Cjay

Credit to Steve Bruce for his subs, Grealish was a real difference maker, emphasising the strength in depth difference. We lost one of the best creative players in the league on his day in Hernandez and unproven Roofe came on. You had Jack Grealish who when he can be arsed is of similar class to Pablo. Now must try this sleep thing

I try to be fair when i go on other clubs forums. But a lucky spin which ended with Lansburys goal aside, for all you played better in the 2nd half i didnt feel you offered a threat. Can count 2 good chances for us plus our goal, Coopers header from a free kick, and the Saiz cross that somehow evaded 3 players. Not disappointed with a point, but overall we should have won and thats frustrating.

Improved second half but there were very few real chances created Probably frustrating for you, draw was fair as we were poor second half, but frustrating because i think we should have won (not sure if that makes sense)

It worked, you handled him very well. Didnt see much creativity from you in all honesty, bar the goal. But you shut down our 2 best players.

Am i allowed to post in here Poor game, scrappy and meh. We dominated the 1st half totally, wasnt even close and i felt we would go on to win. 2nd half was poor from us, you were the better side, although bar the goal there wasnt many chances for either side, we had the one flash across the goal that a few missed and the rightly disallowed goal. Saiz was poor today, worst performance for us, you handled him well, Alioski was hard working as usual but again handled pretty well. We missed Pablo when he went off, Roofe isnt the same class. Draw was a fair result on balance, although frustrated with the one across goal, the Cooper header and the disallowed goal (rightly so). Not a good game, but a point i would have taken before the game so not to disappointed.

Statistically speaking Boro were (and still would be had we not beaten them) the 2nd best defensive team in the league

While that is something most Leeds fans would agree with. Shouldn't be forgotten that from about this time last season, Charlie Taylor got injured and never regained the left back spot from Gaetano Berardi, who kept Taylor our of the team deservedly so after his return from injury, earning a 7.01 overall rating compared to Taylors 6.86. As for Wiedwald, he has come in for some stick, but statistically, he has a better record then people give him credit for, Felix Wiedwald- 12 games 7 clean sheets, 11 conceded Rob Green-21 games 7 clean sheets 21 conceded. Rob Green was poor for some time before he picked up his form, people forget that, as the stats show Felix hasnt actually done to bad a job. The Kyle Bartley one, that i will agree with

Just something you say, dont have to mean it

Should probably answer my own questions 1) From our point of view. First and foremost, individual errors have cost us, fans always look for excuses, but on this occasion it is possible to attribute blame for about 50% of our goals to an individual. Luke Ayling has been out of position for 5 or 6, Eunan O'Kane gave the ball away edge of our box at Wednesday, Andy Lonergan gifted Brentford 2 goals, at least 1 at Wolves, probably even 3 if you really analysed it. Not saying we deserved to win these games, but stupid individual errors have really cost us in all of them and more. Plus, our poor recruitment has been found out to a degree, Kyle Bartley and Charlie Taylor not replaced, Rob Green sold and replaced by Laurel and Hardy, Chris Wood sold and replaced by a very all or nothing player in Lasogga etc. Finally, think TC has maybe misjudged the physicality of the league, such was our early form TC maybe thought "well we can pass our way through everyone and play lovely football", this wasnt the case and after Millwall think the side have been in a state of shock, with small moments of clarity here and there. 2)Strengths- At our best we are a very solid and organised team, out of possession we maintain a solid shape, with players rarely out of position. Our midfield pair are young and combative, they wont allow your more creative players to settle and will both provide plenty of energy and drive, both attacking and defensive. Up front (if he starts) we have Caleb Ekuban, only his 3rd game of the season due to injury but he was brilliant, chasing down, using his size (hes 6ft2, not a small boy) and strength to occupy defenders, not afraid to have a run at the back 4, and use his pace to get into the wide areas creating room for the 3 behind him to play. Hernandez,Saiz and Alioski are the stars, they are so important, intelligent, skillful, love to run at defenders and crucially they interchange, the front 4 will swap, making them hard to man mark. Biggest strength though, the hard work and closing down of the front 4, especially Alioski, and Ekuban, they will chase and hassle your defence all game, the high press is a large part of any success we have had this season. Weaknesses- We have no powers of recovery, its very sad, but this side seems to have no fight in it, once we concede it all just collapses. Not a little collapse, a big collapse, what once before was a cohesive unit, is now a group of strangers running about like headless chickens. If you score first, you will win, thats it, simple as that. Our goalkeeping situation is a state, the guy we signed looked a bit uncomfortable (without making any massive howlers) early doors, and was dropped for Andy Lonergan (a guy who was pretty poor when we first had him) and he after some ok games turned into a disaster, now Wiedwald is back. While improved vs Barnsley he is susceptible to crosses, and if pressed his distribution can be taken advantage of. The defence, at its best as i mentioned above, at its worst it is a shambles, players out of position, nobody taking responsibility, dont always look entirely comfortable passing out form the back, press our back line and you have a good chance of prospering. 4) Front 4 can all be dangerous, but probably Alioski and Saiz most of all. 5) Bits here and there on tele. Defensively sound, well organised, hard to break down, players capable of moments of magic on there day. But not much pace, at times the play can be very slow and cumbersome, and lacked creativity on the times i have seen you. 6) No idea, we have 2 sides, totally different apart from being the same players, one is a capable of beating anyone in the league, the other would struggle in league 2. First goal wins it i think, id take a draw now however. Good luck for the game

Yeah true, can make them read however you please I use stats a lot myself

1) he deserved time, now its paying off. 2)Means you may be able to break us down, but at the same time may leave gaps for our tricky trio. 3)thats a very difficult period, 5 promotion hopefulls, a talented on there day very good Brentford and a physical and organised millwall, do well to get double figures point wise from that imo. 4)Like Davis, he's that young striker isnt he? Be interesting to see how he copes with Pontus who likes to er, rough up strikers. Interested to see how Snoddy copes woth a right footed left back, he likes to cut in but that will be onto our left backs stronger foot. 5) We can, but we can easily lose to anyone, that inconsistent. 6) I'd agree, 1st goal will take it. I'd take a draw now but score first and I'm confident.

But we do have 2 players who have either scored or assisted in every game they have played this season (statistically). Stats dont tell you how we could have easily beaten Bristol City by 6, or how should have been 2 up vs Wednesday before they had a sniff. Or how we had Wolves rocking (a lot) before the sending off, if anyone was going to score it was us. Or how Boro lost 2-1 but 4-0 would have been fairer (Boro fans admit that). How Fulham was technically a draw but we had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside. Or how the Barnsley score could have been doubled and it wouldn't have been unfair, same with forest and sunderland. There have been very few games where we were outplayed, more our own poor errors both in front of goal and defensively, which is more frustrating then just being beaten by a better side on the day. Wolves (1st half and post sending off), Cardiff, Sheffield weds (after 1st goal). Thats probably about it. Other games we had our chances or made individual errors and were punished. Not confident about the game because of your form and our inconsistent nature, but stats (i love stats) but they dont tell the whole story.

1) I like many were surprised how you started, given the money spent, the quality who arrived and the experience of the coach, expected much more. Now i suppose we are seeing what most of us expected, you near the top. On paper you always had one of the best squads,, unfortunately for you the game isn't played on paper..Certainly in great form now, as you say confidence breads confidence. 2) Seen you once or twice on tele, you always seem defensively sound, hard to break down and well organised, would expect that from a Steve Bruce side to be fair. Got some really good midfielders,, solid bunch, Snoddy stands out for me as a Leeds fan. But interesting you mention the attack, because when ive seen you (maybe its just been those few games), there wasnt much attacking intent, very very little creativity. Perhaps it was ones off because on paper there is no reason for it, just an observation i made when ive seen you. 3) I would expect you to be up there now, with the players you have an confidence that this form has brought. 4) Always rated him, going back to his Bristol days always wished we had got him. Should be interesting down your left, our right. Your form player is there directly against our form Goalscorer. Whats Adomah like at tacking back? 5) He is special, not perfect, tends to be a bit greedy or try and dribble when he needs to pass, but he is a very gifted player. Bit biased but we have played most of the "big clubs" now and i havent seen a bigger standout talent yet. Pontus is having a hit and miss season, can be awesome, can be dodgy. haha well feel free to have another bad period yourselves, starting Friday 6) I'm nervous to, think you are one of the form sides (just behind Wolves), you will be full of confidence and belief, and as a traditional "big club" cant see the hostile atmosphere at Elland Road bothering you as much as it does some. I'd probably take a draw if offered one now, partially down to yourselves and the above reasons, but mainly because we are the most inconsistent side in the league. You have really good sides, bad sides, average sides and then a few who are all 3. We are really good or really bad, and there is no in the middle, if you score first you will win (0 confidence in this teams powers of recovery),, flip side,, if we score first we will win (imo), we have scored first in every game we have won.. Whatever happens it looks to be very exciting.

Anything can happen, Wolves could have injuries, players could lose form etc. Nothing is decided yet. Theres a group of like 15 teams who could all be in the playoffs in 3 or 4 games if results go the right way. Anyone can have a run of bad form (speaking as a leeds fan i know all about that)

Hello again With the game only days away i thought I'd come back. Things are a bit different now, for both of us Whats changed from your point of view, is it a case of players playing better or Bruce getting it right? Etc. Your thoughts on your teams strengths and weaknesses? Win and you are for a spell 2 points of 2nd, are you more confident of Promotion now? Who should we be most concerned about from your players? Have you seen much of us? If so what have you thought? How do you see the game going?

Thanks for the replies

Agreed, the fact many thought he would end up as successor to Thierry Henry is even more silly, Henry was better then Walcott is now when he was 20.

In fairness that doesnt say much for Gabby . . Wenger has signed far more dross strikers then good. Francis Jeffers. . .Lucas Perez . . Nicklas Bendtner . . . Park Chu Young . . Marouane Chamakh . . Kaba Diawara etc

found it, thanks

Well that was an interesting read, thanks Didn't read it all, 600 pages, skimmed 40 or so, he certainly divides opinion, what i didnt know is at one point he had gone a full year without a goal, thats shocking for an attacking player. Even more shocking is the wage figures you guys had on there, £50-70k a week? That cant be right, greatest of respect he was never THAT good . We all love our academy lads, we have had a few and they get a lot more slack then non academy lads, but seems Gabby is wearing out his goodwill. From an outsiders perspective ive always thought of Gabby Agbonlahor as ok, in his younger days, when he had lots of pace, he was a threat, because he was quick, scored some goals and generally was a worry for the Prem defences. I didnt know till i read your thread about his erm, outside football issues. Now, he isnt anymore then an average Championship forward/Winger, there was a debate on there about whether he could manage 20 goals in this division, personally id say no, his ratio throughout his career is what, 1 in 4, yes, largely against better teams in the Premiership but also surrounded by better players and service so it balances out. He isnt a bad option from the bench, but if you were relying on him to fire you to promotion i think you would be down here till the day he retires imo.

And since i typed the above reports have appeared about us entering talks with the council about a new training ground. So add that to question 10, cant fault the new owner, he seems to have a long term plan and thats all we can ask for.

I guess it is similar, altough i didnt like Warnock when he was our manager and still dont like him now . Ah thanks, i had a slow down because at the rate i was going i would have ran out of teams by January, signed up to Sheffield United the other week havent said anything yet, thats useful thanks. Alright, i did earlier but will again as maybe changed slightly. 1)Cant really fault Thomas, can nit pick about our recent away form maybe but on the whole 5th place after 11 games is very impressive for a man new to this division. The style of football he is trying to play is what football fans wish they watched, Barcalonaesque, slick, fast, high pressing, attacking football. Its not been perfect, we look vulnerable at the back all of a sudden but so did Manchester City in Peps early days. Not suggesting we are Manchester City but the style we both strive to play is the one TC and Pep grew up with in Barcelona, so there are similarities, it took Pep time to get it right, will take TC time to. 2) Pontus Jansson is technically a new signing since he was on loan last season, he has almost godlike status among the Leeds fans, cant remember the last player so universally adored.He has had his wobbles, but at times he has been a one man defence and for me is the best cb in the division, others will have there own opinions of course, but he has been a colossus. I think hand on heart every team in this division would want Pontus if they could have him, and we are very fortunate, even next to Kyle Bartley last season he stood out, Bartley never looked half as good without Pontus next to him, something the media may not have picked up on, but Leeds fans did. With Pontus Samu Saiz has been a revelation this season also, against Sheffield Wednesday, a game we lost, but in the first 20minutes we should have been 2-0 up, and during that period Saiz was running rings around them, thats not been a one off he has looked a class above in practically every match, for a new player to this division he has adapted well and should only get better. 3)Happy with the start, as i said earlier 5th after 11games is great, when you factor in this is practically a new side, playing a different style of football, under a different manager with different ideas it becomes even more impressive. Not getting carried away, we have had a wobble, but thats all it is, its not a catastrophe yet, looking at other forums some have written us off now, but i dont agree. You look at our last few results and see we lost, but thats all people will see, what they may not see is at times we did dominate all these games, we had our chances and failed to take them, which is a problem, but offers hope. We go ahead and we win, thats how its been this season so far, which makes sense because we like to play on the break with pace. The Nottingham Forest performance was honestly one of the best performances i have seen in this division from anyone ever, it should have been 6-0 and if we can find that performance again i honestly dont think any team will be able to contain us, but its all ifs and buts. The defence has looked iffy recently, but up until these last few games it looked rock solid, we kept 6 clean sheets on the bounce i think it was, so that shows that we can defend, just need to iron out these mistakes. All that being said our goalkeeper worries me, he doesnt look comfortable with crosses and is giving us fans heart attacks, but so did Rob Green, in the first 4 -5months he was a total liability, but in the final few he was a hero, so we just have to hope thats what happens with Felix Wiedwald. 4)Cardiff much as it pains me to say it, they were solid, they took there chances, they stopped us playing our style, tactically spot on. Worst, i guess Burton, but i quite like Burton, underdog and all that, so i'll say Sheffield Wednesday. They may have beaten us, and they deserved to, but my god they are awful to watch most of the time. Slow, devoid of any flair, just boring stuff, ironically they were completely the opposite against us, but that was the one off instead of the norm, i find them so boring to watch. This isnt Yorkshire bias, i'm not from Yorkshire, just never been impressed with them, they have got to the playoffs twice in a row, so must do something right, but ive never watched them and thought "wow id pay to watch this, its exciting". 5)Oh erm, cant remember who i said earlier but we need a cb, tempted to say Terry, class at this level, but i will stand by the man i kept banging on about on our forum, gonna say Harlee Dean. Think he is class at this level, statistically he was better in every area then Bartley, and for what Birmingham paid for him, total bargain. 6) You changed the question lol, i was so confused, thought "im sure i didnt write that". Its difficult, the start has given us all hope, and if we perform how we have at times then yeah, dont see why not. The defence is concerning, and if anything derails us it will be that, either our calamity keeper, or even worse, a serious injury to our Swedish superman. Losing Pontus for a while would be a disaster, and if that happens then i think we may struggle. Overall though, yes i think we will be around there, the hope is that we should get better as we go on, players get used to the style, the manager learns more about the division etc. But as you know, no guarantees in this division, you can look like the second coming of Peps Barcelona one week and the next week, you can look like David Moyeses Sunderland. 7)Again it is difficult, theoretically yes, but in real life terms who knows, we may lose Pontus, Ronaldo Vieira, Luke Ayling, Samu Saiz, Gianni Alioski and TC if we dont go up this season and have to start again. But i am confident we will be there soon enough, within the next 3 years is my prediction. 8) Pontus Jansson, as impressive as others have been, Saiz, Ayling, Lasogga etc, without Pontus we dont look like half as good a team. 9) Wolves, Cardiff, Leeds . . . . . Burton, Bolton, Sunderland. 10) Absolutely love the man, no worries whatsoever about him, he has done everything he said he would so far, so cant really complain.

Id forgotten about Ireland, N'Zogbia, Lescott and Richards, they must have cost you a fortune. Is Agbonlahor not popular with you guys? always assumed he was because he was a local lad, but guess that can only get you so far, the fact he hasnt reached 100 goals for you in what 12 years suggests he may not be all that. If he was available for a good price id take Jedinak at Leeds for a season, think he is quite underrated myself. Samba was a strange signing i thought, hows he done? Yeah as you say, i guess the worry is if you dont go up this year you will have to sell one of the younger stars, Hourihane and Kodja would fetch a decent amount i would think, but then who do you replace them with? Really like Kodjia, if you had said we will swap you Kodjia for Chris Wood in the summer id have happily taken it, more of an all round forward for me, good player. As you say it is quite smart in one way, older players arent on long term contracts so you wont have them to long if it goes pear shaped. I do think you paid over the odds for some, Chester for example, £10m, we got Pontus Jansson for £3.5m, just seems you have been taken advantage of in the inflated English market. Kodjia and Jedinak i rate, surprised to hear he hasnt impressed you? I like Kodjia a lot, £15m seemed ridiculous at the time for a Championship forward, but i guess thats the market now unfortunately Elphick you dont rate? we looked at him allegedly. . The Ross McCormack we had was a great player, cant fault him on the pitch at the time, but always got the impression he thought he was better then he was, billy big bollox, always after wage increases and such. He has fallen from grace so fast, unfortunately for you it cost you £12m, cant really fault the club on that one imo, they didnt know that Ross was going to all of a sudden become useless. Dont know anything about Gollini and Tshibola, just they cost a good chunk of cash and dont seem to do much. Haha yes its a sate state of affairs when you put it like that, RDM wasted a ton of cash on poor/ unmotivated/over the hill (whatever way you look at it) footballers. The goalie doesnt like Birmingham? he actually said that? I suppose RDM did what he thought was best, as you say all transfers arent going to work out, just looks worse when the money spent was so much, if it had been £5m total nobody would complain so much i guess, just say "well we had a punt, they didnt work out, not much lost, move on". But when your new star striker wont climb a gate, yet his chubby middle aged manager will that is damning, and RDM will always be remembered as the man who spent huge money on a lazy git. I didnt realize you had let so many go, Bruce clearing out the dead wood, i thought Amavi was having bids of £20m turned down for him not long ago? or was that all paper talk. "Samba and Terry in on frees. Whelan, Hourihane, Lansbury, Bree, Elmohamady and Bjarnason all in for not a lot each". . Looking at it written down thats a very impressive group there, Terry of course one of the best Cbs of his generation (horrible little man) but as a player class. Samba, at one point one of the best Cbs in the country, past his best but still a big unit which is always useful in this division. Whelan, nobody gets excited about Glenn Whelan , but vastly experienced and respected player, played at the highest level for a long time. Hourihane, absolute class at this level, really wanted us to get him when he left Barnsley, sort of a Lampard of the Championship, a goalscorer, Elmohamady, similar to Whelan, not a headliner, but a great player to have, and Bjarnason, we wanted him before he went to probably where you got him from, dont know much about him but looks class on youtube. Really good little group there. Your right, the media and consequently the wider football family dont really know how much you have saved on wages and such, so we only all judge on transfer fees, which of course isnt going to be hugely accurate. But Samba, Terry and the other ex prem lot arent going to come cheap on wages either, so its a bit of a 50/50. Was reading through and he does seem to get a ton of stick Steve Bruce, but as you say he has his squad now, this is his team so he does deserve a fair crack at it, but at the same time with what he has spent he has to earn promotion this season for me, to justify it, otherwise if he cant do it with the squad he wanted then will he ever?

Thanks for your response. On 11. Looking at you guys i see you as similar to Sheffield Wednesday, except you have the benefit of Parachute payments (which are a total farce) because essentially clubs are rewarded for failure, but thats the way it is. But Wednesday, like you have spent big on experienced, expensive, proven players at this level, Jordan Rhodes being the obvious one , Ahmen Abdi another, these players are going to be on big money at this level. You spent something ridiculous like £80million last season wasnt it? McCormack, Chester, Neil Taylor etc big money and big wages, then add to that John Terry who is going to have cost something substantial somewhere, be it wages or whatever. What i struggle to see with either of you is where do you get the money back? Is anyone else going to come in for James Chester at £10mil or whatever it was, or those 3 you mentioned, combined fees something like £20million. If you dont get promoted you are stuck with huge earners who nobody will want, atleast not unless on the cheap.