Leeds Pre Match

[Foxxed]

1 hour ago, Foxaholic ME said:

I cant believe  that a so called pundit  namely Lawrenson  forecast a Leeds win after we hammered them  4-1 away with about 6 players out  Regardless of result any normal fan or pundit  has it down as a home banker

Everyone loves to hate him. I normally don’t read his stuff but I decided to have a look after the criticism. So he said we have no Vardy and Leeds are dangerous because their tails are up after losing two and then winning one. Lazy really. Maddison and Barnes are in great scoring form. Without Ndidi we will struggle however. Not that he mentioned that of course.

 

3 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

I understand what your saying but yes given our circumstances I think it's worth giving it a go. If it's not working we can always change it to a back 4.

 

Sometimes out of adversity in Football discoveries are made .One thing Leeds are good at is moving at pace.  In this instance I think the benefits outweigh the risks. 

Would an out of position Fofana really be better than Mendy? Bren would get lynched if we lose because he decided to experiment with Fofana instead of using a proven and able premier league DM. We could always revert if it’s not working but that would mean using a sub early on against a good goal scoring team when we don’t have our main striker. But yeah I  would be fascinated to see how Fofana fairs.

[Foxxed]

1 hour ago, Foxaholic ME said:

I cant believe  that a so called pundit  namely Lawrenson  forecast a Leeds win after we hammered them  4-1 away with about 6 players out  Regardless of result any normal fan or pundit  has it down as a home banker

 

So he underestimates us, Villa, West Ham and predictably Everton. He seems to have a Leeds fetish too.

[Vardinio'sCat]

15 hours ago, Paninistickers said:

Their story this season is fascinating. 

 

A very limited set of players and a manager who sets them.up in an unbelievably naive style should be a recipe for disaster. 

 

But they've dug out regular wins all the way along. Baffling and fascinating in equal measure 

 

If Bielsa can improve the quality of his players over a few seasons, it wouldn't look quite as naive, imo. It's not a million miles away from Jurgen's heavy metal football, although that is a lot more pragmatic.

 

I reckon Bielsa's style suits English players pretty well, and English conditions are favourable. It's not going to work in Spain or Italy, but if he could get a better side together who knows? It's a great sub-plot of this strange season, crazy football for crazy times.

 

 

 

 

[Danny Clender]

Shhmeichel

Forfana Evansh Soyunshoo

Ddricardoh Mendeh Tillermonz Castan

All-Brighton Pereth Barnsh

 

That could be a twist option.

When Ndidi was out of action earlier in the season it forced us into a different shape, so it's plausible we mutate again. 

 

Stick option, obviously works in replacing like for like in Mendeh and Pereth.

In that option, I think Soyunshoo could easily come in for Forfana, for nothing more than introducing a subtle rotation plan for the forthcoming fixture pile on. 

 

 

[gerblod]

10 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I'm amazed after reading this, that most people think it’ll be a walk in the park!? We have no Wilf and Vards, they have their best team back.

I think their favourites. I’d actually be very suprised if we win to be honest.

No Premier game is a walk in the park - that's a given. However, in my estimation, you're assessing the absence of two admittedly pivotal players almost as if there's going to be only nine men lining up against Leeds. It's borderline catastrophisation.

The proof that the team is both resilient and skilled/talented enough was evident in the second half at Goodison. City outplayed Everton comprehensively - the Toffees made nothing of the half-chances they had. "Should have scored" and "missed a sitter" are gross simplifications of complex situations. The stats from the match indicate that City had tactical superiority - without Wilf and Vards. I suppose it could be said that we 'should' have won. Most of the better dailys confirmed that - given the balance of play. One gift by Fofana didn't make Everton any better than what they really are. It merely showed how accomplished Rodriguez is - given the opportunity.

The team, with Mendy and Perez, dominated when, according to your view, we might more likely  have been Ünder the cosh. We'll see, come Sunday.

 

[deanolegend1989]

1 hour ago, gerblod said:

No Premier game is a walk in the park - that's a given. However, in my estimation, you're assessing the absence of two admittedly pivotal players almost as if there's going to be only nine men lining up against Leeds. It's borderline catastrophisation.

The proof that the team is both resilient and skilled/talented enough was evident in the second half at Goodison. City outplayed Everton comprehensively - the Toffees made nothing of the half-chances they had. "Should have scored" and "missed a sitter" are gross simplifications of complex situations. The stats from the match indicate that City had tactical superiority - without Wilf and Vards. I suppose it could be said that we 'should' have won. Most of the better dailys confirmed that - given the balance of play. One gift by Fofana didn't make Everton any better than what they really are. It merely showed how accomplished Rodriguez is - given the opportunity.

The team, with Mendy and Perez, dominated when, according to your view, we might more likely  have been Ünder the cosh. We'll see, come Sunday.

 

I think it’s very very naive to think we dominated the game vs Everton and deserved to win. Had it not been for an awful keeper throwing a tame effort into the net, we lose, like we usually do in tough situations like that conceding the first goal.

We are a different team without Wilf and if you can’t see that then it’s fine.
Just don’t be suprised when we lose to the likes of West Ham, Everton and Fulham at home without laying a glove and wondering why we can beat Spurs. Chelsea and Southampton so convincingly recently then drop points vs Leeds.

[Spudulike]

2 hours ago, Danny Clender said:

Shhmeichel

Forfana Evansh Soyunshoo

Ddricardoh Mendeh Tillermonz Castan

All-Brighton Pereth Barnsh

 

That could be a twist option.

When Ndidi was out of action earlier in the season it forced us into a different shape, so it's plausible we mutate again. 

 

Stick option, obviously works in replacing like for like in Mendeh and Pereth.

In that option, I think Soyunshoo could easily come in for Forfana, for nothing more than introducing a subtle rotation plan for the forthcoming fixture pile on. 

 

 

Can't leave Hameth Justan out of that line up. 

[Danny Clender]

20 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Can't leave Hameth Justan out of that line up. 

Ooh that's good. 

You're absolutely right, crazy that he's already competing with Soyuncu, Castagne and Ricardo, such an amazing season he's having. 

[gerblod]

19 minutes ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I think it’s very very naive to think we dominated the game vs Everton and deserved to win. Had it not been for an awful keeper throwing a tame effort into the net, we lose, like we usually do in tough situations like that conceding the first goal.

We are a different team without Wilf and if you can’t see that then it’s fine.
Just don’t be suprised when we lose to the likes of West Ham, Everton and Fulham at home without laying a glove and wondering why we can beat Spurs. Chelsea and Southampton so convincingly recently then drop points vs Leeds.

You're being subjective about my comments re Wilf. He is, without doubt (as with Vardy) an impossible player to match from our squad - as were Kante and Mahrez. Yet, the team we are now is technically better - the defence in particular and with the presence of Tielemans, Maddison and Barnes. It gels as well as that 2015-16 squad and that  is worth any number of expensive recruits which Chelsea have found that out. We've been scoring the goals that Vards hasn't - which is a very encouraging sign.

That Pickford tipped the ball into his own net was fortuitous for us - just as Fofana's overpaced ball was fortuitous for Rodriguez.

My opinion is subjective but, as I stated, the journalists (at the Guardian, Independent, Telegraph and the BBC) all stated that we had second-half dominance. It just wasn't turned into goals.

That Wilf is injured is something that has to be lived with. If his absence does prove critical in those games you've cited then I will doff my cap to your presience - but I won't eat it .

[Nick]

On 29/01/2021 at 06:58, deanolegend1989 said:

Kasper 
Castange Soyuncu Evans Justin

             Fofana Tielemens

                  Madders

         Under Nacho Barnes

 

Think Nacho must start over Perez.

Fofana would be great in there and enable us to keep 433.

 

Only close one of me is Albrighton or Under. Really really rate albrighton for how he’s played but vs a Leeds team who are a bit gun ho, I’d like to see Under run at them and see what he can do.

 

There’s an argument to start Albrighton and bring Under on, either choice is ok for me and won’t have much of an impact on the result.

 

The biggest impact will be if Wilf plays or not, if he’s out Id love to see Fofana in there. It could be a master stroke if it works and worth a go, can’t hurt at all and gives height and physicality into the high energy team Leeds constantly show.

Playing a 5 at the back is ruining our strengths and playing 433 with Mendy is asking for to be hammered.

 

 

I think I've reached the point with your obsessional Mendy irrationality that it's getting hard to take you at all seriously buddy!

 

 

 

 

[Happy Fox]

Kasper

 

Ricardo

Evans

Fofana

Justin

 

Mendy

Tielemans

 

Ünder

Maddison

Barnes

 

Iheanacho

 

subs: Albrighton, Castagne, Cags, Perez, Ward, Fuchs and Hamza

 

[deanolegend1989]

1 minute ago, Nick said:

 

 

I think I've reached the point with your obsessional Mendy irrationality that it's getting hard to take you at all seriously buddy!

 

 

 

 

The sad reality is the stats back me up and show Mendy to be exactly what he is, a very poor limited player.

This is a board where I’ve heard ‘Jamie Vardy is not good enough for league 1’, ‘Ndidi will struggle to get back into the team because of Mendy’ and ‘I’d rather have Mendy than Kante’.
So I don’t take much on here seriously, other than a few posters who can give good arguments where I can see that they follow football.

 

 

[Sunbury Fox]

1 hour ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I think it’s very very naive to think we dominated the game vs Everton and deserved to win. Had it not been for an awful keeper throwing a tame effort into the net, we lose, like we usually do in tough situations like that conceding the first goal.

We are a different team without Wilf and if you can’t see that then it’s fine.
Just don’t be suprised when we lose to the likes of West Ham, Everton and Fulham at home without laying a glove and wondering why we can beat Spurs. Chelsea and Southampton so convincingly recently then drop points vs Leeds.

We were much the better team at Everton. If our goal resulted from a mistake, so did theirs, it's football.

 

As for missing Vardy and Ndidi for the next few games, what's your proposed solution? Should we just cede the points in all games until they return?

[HighPeakFox]

But Deano, you have already decided we're going to lose all sorts of games, and therefore, you are being negative on a set of predictions of what might be rather than just dealing with what is. 

 

Leeds might win, of course. But to say that they're favourites ignores all the evidence. They lost to Crawley and were highly unconvincing at Palace. It's a damn shame you fit your reading of the game around your unbending fixation about Mendy, because it's otherwise clear that you can be very observant. 

[deanolegend1989]

8 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

But Deano, you have already decided we're going to lose all sorts of games, and therefore, you are being negative on a set of predictions of what might be rather than just dealing with what is. 

 

Leeds might win, of course. But to say that they're favourites ignores all the evidence. They lost to Crawley and were highly unconvincing at Palace. It's a damn shame you fit your reading of the game around your unbending fixation about Mendy, because it's otherwise clear that you can be very observant. 

I just believe that Leeds having their fully fit squad back and us losing arguably 2 of our best players, means we are much more likely to lose than usual this weekend.

Call or negative but I call it realistic more than pessimistic.

It’s not a fixation with Mendy, it’s the complete change that we gave whenever he plays. It’s just my opinion that he’s not good enough. Nothing more nothing less.

 

14 minutes ago, Sunbury Fox said:

We were much the better team at Everton. If our goal resulted from a mistake, so did theirs, it's football.

 

As for missing Vardy and Ndidi for the next few games, what's your proposed solution? Should we just cede the points in all games until they return?

We were the better team, I agree. However not so much where we dominated and there’s only 1 winner. We were largely blunt and got a gift when struggling from behind as we have so often this year.

Maybe we deserved the luck for a change, but it was far from a game that we were always going to win..we could easily if lost it near the end, we looked vulnerable and Everton had injuries to key men.

 

When did I say we should just give up? I know you had a touch of sarcasm but me saying I think we will struggle without Wilf and JV is my opinion, am I not allowed to say that on a site if opinions?

I want us to win as much as anyone but do I think we have less chance with Mendy and Perez in for the 2 above!? Yes I do honestly believe that.

54 minutes ago, gerblod said:

You're being subjective about my comments re Wilf. He is, without doubt (as with Vardy) an impossible player to match from our squad - as were Kante and Mahrez. Yet, the team we are now is technically better - the defence in particular and with the presence of Tielemans, Maddison and Barnes. It gels as well as that 2015-16 squad and that  is worth any number of expensive recruits which Chelsea have found that out. We've been scoring the goals that Vards hasn't - which is a very encouraging sign.

That Pickford tipped the ball into his own net was fortuitous for us - just as Fofana's overpaced ball was fortuitous for Rodriguez.

My opinion is subjective but, as I stated, the journalists (at the Guardian, Independent, Telegraph and the BBC) all stated that we had second-half dominance. It just wasn't turned into goals.

That Wilf is injured is something that has to be lived with. If his absence does prove critical in those games you've cited then I will doff my cap to your presience - but I won't eat it .

In the same way I’ll be happy to eat my words if we get 7/9 points from the next 3 games. I believe that will really prove me wrong(happily wrong).

I just think we will drop points in maybe 2 of the games and get 4/5 points max, which won’t be good enough.

The stats and information all points to this over time and it’s too strong to ignore.

We have a good team around us , so it gives us more of a chance but It will be a lot more difficult.

[ARTY_FOX]

1 hour ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I think it’s very very naive to think we dominated the game vs Everton and deserved to win. Had it not been for an awful keeper throwing a tame effort into the net, we lose, like we usually do in tough situations like that conceding the first goal.

We are a different team without Wilf and if you can’t see that then it’s fine.
Just don’t be suprised when we lose to the likes of West Ham, Everton and Fulham at home without laying a glove and wondering why we can beat Spurs. Chelsea and Southampton so convincingly recently then drop points vs Leeds.

We absolutley dominated them. We also conceded with N'didi on the pitch who 100% could have put a foot in to try and block the shot but didn't really bother. 

 

Mendy came on won his duels kept it tidy and drew a couple of fouls what more do you want? Yea N'didi is better, but thats why he starts, your squad players aren't ever going to be better than your starting 11. Thats why your first 11 start games. 

 

We may well drop points over the next couple of games. Regardless of their current position wolves are a good side and absolutley solid so no shame there. 

[Pliskin]

We won’t just win, we will better them. They can’t defend, and there is no way they can play like they normally do with our fullbacks and wing options. It will be another example of men against boys. 6-1 I’m going for. 

[sdb]

No Vardy is a bummer. I'd like Kelichi to have a go. Get runners (Barnes and Under) around him, with Madders and Youri in behind, and he should gobble up the chances... possibly.

[deanolegend1989]

21 minutes ago, ARTY_FOX said:

We absolutley dominated them. We also conceded with N'didi on the pitch who 100% could have put a foot in to try and block the shot but didn't really bother. 

 

Mendy came on won his duels kept it tidy and drew a couple of fouls what more do you want? Yea N'didi is better, but thats why he starts, your squad players aren't ever going to be better than your starting 11. Thats why your first 11 start games. 

 

We may well drop points over the next couple of games. Regardless of their current position wolves are a good side and absolutley solid so no shame there. 

Cant blame Wilf for that goal though surely..Fofana made a mistake , then he stood off him when he clearly should press James as he’s the one player most equipped to doing what he did. Never going to slate Little Wes though, it’s a mistake but it’s irrelevant. His potential is enormous.

 

Mendy did nothing wrong as such but a good performance for Mendy is a steady eddy and that’s not what gets you top 6+.

I have nothing against Mendy, he’s average and normally that’s fine for a club like us in

the past, but currently we are aiming for CL and when you do that you need top quality players. Mendy isn’t that and In a tight season, these little edges are crucial. Of course Ndidi is injured, someone has to step in?

I suggested Fofana could do it and a few others also suggested that, yet because I’ve got a supposed agenda with Mendy, it means I can’t suggest things that could work brilliantly!?

 

And your correct, Wolves and Fulham away are potentially tough games and we could drop points. However we’ve only dropped points to Man Utd with our ‘strongest 11’. So I think if we get less than 7 points from these next 3 it would be another clear sign how we arnt as good without Wilf.

If we did say get 4 points from these 3 or even

less, you can bet you will hear people blaming Barnes and Madders for not scoring or Perez being a scapegoat or Tielemens for not influencing the game suddenly, or ‘how come we struggle vs Fulham’ etc etc. Same kind of suprised feelings when there has been a clear pattern and correlation so far that is staring it in the face.

Lets hope we can get a good 6/7 points and prove me wrong.

 

[lcfc sheff]

Madders as false no.9 👀

[ARTY_FOX]

2 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

Cant blame Wilf for that goal though surely..Fofana made a mistake , then he stood off him when he clearly should press James as he’s the one player most equipped to doing what he did. Never going to slate Little Wes though, it’s a mistake but it’s irrelevant. His potential is enormous.

 

Mendy did nothing wrong as such but a good performance for Mendy is a steady eddy and that’s not what gets you top 6+.

I have nothing against Mendy, he’s average and normally that’s fine for a club like us in

the past, but currently we are aiming for CL and when you do that you need top quality players. Mendy isn’t that and In a tight season, these little edges are crucial. Of course Ndidi is injured, someone has to step in?

I suggested Fofana could do it and a few others also suggested that, yet because I’ve got a supposed agenda with Mendy, it means I can’t suggest things that could work brilliantly!?

 

And your correct, Wolves and Fulham away are potentially tough games and we could drop points. However we’ve only dropped points to Man Utd with our ‘strongest 11’. So I think if we get less than 7 points from these next 3 it would be another clear sign how we arnt as good without Wilf.

If we did say get 4 points from these 3 or even

less, you can bet you will hear people blaming Barnes and Madders for not scoring or Perez being a scapegoat or Tielemens for not influencing the game suddenly, or ‘how come we struggle vs Fulham’ etc etc. Same kind of suprised feelings when there has been a clear pattern and correlation so far that is staring it in the face.

Lets hope we can get a good 6/7 points and prove me wrong.

 

You can put part of the blame on N'didi as he had a chance to put a foot in and didn't. Probably because Tielemans had shown Rodrigues on to his right foot but he still could have attempted to block but didn't   a good performance for mendy isn't a 'steady eddy' his bog standard is much like Albrighton probably a 7/10. Even sides challenging for Europe's big competition  need players like that. 

 

Personally I don't think Fofana would just walk into the position and be great. Its not an easy place to play. N'didi always seems to be in the right place at the right time and his positioning is exceptional, maybe only equalled by his tackling ability but then part of that comes from the fantastic positioning he takes up. Its not as simple as 'Oh he passes well let's stick him in'. 

 

Wilfred N'didi isn't the reason we lose to teams with a low block, its our inability to break them down and lack of a big man in the middle to aim something at. To be fair to vardy he's got a great leap and decent heading ability for his size, but he isn't beating two 6ft odd centre backs in the air that are happy to just sit deep and head it out all day. That's got nothing to do with N'didi. As we saw vs Everton those teams are also more than happy to bypass the midfield and get their forward chasing a ball with our defenders. Much like we have in the past. This is without even factoring in our inability to defend corners. N'didi can help with that but the bigger problem is having people like Tielemans marking their biggest threats.  

Edited 30 January 2021 by ARTY_FOX

[1972 Fox]

Still cracks me up every time. 

 

Edited 30 January 2021 by Blue Fox 72

[Cheesewedge]

2 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I just believe that Leeds having their fully fit squad back and us losing arguably 2 of our best players, means we are much more likely to lose than usual this weekend.

Call or negative but I call it realistic more than pessimistic.

It’s not a fixation with Mendy, it’s the complete change that we gave whenever he plays. It’s just my opinion that he’s not good enough. Nothing more nothing less.

 

We were the better team, I agree. However not so much where we dominated and there’s only 1 winner. We were largely blunt and got a gift when struggling from behind as we have so often this year.

Maybe we deserved the luck for a change, but it was far from a game that we were always going to win..we could easily if lost it near the end, we looked vulnerable and Everton had injuries to key men.

 

When did I say we should just give up? I know you had a touch of sarcasm but me saying I think we will struggle without Wilf and JV is my opinion, am I not allowed to say that on a site if opinions?

I want us to win as much as anyone but do I think we have less chance with Mendy and Perez in for the 2 above!? Yes I do honestly believe that.

In the same way I’ll be happy to eat my words if we get 7/9 points from the next 3 games. I believe that will really prove me wrong(happily wrong).

I just think we will drop points in maybe 2 of the games and get 4/5 points max, which won’t be good enough.

The stats and information all points to this over time and it’s too strong to ignore.

We have a good team around us , so it gives us more of a chance but It will be a lot more difficult.

Just thought I'd have a quick look and see what the opposing fans reckon of tomorrow's game. Think you are set up perfectly to play against our style. Do really rate you boys, our chairman has just come out and said youre the club we will try to emulate! 

 

Just thought I'd highlight the above though, we've been without llorente and now Koch pretty much all season. Our 2 International cb signings. Think it'll be strujik and Cooper to start and pace in behind will hurt them.

[ARTY_FOX]

14 minutes ago, Cheesewedge said:

Just thought I'd have a quick look and see what the opposing fans reckon of tomorrow's game. Think you are set up perfectly to play against our style. Do really rate you boys, our chairman has just come out and said youre the club we will try to emulate! 

 

Just thought I'd highlight the above though, we've been without llorente and now Koch pretty much all season. Our 2 International cb signings. Think it'll be strujik and Cooper to start and pace in behind will hurt them.

It'll be a great game for the neutral I'd imagine as alot of your games are. I think we'll both create alot making an entertaining game. I just hope our finishing is alot better than yours

[Jattdogg]

I don't see this being an easy game.  This is one of those games that could go 2-1 us , 2-2 or leeds 2-1.

 

Just depends on what city team decides to show up but i can't see us thumping them 4-0 or anything. Having said that i do hope i am wrong on the thumping part haha.