The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Monday 26th April) Bore of the roses ends in stalemate

[Ellandback1]

Good Morning. It's Monday 26th April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...


Bore of the roses ends in stalemate

Manchester Utd's first visit to Elland Road for 11 years failed to live up to expectations in a game that was littered with mistakes from both sides. On a plus side, Leeds were able to thwart the Reds advancing at will as they did at Old Trafford four months ago. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made one change to their team that beat Burnley 3-1, with Daniel James in for Paul Pogba. Leeds were unchanged from their 1-1 draw with Liverpool, with Raphinha and Rodrigo sidelined. It may have been a different story had these players been available for the Whites!

The Reds dominated many of the statistics, but lacked a finishing product, due mainly to the back four. Llorente in particular stood out. The Spaniard made won four duals and made nine recoveries in the first half alone. Struijk too looked like a season pro with had many years under his belt. Leeds were unlucky not to get a spot kick early on, after Luke Shaw handled in the area. Astonishingly VAR checked the event and ruled in favour of the left back. He was probably saved as his arm was in a natural position. Late on in the first half Rashford had a free kick that Meslier had to be alert to, and tip over the crossbar. Apart from that the French shot stopper only had routine saves to make.

The visitors started the second half brightly, but woeful finishing and good defending let them down. Helder Costa's deflected piledriver landed on top of the net, when it looked like it may it may separate the two sides. Pogba, Cavani and De Beek were bought on by the visitors but Leeds held firm. I'm sure if we were asked if we would settle for a 0-0 against the Reds twelve months ago, many of us would have taken it. It may have been a different story had Rodrigo and Raphinha had been available for the Whites!





Bielsa has silenced critics - Wright

Ian Wright has suggested that Bielsa has silenced critics who doubted whether he would be able to make the Whites harder to break down, after their defensive display against Manchester Utd yesterday. Speaking on Match of the Day 2, the the former England and Arsenal legend said...

I think it’s a bit disrespectful saying he’s one-dimensional, he won’t adapt because what we saw today was them adapting, Kalvin Phillips, Diego Llorente and Pascal Struijk today were fantastic. They tracked the space rather than the men today, and they did it very, very well. Man United didn’t have any answers for them, they snuffed them out everywhere.

Orta was wrong to sign Rodrigo - Whelan

Pundit Noel Whelan has suggested that Victor Orta was wrong to have signed Rodrigo last summer. The former Leeds striker, who now works for BBC Radio Leeds, said that he would have preferred to bring in a younger player! Leeds paid Valencia £26m for the Spanish International. The 30-year-old has made 12 starts and nine substitute appearances this term scoring three goals and providing one assist. He has also been hampered by a series of injuries that have not helped.

I did think it was a lot of money to pay for a 29-year-old. When you think about longevity, what you are going to get out of a player, one season has already gone by. For the money we have spent, I would have much preferred to have spent that money on a player that’s 23, 24, coming into his prime.

[The Subhuman]

Good old Noel Whelan, still getting his opinions from Twitter..... Hope he's not paying too much for them

[The Subhuman]

I enjoyed the MU game by the way, a tactical treat. Never bored at all.

[YorkshireSquare]

Didn't think it was boring!

We weren't at our attacking best but we defended well in the main and hada few chances to break.

[Irish Ian]

Morning Folks,

Not bored here either.
As for some suggestions we were ultra defensive I just thought that was because Phillips had his hands full with Fernandez and could t get the midfield going, not because of our approach. Also as much as I hate to say it Maguire kept Bamford quiet too.

Whelan. My day never really gers going until I have heard his latest pearl of wisdom.

[HarryofOz]

We defended really well as opposed to playing defensively. We attacked when we could, but Man Utd are a quality team with plenty of talent who dominated the match.

What a difference it is to have the likes of Llorente and Struijk available and if you have to shore things up a bit more to be able to call on Koch.

We continue to play BielsaBall but with better defensive options available, the defending improves.

[VincentJames88]

There were a lot of comments from people that said the game was poor and boring , especially from Sky's commentators ! who kept saying they can't wait for the cup game to start but IMO that was dyer ! Spurs who are meant to be top 6 played worse and it was bad very bad.

[mothbanquet]

Sigh... When we play open we're a soft touch, when we tighten things up it's boring. Can't do right for doing wrong.

Was Whelan saying this when we first signed Rodders? Or is Captain Hindsight using his superpowers again?

[Carrick Dave]

Anyone know who Villa’s game in hand is against? It appears not to have been scheduled yet. The PL cutting it a bit tight!

Not worth commenting on Whelan.

[Chilli D]

Boring isn't the right word to describe the game but it was littered with poor passages of play by both teams particularly in midfield where it was very scrappy at times.
It was a defence dominated game particularly by us and it was good to see both Rashford and Greenwood getting frustrated.
A point well won, on to the next game.

[rab_rant]

The art of football according to Bielsa

Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. 

If the enemy is taking his ease, then you can harass him

Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.

we can only understand this game if we view it from the point of view of Zen. It was a dance it was a game of Go. it was a haiku poem.

this morning the one long hair in my beard made me smile because it was yours.


Sent from my Redmi Note 8 Pro using Tapatalk

[1964white]

I would call the game 'messy'

Still enjoyed the game though, our back six were magnificent, the other five played their part chasing & covering the Manure back line although the quality of those five was much less than the likes of Llorente, Struijk, Phillips, Ayling, Alioski & Meslier whom absolutely brilliant in maintaining a clean sheet.

As with the Burnley (h) Citeh (a) plus chunks of our home games v Liverpool & Chelsea we have proved we are not a one dimensional team as some pundits/fans may suggest!.

Still think having Llorente back & Struijk at the heart of our defence is key & the pair to go with for our final five games.

In the 7 clean sheets we've achieved since Christmas, Pascal has played at CB in every one of them.

Now we have our Spanish international back we can see where the weak link was with the other CB's who played alongside Struijk.

[1964white]

Anyone know who Villa’s game in hand is against? It appears not to have been scheduled yet. The PL cutting it a bit tight

Everton at Villa Park, Davy

Villa have a tough run in :

Everton (a)
Manure (h)
Palace (a)
Spurs (a)
Chelsea (h)
plus the the Everton (h) to be rearranged.

6 points in their last 8 games, all those points v Fulham, WBA, Newcastle & Wolves the worst teams in the prem apart from the Blunts.

[Ron Swanson]

I didn't think it was a bad game, both sides cancelled each other out.

If we are to be defensively robust against the better sides, we aren't going to be able to be as attacking - to me it is a price worth paying, and could be the difference between this side finishing 10th-12th and possibly competing for a European place, if we'd done this all season.

The front four didn't really do much and couldn't get Bamford in to the game, which was a shame. Though slab head had a good game.

Rodrigo... I'm inclined to agree with Whelan, to an extent at least. Though if he'd had a full season and performed well I'd probably not express that view.

[Ron Swanson]

Though to add, the way the game was ref'd didn't help...

Yanited players chucking themselves to the floor knowing the whistle would go.

If anything though it helped us, it meant that they rarely found themselves with the ball in the big gap we usually leave in the middle of the field.

[John in Louisiana]

I enjoyed the game; very entertaining. Then again, I'm easily amused.

Hate to say it, but we have to give scum some credit. Our lack of offense was down mostly to what they were doing, not what we weren't. Their press was highly effective and, as Ian mentioned, Maguire did as fine a job defending Bamford as anyone we've seen.

The big takeaway for me, though, is that we have demonstrated through the last six games that we can compete with anyone in this league, even when hampered by injuries to key individuals. Bielsa's boys are a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Good heavens, I love this team.

[Cjay]

Manure.

Not sure it was boring, frustrating yes, lacking quality on both sides, but not boring.

It wasnt a classic by any means though.

Wrighty.

He loves us doesnt he. Spot on Wrighty, MB is showing tactical awareness, game management, adapting to the threat etc.

He is evolving imo which is perhaps something he didnt do enough of in the Championship at times.

Rodrigo.

Whelan has a point on this imo, Rodrigo has been a flop so far. Yes unlucky with injuries and what not but 3 goals and 1 assist in the matches he has managed isnt enough.

I still believe that he was the wrong Rodrigo and that he simply doesnt fit the system.

For me this goes down as another Orta flop at the moment and if offered £25mil in the summer od sell.

[Lumiukko]

I'll agree with everyone else. Definitely wasn't boring and as far as watching a defensive masterclass, this was it. Bielsa has certainly shown he has learned a lot as the season has progressed and been able to implement tweaks to his system facilitated by getting all his defenders back. As far as attacking goes, Manure's press was very good and their forwards covered the spaces well high up the pitch to stop us finding easy balls out.

As for Rodrigo, Captain Hindsight (Whelan) is always right in his own head. I feel for Rodrigo, and bet he's as frustrated with his season as we have, not seeing him play. I think a full pre-season under his belt (and he's unlikely to be at the Euro's) will be hugely beneficial for him and the team and we'll see him flying next season.

[Smudge3920]

Lets not forget he finally has the players available to be able to make those "tweeks"... shows what a phenominal job was done during the injury crisis...

[weasel]

Some excellent points. For the main part Bielsa produced defensive masterclasses all last season and if we'd been more clinical we'd have had 100+ points and absolutely romped to the title. All the talk about defensive frailities in the media conveniently ignored the fact we'd lost White and then had non stop injuries. The media had a narrative and that was to almost ridicule Bielsa.

To hear Whelan speak is to suggest no 24 year olds get injured. Seth Johnson was 20 when he signed for us so there is no guarantee with any signing staying injury free. Llorente had been injury prone prior to signing for us (and for us) but if he stays injury free we have a bargain. Every signing has a risk of getting injured but to write someone off jsust because injury has robbed them of a chance to show their closs is plain silly.