd that if you read reports on him it specifically says he struggles as a left sided cb which is the side we required a replacement.

Early days but the injury record is a concern.

We are good at signing crocks

[1964white]

Llorente is starting to worry me.

My god we are missing Ben White a dual purpose defender, with our injury problems to Cooper & Phillips I'd have felt much happier with Ben around, sadly it wasn't to be!

[White Riot]

We are good at signing crocks

I'm sure Forshaw appreciates the company. Bit of different craic for him from Roberts, Douglas, Cooper, etc.

[Boo Radley]

Partey missing for Arsenal is a real bonus. His physicality and control in the centre would have been a problem for us.
Players back for us should lift confidence, which is badly needed.

[Lumiukko]

Dreading this game already with the injury list. No Rodders, Pablo, Llorente, potentially no KP and the high likelihood of Roberts (!) starting or playing significant minutes. Doesn't bode too well at all. There's no two ways about it that we need a couple more players in January, in particular a left sided CB, and a versatile creative 8/10.

[Fridge]

Let’s start Raphinha, Rodrigo and Phillips please

[dezzy]

Raphinha Costa and Harrison will start behind Bamford I think, Philips being back will be huge and will help protect Cooper and Koch.
Two big defeats on the bounce, makes this a really big game. It looks like a good time to get Arsenal, the big worry there for me is Nkethiah, ex players like haunting us, but I think we will win.
All our attacking players were with Leeds over the international break, Phillips hopefully was fit enough to train. Wouldn’t mind shutting up a few pundits

[Carrick Dave]

With Shackleton injured too I would say his selection is highly likely unfortunately, doesn't fill me with confidence!

I still can't believe we are having to start with players whom couldn't get into our championship first XI on a regular basis

So why not start Rodrigo and bring Roberts on if necessary? Seems like the logical approach.

[MightyWhites]

Don't know what he sees in Roberts. One good game in ten. Rapha has to start if fit as well as Phillips. The last two games has seen teams go through our central midfield like a hot knife through butter. Roberts needs to go out on loan or be sold because he is not improving under one of the best coaches in the world.

[1964white]

Don't know what he sees in Roberts. One good game in ten. Rapha has to start if fit as well as Phillips. The last two games has seen teams go through our central midfield like a hot knife through butter. Roberts needs to go out on loan or be sold because he is not improving under one of the best coaches in the world.

Championship player at best!

[Boo Radley]

It appears that Luiz and Ceballos had a fight on the training ground during the week after a bad tackle by Ceballos. Arteta is looking for the source of the leak. More pertinent for us is that Elneny is missing as well as Partey. They were easily Arsenal’s best two players in their win over Man U a couple of weeks back. Also the pressure is on Arsenal after the Villa game, and in particular on Arteta.

With players back for us and more time for most players to train together over the international break, it really is a chance to get this journey back on the rails.

[White Riot]

I know we're all excited about Phillips being back, and Rodrigo and Raphinha available, but they all haven't had much/any match time for a while so they could be a bit rusty in the first match back.

Hopefully, we get some favourable VAR decisions tomorrow

Seems like it's been months with this international break load of bollocks

[White Riot]

Don't know what he sees in Roberts. One good game in ten. Rapha has to start if fit as well as Phillips. The last two games has seen teams go through our central midfield like a hot knife through butter. Roberts needs to go out on loan or be sold because he is not improving under one of the best coaches in the world.

Roberts has show a few flashes at times, but its insufficient and then he gets injured again.

He's favoured position is striker, but he's then up against Hat Trick Bamford, Rodrigo, Gelhardt and Greenwood. I think he's still getting some game time now because we didn't sign a 10 in the summer, so our choices there are him, Rodrigo, Pablo and maybe Klich/Raphinha.

As a striker or 10, barring wholesale injuries, I think he struggles to get into our first team when the guys above are available. Once we get at 10 and striker next summer, if we stay up, then Tyro will be looking for opportunities elsewhere.

[White Riot]

In games against the top10 we've played 5 scored 8 and conceded 13 and gained 3 points.

In games against the bottom half we've played 3 scored 5 and conceded 4 and gained 7 points.

So, on a positive note, results wise we've done really well against the current bottom half, but very poorly against the top half.

Scoring 13 goals in our first 8 matches back up is very positive, but conceding 17 is disastrous.

The defensive errors we could get away with in the Championship are getting punished at this level as we're up against a better standard of opponent.

But to qualify this, we've had a number of injuries and players being unavailable, which probably hurts us more than most at this level, as the opposition generally have better quality squads. We had a number of new players come in with no pre-season, but that's true for all clubs. VAR's impact on matches is huge, and that's something we just have to accept, which hopefully balances out over the season.

We've also been pretty unlucky in most of the matches played so far, so we need a four-leafed clover.

[1964white]

In games against the top10 we've played 5 scored 8 and conceded 13 and gained 3 points.

In games against the bottom half we've played 3 scored 5 and conceded 4 and gained 7 points.

So, on a positive note, results wise we've done really well against the current bottom half, but very poorly against the top half.

Scoring 13 goals in our first 8 matches back up is very positive, but conceding 17 is disastrous.

The defensive errors we could get away with in the Championship are getting punished at this level as we're up against a better standard of opponent.

But to qualify this, we've had a number of injuries and players being unavailable, which probably hurts us more than most at this level, as the opposition generally have better quality squads. We had a number of new players come in with no pre-season, but that's true for all clubs. VAR's impact on matches is huge, and that's something we just have to accept, which hopefully balances out over the season

We've also been pretty unlucky in most of the matches played so far, so we need a four-leafed clover.

Two massive issues why we have only ten points on the board

[Leeds1000]

This really is a flip of a coin for me. Both teams coming off poor results and will be desperate to bounce back with a vengeance. I agree with everyone else, Raphinha as to start, in the bits i have seen he as the potential to be our most potent threat. Forget the wing... for me i think he can be our Kane (the best player in the PL for me).

If we lose today with another flimsy midfield then its time to look at another formation possibly 4-2-3-1 but we will cross that path later. I am sitting on the fence with this one and going for a score draw.

[mothbanquet]

Gone for a draw assuming both Phillips and Rodrigo are back. If not, then it's a case of mind the quality gap once again.

Not a game we can realistically be expected anything out of.

[White Riot]

Two massive issues why we have only ten points on the board

The defending is something Bielsa, his coaching staff and the players need to address pronto. This will also be helped by
our quality players returning to the side.

The quality in depth of the squad could be helped by more of the young uns coming through. But we really need to stay up to add top level quality to our squad next summer and in the future.

[1964white]

Gone for a draw assuming both Phillips and Rodrigo are back. If not, then it's a case of mind the quality gap once again.

Not a game we can realistically be expected anything out of.

I suspect both will be on the bench

Bielsa doesn't like to change a losing side