Leeds Post Match Moaning

[funkyrobot]

Some of you anti NP guys have so much hate its unbelievable. At times this season, he's had the team playing some of the most entertaining style football I've seen city play for a very long time. Unfortunately, a few of our key players have had a recent dip in form (particularly knocky and nuge), this happens and this has meant we are struggling and not playing at the same level that we have been, although within the blip we did get a great performance against Blackburn and a brief respite from the NP haters. We have no divine right to promotion and this is a difficult league where everyone can beat each other, where some pitches and most of the referees are of a poorer standard than the premiership and where we've seen with Sven that you can't simply buy your way to success.

Btw Why you are people are feeling sorry for stringer I don't know, he's a journalist out to get a reaction and he's got an ego every bit as big as NP's.

[Danno]

Whitbread can't according to NP.

Moore out on loan.

SSL played 90mins yesterday. So that means we have no LB cover, why has he not prepared for this? Could have cost us 3 points and not just 2 tonight.

I don't see how he couldn't? He has legs and is left sided it's not brain surgery is it! .

Whitbread is an excellent header of the ball and perhaps could have been more dangerous in the box.

[LJS]

Pearson sounds to me like a man who knows his days are numbered. If our current form continues that will prove to be the case, and deservedly so. A couple more defeats and I suspect the owners will be wondering whether replacing him before the end of the season might give the side a boost for the run in. Either way I'm finding it increasingly difficult to believe that he'll be here come June.

And, truth be told, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to care. The same mistakes are being repeated and his response to being questioned is to bully. He is becoming less and less likeable. You can get away with that when you're doing an excellent job. But he isn't.

He has pissed me right off with his attitude to the supporters tonight. I said on here less than a fortnight ago that I thought he should be given another crack next season should we at least make the play offs. I've changed my mind. If we don't go up he can piss off. He shows no sign of believing he needs to up his game and is disdainful of anybody who questions him. There will be some attractive options in the summer and Nigel will find soon enough that he is not indispensible.

[Col city fan]

Some of you anti NP guys have so much hate its unbelievable. At times this season, he's had the team playing some of the most entertaining style football I've seen city play for a very long time. Unfortunately, a few of our key players have had a recent dip in form (particularly knocky and nuge), this happens and this has meant we are struggling and not playing at the same level that we have been, although within the blip we did get a great performance against Blackburn and a brief respite from the NP haters. We have no divine right to promotion and this is a difficult league where everyone can beat each other, where some pitches and most of the referees are of a poorer standard than the premiership and where we've seen with Sven that you can't simply buy your way to success.

Btw Why you are people are feeling sorry for stringer I don't know, he's a journalist out to get a reaction and he's got an ego every bit as big as NP's.

This is not about the football we have played this season. Some of its been top drawer.

It's about the fact that Pearson couldn't even be arsed to explain things to the fans basically because he's a mardy twat when being interviewed by Stringer.

THAT'S my gripe tonight and I say this to him. Respect us, give US answers, grow up or Fook off out of here. Stringer is doing his job, no more, no less.

[5waller5]

Some of you anti NP guys have so much hate its unbelievable. At times this season, he's had the team playing some of the most entertaining style football I've seen city play for a very long time. Unfortunately, a few of our key players have had a recent dip in form (particularly knocky and nuge), this happens and this has meant we are struggling and not playing at the same level that we have been, although within the blip we did get a great performance against Blackburn and a brief respite from the NP haters. We have no divine right to promotion and this is a difficult league where everyone can beat each other, where some pitches and most of the referees are of a poorer standard than the premiership and where we've seen with Sven that you can't simply buy your way to success.

Btw Why you are people are feeling sorry for stringer I don't know, he's a journalist out to get a reaction and he's got an ego every bit as big as NP's.

I don't feel sorry for stringer - he's a plank - but to be fair to him tonight he didn't ask anything stupid, just standard questions that NP should have handled professionally ..... but his responses were those of a 14 year old bully.

[Leicester_Loyal]

Our aim for this season according the majority of us on here was play offs. Whether we make that through being 3rd or 6th, it will be target achieved. Pearson has done well in his first season back so far, just need to make sure we stay in the play offs. Yes it's disappointing knowing how well we've played at times and how high up we've been, but maybe we have overachieved at times. Our owners may have had higher expectations than play offs, but I believe automatics this season would have been unrealistic at the start of the season.

Pearson deserves another season IMO. We've improved, he has reduced the wage budget, shipped out players that do not want to be here and brought in hungry young talent who will continue to improve season after season.

Stick with this core team, ship out another 3-4 players that aren't good enough and replace them with better ones. If we don't improve next season, then maybe think about replacing the manager, but to replace him for getting us just the play offs, especially after the past few seasons we have had? Madness.

[JonnyBoy]

why don't L1 sing anymore? Kop was louder than them tonight

[Basingstoke Fox]

Back home now, pretty happy with that for time.

Couple of points, Dyer at LB. Wtf! I wasn't too bothered about Schlupp leaving but if Dyers our cover at LB then I don't want Schlupp leaving!

I don't like 4-3-3

That celebration at the end was f***ing brilliant. F**k you Leeds United.

[funkyrobot]

This is not about the football we have played this season. Some of its been top drawer.

It's about the fact that Pearson couldn't even be arsed to explain things to the fans basically because he's a mardy twat when being interviewed by Stringer.

THAT'S my gripe tonight and I say this to him. Respect us, give US answers, grow up or Fook off out of here. Stringer is doing his job, no more, no less.

So you would seriously want a manager who has bought 'top drawer' football to city to leave, simply because he doesn't get on with one regional reporter (who incidentally seems to revel in his spiky relationship with NP)? Are you Ian stringer's dad?

[Col city fan]

So you would seriously want a manager who has bought 'top drawer' football to city to leave, simply because he doesn't get on with one regional reporter (who incidentally seems to revel in his spiky relationship with NP)? Are you Ian stringer's dad?

Why so flippant in your responses?

Don't you want a proper conversation?

I said SOME of the football has been top drawer.. Some has been pants too.

He needs to 'get on' with this one regional reporter. This is the reporter I mostly listen to re post match interviews. And I want them to be conducted properly so that I can hear meaningful answers.

If he can't do this after all this time then yes I would have no qualms in getting in a manager who can deliver both.

None at all.

[ian_marshall]

Tactically inept performance tonight. Was very surprised with how we set ourselves up. You know exactly what to expect when a Neil Warnock team comes to town and he didn't disappoint tonight.

Yet again a poor goal conceded at a set piece, despite a lack of any real threat from Leeds.

Kane looked woeful outwide and missed a couple of chances which he really should have put away. Drinkwater had another shocker and reminded a lot of Wellens tonight constantly slowing the play by passing sideways and allowing Leeds to reorganise by getting men back behind the ball. King played quite well tonight, but he appeared to assume the defensive duties of the two central midfielders with Drinkwater wasting many of the types of chances that King has consistently thrived on in the past. Knockaert, Wood and Nuge all look devoid of confidence and afraid to take a chance in fear of failure.

What does seem a little concerning for me this season is that many of the players don't look particularly fit, and appear to be quite jaded. This has surprised me, as during Pearson's previous spell at the club I always felt that this was one of his biggest strengths with the players superior fitness shining through and helping us to secure more points whilst other teams faded at what is a crucial stage of the season.

On a more positive note, I actually felt Waghorn played quite well when he came on and put in some decent crosses, one of which led to the goal. Also, despite the poor performance the goal at the end could prove monumental in determining our fate come the end of the season and end up being on par with Steve Howard's last minute header against Leeds in our league one season.

[Thracian]

Well a good many of you got your wish of playing without wingers and what a shambles it was. Everyone knew Warnock would send his players out to stay tight and compete and we played right into his hands by compressing the play and making the pitch smaller.

We really had no idea how to respond but should have stretched the play as wide as possible and made bigger spaces between the tight-marking defenders so that there were areas for players to run into.

Yes, Keane rescued a point for is and Kasper did his bit to see it wasn't any worse but really we allowed Leeds to dictate the pattern of play and only showed genuine urgency once we went behind and as the game drew to a close.

It looked as if we were trying to win promotion by default.

Whoever rated Dyer a "1" should be ashamed. Yes, he was arguably at fault for the goal but our defending from the corner that led to it was embarrassing. Two people went to the near post leaving no-one in the middle and novice left-back Dyer trying to defend a hopeless cause at the far post, poor sod.

Truth is he should never have been put in that situation yet, that error apart, he actually made a reasonable show of it. As I've mentioned before, you never see Dyer hide. Good or bad he's there to be seen giving 100%. And there were few others you could say that about either on or off the field.

Our limitations were there for all to see tonight. Knockaert, Marshall, Kane and Drinkwater looked next to naff with people pressuring them and that's simply no good for our cause. People will get up your arse in top class football and yet there was only the much-maligned King seemingly retaining his composure and continuing to do the simple things quickly and more or less accurately.

Even he made mistakes mind but he wasn't knocked out of his regular, mostly efficient style. Generally though, in the front two thirds, we had no idea and no ideas. Our passing was sloppy in many areas, our movement off the ball virtually non-existent and our lack of attitude depressing.

I've nothing against nice guys if they perform like Gary Lineker or Pontus Kaamark. But how we need some mean bastards in our side whether Pearson can bring himself to like em or not.

Yes, we did have some chances - Wood missing by far the best with a total mishit - and the Leeds keeper made some notable saves. But there were no signs of our team having any genuinely passionate desire to get promoted.

Only Schmeichel showed that. In fact he perhaps deserves an assist for his sheer bloody-mindedness in upsetting the concentration of the Leeds rearguard and even claiming a penalty with his single-mindedness.

The pity is we don't have an entire squad with Schmeichel's attitude.

[Col city fan]

Well a good many of you got your wish of playing without wingers and what a shambles it was. Everyone knew Warnock would send his players out to stay tight and compete and we played right into his hands by compressing the play and making the pitch smaller.

We really had no idea how to respond but should have stretched the play as wide as possible and made bigger spaces between the tight-marking defenders so that there were areas for players to run into.

Yes, Keane rescued a point for is and Kasper did his bit to see it wasn't any worse but really we allowed Leeds to dictate the pattern of play and only showed genuine urgency once we went behind and as the game drew to a close.

It looked as if we were trying to win promotion by default.

Whoever rated Dyer a "1" should be ashamed. Yes, he was arguably at fault for the goal but our defending from the corner that led to it was embarrassing. Two people went to the near post leaving no-one in the middle and novice left-back Dyer trying to defend a hopeless cause at the far post, poor sod.

Truth is he should never have been put in that situation yet, that error apart, he actually made a reasonable show of it. As I've mentioned before, you never see Dyer hide. Good or bad he's there to be seen giving 100%. And there were few others you could say that about either on or off the field.

Our limitations were there for all to see tonight. Knockaert, Marshall and Drinkwater looked next to naff with people pressuring them and that's simply no good for our cause. People will get up your arse in top class football and yet there was only the much-maligned King seemingly retaining his composure and continuing to do the simple things quickly and more or less accurately.

Even he made mistakes mind but he wasn't knocked out of his regular, mostly efficient style. Generally though, in the front two thirds, we had no idea and no ideas. Our passing was sloppy in many areas, our movement off the ball virtually non-existent and our lack of attitude depressing.

I've nothing against nice guys if they perform like Gary Lineker or Pontus Kaamark. But how we need some mean bastards in our side whether Pearson can bring himself to like em or not.

Yes, we did have some chances - Wood missing by far the best with a total mishit - and the Leeds keeper made some notable saves. But there were no signs of our team having any genuinely passionate desire to get promoted.

Only Schmeichel showed that. In fact he perhaps deserves an assist for his sheer bloody-mindedness in upsetting the concentration of the Leeds rearguard and even claiming a penalty with his single-mindedness.

The pity is we don't have an entire squad with Schmeichel's attitude.

Superb post...

[Bert]

Bit of praise for Waggy tonight too, didn't do a lot but whipping in corners the way he does is proving very dangerous.

[Col city fan]

Bit of praise for Waggy tonight too, didn't do a lot but whipping in corners the way he does is proving very dangerous.

I agree..

Waggy was every bit as good tonight as Kane, just not given as much time.

[5waller5]

Bit of praise for Waggy tonight too, didn't do a lot but whipping in corners the way he does is proving very dangerous.

His set piece delivery is probably the best at the club right now .... Just doesn't fit with him being a striker though - he should be on the end of them!

[iancognito]

The pity is we don't have an entire squad with Schmeichel's attitude.

Absolutely.

The phrase that comes to mind after tonight is back to basics. Pinch a 1-0 win at the weekend, remember how to control a game and grind the opposition down, not the other way round. The Blackburn game didn't seem to boost the confidence of the team and Pearson needs to earn his money and convince them they're still good enough.

[Happy Fox]

Blackburn are a poor excuse of a side they are not world beaters, even Peterborough beat them!

[The Horse's Mouth]

Blackburn are a poor excuse of a side they are not world beaters, even Peterborough beat them!

Peterborough even beat us.

[Happy Fox]

Peterborough even beat us.

Yes I am aware of that!

[Thracian]

Why so flippant in your responses?

Don't you want a proper conversation?

I said SOME of the football has been top drawer.. Some has been pants too.

He needs to 'get on' with this one regional reporter. This is the reporter I mostly listen to re post match interviews. And I want them to be conducted properly so that I can hear meaningful answers.

If he can't do this after all this time then yes I would have no qualms in getting in a manager who can deliver both.

None at all.

Couldn't agree more. Pearson is so condescending. Answering questions in front of the media is part of his job and the least Pearson can do is to accept that fact with good grace.

I don't know whether he's trying to model himself on Ferguson but if he is he should think again. Why? Because he's a million light years away from having Ferguson's licence.

Pearson thus far is a journeyman. Ferguson has the trophies to do and say more or less what he likes and, irritating though he can be at times, he's long earned the right to be respected.

Pearson needs to win things before he treats anyone with contempt...and then learn the sort of humility people like Sir Bobby Robson displayed.

[Kitchandro]

People should stop using Peterborough as a yardstick for anything. They're relegation fodder and yet they seem to beat a lot of the top teams especially away.

You can't use them to indicate which teams are good and which are shit.

To quote Don Goodman...

[Jonaldinho]

The performance was so average, some of Pearson's decisions so baffling and the post-match interview so poor that it doesn't feel like we've salvaged a point at all.

To start with, what formation were we playing? I've seen some mention a 4-4-2 and others a 4-3-3. Quite frankly, I don't really have a clue. We've got one of the best strike forces in the league in Wood, Nugent and Kane, but that doesn't mean we have to play them all at once. Kane is a striker, and he looked very average out wide, but that's not really surprising is it? For a team with so much attacking talent, we looked rubbish going forward tonight. Just rubbish. Knockaert was completely wasted, he's got a lot of talent but I am seriously beginning to doubt that Pearson has the ability to get Knocky to reach his full potential. I thought it was just a mess going forward, no one really knew what their role was and as a result, against a reasonably organised Leeds side, we struggled to create chances.

Bringing Dyer on at LB and having Knockaert infront of him was a recipe for disaster. He was targetted pretty much as soon as he came on, and inevitably their goal was from a corner that had come about through pressure on Dyer. It's not his fault, he's not a LB, and in Knockaert, he won't get much protection. But who wants Knockaert that restricted anyway? Pearson refuses to play Whitbread at LB because he's a CB. Well guess what Nigel, Dyer is a winger, and the decision to have Dyer and Knockaert as a left flank was utterly ridiculous.

Nigel's interview pissed me off. It's arrogant, stubborn, rude and it's the first time that I've really began to doubt him as the manager of my club. Ian can ask daft questions and make stupid comments from time to time, but he was perfectly reasonable tonight and I'm not sure Nigel understands that he's talking to the fans. It's the only way to hear his thoughts and to hear interviews such as tonights was extremely poor.

Something needs to be changed at home on Saturday, we can't start with Wood, Kane and Nugent upfront again. It doesn't often happen at home, but I thought today we looked clueless. Like everybody else, I've got severe concerns over our away form and mentality and if we can't rely on our home form then we're fvcked as far as I'm concerned.

Very worried after today.

Just a mention on Keane, he looked a class above today I thought. Big future.

[Dan LCFC]

We certainly aren't adding up to the sum of our parts.

We started with Nugent, Wood, Knockaert and Kane as attacking options and had to rely on a 90th minute equaliser.

Something is clearly very wrong at the moment and it seems to have kicked in very suddenly. We just aren't the same side that delivered 11 in 3 against Huddersfield, Bristol City and Middlesbrough as part of a five game winning run.

This, we appear to have completely lost our confidence even at home as well. We're not playing with as much endeavor, not playing quick and on the floor like early season.

I hate to say it but the signing of Wood has changed our style of play for the worst and I'm really fvcked off about it. The one thing I said about signing Wood was that I hoped we'd stick with our style because he'll certainly fit, he'll add a new dimension and he'll get his head on crosses into the box and force something, but unfortunately we're playing through him in a Howard-like role and he's not as good at it as Howard was for me. He's a very good player but I think his height is deceiving, he doesn't strike me as a great target man and he's more of a finisher, and the sad thing is in our previous style we used to carve nearly everyone open and a finisher is what we lacked.

Two poor teams, I'd say we slightly edged it. I loved the last minute goal but don't let that paper over the cracks. We didn't play to nearly our best, yet again, and as much as the Pearson doubters annoy me, I'm starting to agree with his interviews, I thought tonights was the worst of the lot; "it felt like a win", I died a little inside, we've just drawn at home to a side who haven't won away in over three months, we didn't play to our highest level, there's very little to be positive about reflecting back.

Another two points dropped and the top two is gone barring wins at Cardiff and a run of form like early season, but with the way we're playing, I couldn't be less confident we'll produce anything like that.

Not good enough and with Forest winning yet again, I'm beginning to worry more about them than Hull, Watford and Palace. That final day could be crucial for all the wrong reasons.

[Alf Bentley]

Tactically inept performance tonight. Was very surprised with how we set ourselves up. You know exactly what to expect when a Neil Warnock team comes to town and he didn't disappoint tonight.

Yet again a poor goal conceded at a set piece, despite a lack of any real threat from Leeds.

Kane looked woeful outwide and missed a couple of chances which he really should have put away. Drinkwater had another shocker and reminded a lot of Wellens tonight constantly slowing the play by passing sideways and allowing Leeds to reorganise by getting men back behind the ball. King played quite well tonight, but he appeared to assume the defensive duties of the two central midfielders with Drinkwater wasting many of the types of chances that King has consistently thrived on in the past. Knockaert, Wood and Nuge all look devoid of confidence and afraid to take a chance in fear of failure.

What does seem a little concerning for me this season is that many of the players don't look particularly fit, and appear to be quite jaded. This has surprised me, as during Pearson's previous spell at the club I always felt that this was one of his biggest strengths with the players superior fitness shining through and helping us to secure more points whilst other teams faded at what is a crucial stage of the season.

On a more positive note, I actually felt Waghorn played quite well when he came on and put in some decent crosses, one of which led to the goal. Also, despite the poor performance the goal at the end could prove monumental in determining our fate come the end of the season and end up being on par with Steve Howard's last minute header against Leeds in our league one season.

Excellent post. A series of perceptive points, especially re. King/Drinkwater dynamic, players lacking confidence (maybe because of fans?!), apparent lack of fitness & Waghorn (maybe he's "decent"?).... Hope you're also right about the parallel between the Keane goal & the Howard one as a catalyst for kicking on...