Leeds 2-0 Post Match Thread

[Plastik Man]

I couldn't make the game, being stuck at home suffering from covid.

 

I have to echo the comments about the amazon coverage all week, really refreshing.

 

As for our performance, despite some nervous moments overall it was good, and another clean sheet can only raise confidence even more.  Leeds weren't great, but we beat them. And there's plenty of very average teams in the EPL this season.

 

We're now seeing Ward, who missed pre season, increasing in confidence and looking better and better on crosses. And more evidence of the positive effect of our new set piece coach. Of course this has been helped enormously with the introduction of Faes, who plays so positively. Great recruitment!

 

Other than one rash charge into midfield from Amartey I think he looked OK, and has grown in confidence since his early errors in the Palace game. I'm not saying he doesn't have a ricket in him, but confidence is a big thing, and our passing from defence is looking a lot snappier too.

 

Tieleman's had a good game looking assured playing that deeper role, and whilst Soumare can still find himself behind a runner he is certainly improving, and with him in midfield we are certainly moving the ball vertically much better, surely no coincidence that the defence appear to be passing much quicker and more effectively? 

 

Whilst Praet faded due to lack of game time he also made important contributions. He provided more width on the right but he also provided more quick, forward movement. No-one can argue with Maddison's contributions recently, but perhaps his natural tendency to hold onto the ball and come inside can sometimes slow our movement forward?

 

KDH at times was a bit loose with possession, but his running and pressing adds so much. Rodgers speaking post match said he's told him he sometimes needs to slow down to improve his composure, I think that will come with confidence, which will come with getting more results like tonight.

 

Confidence has been an issue with many of our players this season,  there's still room for plenty of improvement ànd hopefully we're starting to see that build.

 

I'm keen to see if the midfield 3 can keep improving, if they can protect the back 4 sufficiently they do provide quick progression with Soumare in there, and the defence benefits from the leadership and positivity of Faes.

 

Rodgers wish for a refresh in the summer has been debated on here. It's clear changes needed to be made. Some of that can be  blamed on Rodgers previous recruitment and treatment of some players. I think the club has failed in some aspects too, perhaps the strength of the "family" feel to the club ultimately led to some more than generous wages? The changing transfer market post pandemic certainly didn't help, Tielemans would've possibly been sold in summer 2021 if any European teams had any money.

 

There's a long way to go yet, and we need to see if Rodgers can sustain these improvements, but I'm feeling more confident now than in quite a while.  

 

[st albans fox]

5 hours ago, chuck'em said:

They hit the bar from a speculative shot from outside the box. They never looked like scoring 

They did in that scramble at the back post after a deep free kick 

 

our Xg was 0.7/0.8 (two home games below 1 now).  Theirs around 1.2 which also isn’t good considering they were chasing a 2 goal deficit. 
 

We simply aren’t making many decent opportunities in games. I presume that reflects our position and desire to keep things tight and try to pinch results with a bit of quality. 
 

it’s a tough watch but it’s where we find ourselves. 

[Dahnsouff]

7 hours ago, Ricey said:

It was still a result of a mistake from Leeds. The move after that was sublime, but it was still a result of a mistake from Leeds.

Most goals start from a mistake by the opposition

[SheppyFox]

Once again, forgot we were playing.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

FoxesTalk before the game: Did you see Leeds against Arsenal? Full of passion and intensity. They are going to destroy us. 0-3 at least.

 

FoxesTalk after the game: We only won because Leeds are terrible.

 

Never change FoxesTalk. Never change.

[LCFCJohn]

Much needed win. 
 

Thought Ward looked much better, even collected corners! 
 

7 points from 12 looks better and 3 home clean sheets is better although given the last 4 fixtures, really should have been more than 7 but an improvement on the run before that.

 

Praet looked a good outlet on the right.

 

Unfortunately can’t feel positive as I don’t trust Rodgers not to undo it in the next game, probably drop Praet right away and chuck Madders back on the right.

 

Still Rodgers out, win was despite him and in zero way something he helped impact. 

[Matt]

7 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Out of interest, say Top sacked Rodgers in the summer after he (hopefully) kept us up, then gave a brand new manager a warchest (say 80-100m after existing player departures) to rebuild the side, how would you feel?

 

Because for as risky as it sounds, that's what I think the plan is. It might not be possible to get the preffered man in now, neither financially nor because they are available.

I'll probably just jack it in.

 

I did last season come January.

 

That opinion isn't based on us struggling or 'being shit', we've been shit more than good throughout most of my time as a Leicester fan, I can deal with that, I can get behind that, what I can't deal with or get behind is being bored of my club playing in the nonsense way we do.

 

I'm concerned the club are doing irreparable damage to my feelings about the club though, as I said I took some time away from going to games come turn of the year last season, I got back on board in the summer thinking he'd go, he didn't, I thought well ok, he won't last many games into the season, he has.

 

As the summer went on I claimed we'd wrote the season off before it had even started and that seems to be closer to the truth with every day that transpires.

 

If that is the way Top wants to play it, fuck it, let's get relegated, let's have a relegation on his and Rodgers' stewardship.

 

Edited 21 October 2022 by Matt

[RumbleFox]

9 hours ago, chuck'em said:

Which Ricardo? Ricardo now or Ricardo 3 years ago?

The one who makes my heart flutter. That wee little face of his. 

[Ricey]

1 hour ago, Dahnsouff said:

Most goals start from a mistake by the opposition

If we had conceded a goal like that everyone would be blaming the defender, not praising the quality of the goal.

[Ricey]

8 hours ago, hackneyfox said:

Most goals come from a mistake, if the defence were perfect it’s unlikely anyone would score. It was a great goal and a striker the quality of Shearer was purring about it. Enjoy it you miserable git.

It was a great goal and I said it was a sublime move after the mistake, but my point is that for the few chances we created all night we relied heavily on mistakes at the back from Leeds, which concerns me going forward.

[Dahnsouff]

Just now, Ricey said:

It was a great goal and I said it was a sublime move after the mistake, but my point is that for the few chances we created all night we relied heavily on mistakes at the back from Leeds, which concerns me going forward.

Oh not disagreeing but it is also critical we 'just win' a few to get confidence back, don`t really care how tbh

[Ricey]

5 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Oh not disagreeing but it is also critical we 'just win' a few to get confidence back, don`t really care how tbh

I agree, and my original post said how relieved I was, but I still don’t think we played well and it still really concerns me going forward.

[Leeds Fox]

2 hours ago, st albans fox said:

They did in that scramble at the back post after a deep free kick 

 

our Xg was 0.7/0.8 (two home games below 1 now).  Theirs around 1.2 which also isn’t good considering they were chasing a 2 goal deficit. 
 

We simply aren’t making many decent opportunities in games. I presume that reflects our position and desire to keep things tight and try to pinch results with a bit of quality. 
 

it’s a tough watch but it’s where we find ourselves. 

xG isn’t a barometer to look at really. Would’ve been higher had the ball made it past Koch when he put it in his own goal. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

Great result, dull as dishwater performance but I suppose given the predicament we are in, then needs must but in truth is this is what is going to be served up for the rest of the season then it’s even more reason for a managerial change. The build up to the 2nd goal was superb but it’s so rare nowadays and Vardy looks more isolated and starved of chances now than he did in the darkest days under Puel. 
 

We weren’t even flat track bullies last night, against a Leeds side that were on a par with Forest, any sign of genuine attacking intent last night and it could/should have been a cricket score. 
 

Vardy doesn’t look happy, I thought his link up play was pretty good and he was finding good pockets of space but never looked like getting a sniff of a chance. His face when he was taken off, too me suggests all is not well between him and Rodgers and that seems to have been the case since he was taken off against Man United. 
 

This squad is capable of so much more but is currently hamstrung by the tactical set up, we have become workmanlike rather than the high intensity, attacking, fast flowing football of the first 18 months of his reign. 

[Fox92]

2 hours ago, st albans fox said:

They did in that scramble at the back post after a deep free kick 

 

our Xg was 0.7/0.8 (two home games below 1 now).  Theirs around 1.2 which also isn’t good considering they were chasing a 2 goal deficit. 
 

We simply aren’t making many decent opportunities in games. I presume that reflects our position and desire to keep things tight and try to pinch results with a bit of quality. 
 

it’s a tough watch but it’s where we find ourselves. 

xG this and that. Load of rubbish. How was Leeds 1.2? At what point did they have a clear cut chance? They hit the bar from a 20 yard shot, wow. Other than that they offered nothing.

[Ricey]

Just now, Fox92 said:

xG this and that. Load of rubbish. How was Leeds 1.2? At what point did they have a clear cut chance? They hit the bar from a 20 yard shot, wow. Other than that they offered nothing.

Hit the bar, Summervillle had a good chance after Amartey stormed out, Bamford had a great chance in the second half from a cross but totally fluffed his header, Cooper had a good chance that Ward had to save at his near post and there was a header from Cooper from a corner late on that he should be hitting the target with.

 

They offered enough to score, but we did defend well when it mattered, especially Faes.

[Happy Fox]

The sooner Rodgers goes the better, hopefully decent managers out there the likes of Mauricio / Tuchel can see we have decent players, and we should be nowhere near or in the relegation zone. Rodgers has done too much damage to still be in charge.

[Clarkey123]

10 hours ago, MrT said:

Faes may not quite match Fofana in athleticism, but his composure makes him a better match for Amartey when Evans is out. Could he be a better match for Soyuncu too? We'll probably never know.

 

I thought Soumare played better too by not having to fill in defensive gaps as much, and picking out some good passes.

 

Overall, I saw a lot more positive passes, and even saw a few times players thought about playing backwards, but decided to go forwards instead 

I still felt Soumare looked a weak link and found himself out of position a fair few times. Against better opponents we likely get punished. Still of the opinion Mendy looks far more stable in there and better on the ball, even if he does lack Soumares physicality.

[taupe]

Major takeaway for me was how incomplete the United Nations of Leeds United are. They are real hotchpotch of cobbled together odds-ans-sods from around the globe. Each one perfectly competent but none that shine (at least not last night) They just don't play as a team and someone has their work cut out to get them firing consistently. Better than Forest? Dunno, just a different kind of shit.

 

As for us; good consistant performance for the 90 with a number of pleasing performances - Faes, Youri, Soumare, Barnes even Amartey. Nobody really shone but all had good games. Good to see Vardy contributing too.KDH ran his socks off and I would have been tempted to give Braybrooke a run for 5 or 10 minutes, but perhaps BR might have thought that too risky!

 

But, oh my, I've defended Perez in the past (not quite sung his praises though) and I do acknowledge his strengths but did he ever look so (shall I be kind?) rusty. Too many touches, not quick enough on the ball - he could have put Daka through at one point but tried to beat his man instead.  Praet can stay but Ayoze could look for a new club imo.

 

Pleasing result, pleasing performances and maybe we're starting to turn that corner... but let's not forget that Leeds were awful.

 

 

Edited 21 October 2022 by taupe

[Dames]

32 minutes ago, Leeds Fox said:

xG isn’t a barometer to look at really. Would’ve been higher had the ball made it past Koch when he put it in his own goal. 

In isolation it's not but over the course of the past 2 and a half seasons we've over relied on players in freakishly clinical form with Kelechi and Jamie or the odd wonder/long range goal from Maddison/Barnes.

 

We've seen at the start of this season that when we rely heavily on creating little but being clinical, we can really get caught out with a poor defence. 

[Twitcher]

Was very pleased last night, especially as all my family are Leeds.

Can we have Roberto Martinez at every game? The Belgians definitely responded; Tielemans' best game for a while. Leicestershire Live said Praet averted a crisis at No. 10. Well not quite; Truss still resigned, but he did play well. Faes best player on the pitch. 

I thought the whole team played well. Justin not back to what he can do, but otherwise all very good. Pleased for Ward with another clean sheet.

If we stay up having spent what we have, it could end up being a prudent season. I know they got a fair bit for Philips, but don't forget Leeds spent over £100m pre-season.

Still nervous about coming back to earth with a bump. Wolves are a decent team, and I do think we'll narrowly lose. However onwards and upwards.

Edited 21 October 2022 by Twitcher

[CUJimmy]

Potentially controversial thought here …

 

When Jonny Evans plays he is very much the leader on the pitch and the rest of the back four set their positions from him. Often, however, when he doesn’t play the ‘junior’ partner steps up to the plate and we look better for it.  We saw it with Cags, Little Wes and last night with Woutt.  I’m in two minds here and not suggesting we drop JE but it is a bit of a conundrum.

 

On a vaguely related matter, I hope someone has explained to Woooooout that we are not booing!

 

 

[CosbehFox]

Aaronson is a whiney little ****er ain’t he ?

[norwichfox]

10 hours ago, Izzy said:

"The market was really difficult for us..."

 

Its never been the same since Lineker's dad stopped trading there...

[Guest Col city fan]

26 minutes ago, Ricey said:

Hit the bar, Summervillle had a good chance after Amartey stormed out, Bamford had a great chance in the second half from a cross but totally fluffed his header, Cooper had a good chance that Ward had to save at his near post and there was a header from Cooper from a corner late on that he should be hitting the target with.

 

They offered enough to score, but we did defend well when it mattered, especially Faes.

Leeds were toothless up front. On a different day, the result could have been much closer and, despite the win, there were times when we still looked shaky.

The Wolves game will be a real yard stick of where we are at. Win that and it could be that we’ve turned a corner to some extent. Lose it and we then start a run of difficult fixtures without the confidence we might need to tackle them.

We played well overall last night but I’m not gonna do the typical FT thing of claiming ‘Faes is better than Fofana’ and all that gubbins. 

The next few games I think, define where we are at