Leeds Utd 2-1 Wolves Match Thread - TSB at their best with Wolves rants.

[The Subhuman]

Happy to be mocked if I'm proven wrong, but I genuinely think Firpo will have a good season!

I think he might to, defensively he's more Llorente than Kristensen, more about positioning and interceptions than red blooded tackling... but he's very good coming forward. Would like to see him take some FK's around the box, that's a sublime left foot he owns

Also last few games he's gotten involved, plays with the Leeds heart on his sleeve.

[andrewjohnsmith]

That's the first Marsch game that I've actually enjoyed (I didn't see any in preseason). Much clearer attacking intent, if still looking vulnerable to a quick counter. Haven't really seen enough of the new players to comment. Very pleased for Rodrigo and his goal.

Surprised people are having difficulty with streams; clicked on the hockey web one, and it was perfect for the whole game.

I actually liked the 3-2 win at Wolves last year. Granted, we benefitted from a red card. BUt the drama was tremendous.

[SG90]

That's the first Marsch game that I've actually enjoyed (I didn't see any in preseason). Much clearer attacking intent, if still looking vulnerable to a quick counter. Haven't really seen enough of the new players to comment. Very pleased for Rodrigo and his goal.

Surprised people are having difficulty with streams; clicked on the hockey web one, and it was perfect for the whole game.

Probably because we weren't desperate and scrapping for points!

[White Riot]

why?
Overall I thought we defended well.

I'd disagree with that Ron, we're very vulnerable on both wings.

[andrewjohnsmith]

I'd disagree with that Ron, we're very vulnerable on both wings.

I agree with Ron. Poor for the goal but otherwise solid. Wolves had a good 20 minutes after the break and we withstood it well.

[White Riot]

The club need to do something about left back.

Our attitude to it this summer has been delusional.

Struijk was all over the place today.

As was Kristensen on a number of occasions

[1964white]

Klich on for Rodders how underwhelming.

From bad to worse

It wasn't the case mate, Klich made a difference & gave some order to our play.

[andrewjohnsmith]

It wasn't the case mate, Klich made a difference & gave some order to our play.

What we could all say with hindsight.

I was split on that one. Wanted to see Joffy. But was pleased to see that Marsch still values Klich.

[Jaydog]

It wasn't the case mate, Klich made a difference & gave some order to our play.

How was it in the flesh Leon? I feel pretty positive tbh. Stuff to work on but a great start surely

[White Riot]

It wasn't the case mate, Klich made a difference & gave some order to our play.

Yeah, agreed and amazed.

If he can continue like this then great.

[Chilli D]

I won't post now until tomorrow, but before you accuse me of backtracking, i'm in a positively/negative mood.

There's a lot to go on, and i only saw approx 20-25mins of the game, and let's see if any of you can nail what happened.

Kenny, have you tried using the Live Football Stream HD app? I use it all the time and it nearly always has the Leeds game on there when they are playing. You do sometimes (like today) have to watch it with German commentary though.

[Irish Ian]

So as it stands Spurs, Bournemouth, Arsenal and Newcastle are Champions League and we are tucked in at 5th, 8 wins from safety

[weasel]

A lot to be concerned with today. Wolves carved us open at times and it was like the worst of how we played last season and better teams will punish us more. We looked absolutely clueless in the second half until Klich came on. Full credit to both Marsch and Klich for that, Marsch for making the right choice and Klich for performing like that - I'm certainly not in the boat to write him off as I think played in the right position, with the right players around him he is still a very good player (having to do the donkey work next to the inept Forshaw will not make many players look good). There are certainly alarm bells with our defending, hopefully having Cooper back soon will help, for his organisational skills, and it may also be that we play a bit more defensive against the better teams but more gung ho against teams that Marsch thinks we can beat.

Both teams had an element of luck with the first goals and both teams wasted good opportunities. I think after seeing that performance I am still extremely concerned about how sh*te we look defensively but thankful we got the 3 points and feel we should have enough about us to finish higher than at least 3 teams. Not convinced about the manager, the players or the tactics but we should scrape enough points. 14th to 18th would be my prediction but hopefully we will improve as a team when the new players all settle in, Bamford gets up to full fitness and a couple come back from injury etc.

[Cjay]

Think people are being a bit harsh on our defensive aspects.

We have seen far far far far worse.

It wasn't perfect and because of how narrow we play and how we push the full backs on we will get caught out wide on occasion.

And because of the press and the high line we have to play in order to stop huge spaces being created between the defence and the rest of the team we will look vulnerable to the ball over the top on occasion.

If you want to press you have to have a high line or there is a huge gap.

I don't like the narrow attack but you could see the logic in it with the first goal, look where Aaronson was, if he is playing like Raph then that doesn't happen.

We cut Wolves open plenty of times ourselves.

Plenty to be encouraged with.

The style is what it is and if you want to push full backs on to provide width then you accept you will get caught on occasion (as Liverpool do, as Man City do) its the modern way.

Obviously better teams keep the ball better and thus get caught in transition less but everyone who pushes full backs on get caught on occasion.

It's the modern way

It's a hard one.

[Jaydog]

Think people are being a bit harsh on our defensive aspects.

We have seen far far far far worse.

It wasn't perfect and because of how narrow we play and how we push the full backs on we will get caught out wide on occasion.

And because of the press and the high line we have to play in order to stop huge spaces being created between the defence and the rest of the team we will look vulnerable to the ball over the top on occasion.

If you want to press you have to have a high line or there is a huge gap.

I don't like the narrow attack but you could see the logic in it with the first goal, look where Aaronson was, if he is playing like Raph then that doesn't happen.

We cut Wolves open plenty of times ourselves.

Plenty to be encouraged with.

The style is what it is and if you want to push full backs on to provide width then you accept you will get caught on occasion (as Liverpool do, as Man City do) its the modern way.

Obviously better teams keep the ball better and thus get caught in transition less but everyone who pushes full backs on get caught on occasion.

It's the modern way

It's a hard one.

I agree. But the Bielsa diehards won’t even though the similarities are obvious

[weasel]

Think people are being a bit harsh on our defensive aspects.

We have seen far far far far worse.

It wasn't perfect and because of how narrow we play and how we push the full backs on we will get caught out wide on occasion.

And because of the press and the high line we have to play in order to stop huge spaces being created between the defence and the rest of the team we will look vulnerable to the ball over the top on occasion.

If you want to press you have to have a high line or there is a huge gap.

I don't like the narrow attack but you could see the logic in it with the first goal, look where Aaronson was, if he is playing like Raph then that doesn't happen.

We cut Wolves open plenty of times ourselves.

Plenty to be encouraged with.

The style is what it is and if you want to push full backs on to provide width then you accept you will get caught on occasion (as Liverpool do, as Man City do) its the modern way.

Obviously better teams keep the ball better and thus get caught in transition less but everyone who pushes full backs on get caught on occasion.

It's the modern way

It's a hard one.

A bizarre posting Cjay. Suggesting that fans can't be harsh on the defensive aspects because it is the way we play that leads to that. That though is precisely the point though in that if we keep playing that way will we continue to be so open defensively - and if that is the case it is a huge worry. We were playing against a team that was abysmal as an attacking force last season, we weren't playing against a good attacking team.

As Mr Dog puts it the performance was reminiscent of the worst of the Bielsa matches defensively without the same attacking swagger (note we only had 39% possesion and onyl 12 shots compared to Wolves 15). All systems have strengths and weaknesses, Bielsa's did, Marsch's does but we should hopefully be good enough to get enough wins against poor sides to survive.

[Jaydog]

Now now. Sir Dog if you don’t mind.
Did Cjay suggest you can’t be harsh. Harsh on Marsch. He said maybe being a bit harsh. That’s a different thing altogether.

[Cjay]

A bizarre posting Cjay. Suggesting that fans can't be harsh on the defensive aspects because it is the way we play that leads to that. That though is precisely the point though in that if we keep playing that way will we continue to be so open defensively - and if that is the case it is a huge worry. We were playing against a team that was abysmal as an attacking force last season, we weren't playing against a good attacking team.

As Mr Dog puts it the performance was reminiscent of the worst of the Bielsa matches defensively without the same attacking swagger (note we only had 39% possesion and onyl 12 shots compared to Wolves 15). All systems have strengths and weaknesses, Bielsa's did, Marsch's does but we should hopefully be good enough to get enough wins against poor sides to survive.

It was absolutely miles away from being reminiscent of the worst of the Bielsa matches defensively Weasel.

Off the top of my head Everton had over 20 shots to our 7. Brighton I am fairly sure had 20 shots to our 10,11.

Southampton had 20 shots or very close to it to our 3 or 4.

And I haven't included the top 6 who often had well over 20 shots.

It wasn't perfect today but to suggest it was defensively as bad as some of MB's worst is simply untrue.

Reflected in the xG where Wolves managed just 1.06 to our 1.11

Wolves took a lot of pot shots from outside the box, 7 to our 5.

Is a case where stats don't tell the whole story offensively. We had the Bamford header, the 2v1 as well.

We didn't see any cbs walking through our midfield today either which was nice.

I like everyone have concerns about the narrowness of the style and the high line because we have snail cbs and the amount it may expose our full backs because of having no wingers in front of them.

We are vulnerable to a switch of play as well.

But I took encouragement from today despite the concerns.

Concerns I understand Weasel but saying it was reminiscent of BielsaBall at its worst defensively is plainly untrue.

Don't forget we are only aiming for 10-14th

Saw enough today to think 14th is achievable so Radz will be delighted.

What worries me more is that if we get something vs Southampton I can see this board deciding to leave the squad as it is.

They have shown before they are afraid to put cheapness ahead of the team.

[Boo Radley]

A lot to be concerned with today. Wolves carved us open at times and it was like the worst of how we played last season and better teams will punish us more. We looked absolutely clueless in the second half until Klich came on. Full credit to both Marsch and Klich for that, Marsch for making the right choice and Klich for performing like that - I'm certainly not in the boat to write him off as I think played in the right position, with the right players around him he is still a very good player (having to do the donkey work next to the inept Forshaw will not make many players look good). There are certainly alarm bells with our defending, hopefully having Cooper back soon will help, for his organisational skills, and it may also be that we play a bit more defensive against the better teams but more gung ho against teams that Marsch thinks we can beat.

Both teams had an element of luck with the first goals and both teams wasted good opportunities. I think after seeing that performance I am still extremely concerned about how sh*te we look defensively but thankful we got the 3 points and feel we should have enough about us to finish higher than at least 3 teams. Not convinced about the manager, the players or the tactics but we should scrape enough points. 14th to 18th would be my prediction but hopefully we will improve as a team when the new players all settle in, Bamford gets up to full fitness and a couple come back from injury etc.

I’d agree with this.

I know it’s early days and the team will gel and grow, but structural we are totally exposed to a team that can quickly shift from one wing to the other. Opposition wingers get a ridiculous amount of time to tee up an attack on the box. I would worry that we could end up suffering a couple of heavy defeats if this isn’t addressed.

On the other hand, we look to have enough to win against the average and poorer teams with the quality of our attack, especially if we get an experienced CF, and/or when Bamford gets back up to speed.

A winning start is great for confidence and takes some pressure off everyone at the club. Plus we’re now already 2 points up on our game against these cheats last year. Only 8 more wins needed.

[Irish Ian]

I agree. But the Bielsa diehards won’t even though the similarities are obvious

I'm a Bielsa diehard but I agree with Cjay on this one.