Ratings and Reactions: Leeds v Villa

[TRO]

11 minutes ago, pacbuddies said:

Today both Norwich and Fulham scored 5. Barnsley put 3 past SHA at the Sty. We don't score goals too often and that is what will cost us. Dr Tony can say all his wonderful things on Twitter but the reality is we lose Kodjia, Adomah and Ayew in January and the rubbish we have to fill in for them will not be capable. We dominated possession for large portions of the game today but didn't have a single goal scoring chance. When our attack is weakened in January we will have to rely on Gestede, Agbonlahor and McCormack non of which inspires me. Leede are nothing special and yet they are well in the play off zone. We are so far behind it is disgraceful.

Our possession in general was in areas where we could'nt hurt them.

when we did get through we were out muscled.

[VillaCas]

They've got a few decent young players but the score and result flattered them. Gardner and Gestede were poor and we missed Baker.

This is not a moan because we lost and Bruce has got to work with what he has got and he's done well so far but I am worried about his philosophy and conservative approach longer term.

I'm sure people will say its only the points that matter but we are a mightly boring side to watch. IF it's only a short term fix then fine but I dson't think it is

I would like to think we will buy a couple of decent midfielders and have a go at teams but in truth I think we are destined for much more of this ultra-tight, percentage football. Even if it gets us up it's not what I enjoy watching.

[AJ]

55 minutes ago, TRO said:

I think you will find our weakness is not obvious and that posters / fans disagree with each other on that.

each of our players have different weaknesses, so it depends on which ones folk focus on and which ones they ignore or don't spot....its very debateable.

 

Unless if it is unanimous that someone has done well. Then it becomes a wankfest. Then it becomes mass debateable.

[The Fun Factory]

38 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

They've got a few decent young players but the score and result flattered them. Gardner and Gestede were poor and we missed Baker.

This is not a moan because we lost and Bruce has got to work with what he has got and he's done well so far but I am worried about his philosophy and conservative approach longer term.

I'm sure people will say its only the points that matter but we are a mightly boring side to watch. IF it's only a short term fix then fine but I dson't think it is

I would like to think we will buy a couple of decent midfielders and have a go at teams but in truth I think we are destined for much more of this ultra-tight, percentage football. Even if it gets us up it's not what I enjoy watching.

I don't care about football philosophy and style of play. If Bruce gets us up nothing else matters. After 6 years of shite I am happy to see positive results above anything else.

[Demitri_C]

Gollini was pathetic for their goal awful goal keeping. But generally a very very poor performance. 

[Bunnski]

Nothing in the game, we missed our decent chances and they didnt. Gardner should of done a lot better with his chance and Albert should of dinked the keeper for his. Westwood and Albert the only decent performances and Gollini cost us the game. Hutton was shocking. 

[6065_Villa]

Disappointed with the result but Leeds got the luck we have had in previous games. 2 attempts on target resulting in 2 goals. Until the keeper errors we looked the more likely to score. First half the home fans were on the players backs about passing back all the time, due to us giving them very little time on the ball. Second half we should have swapped Gestede with Grealish and changed position with Kodger. 

[AJ]

We were on a good run. No matter how much you love your team, sometimes they lose. As sure as the sun comes up in the morning, every football team loses some time. At least compared to last season, we are doing that less frequently. Is it over? Hell no!! Its just a stumble. We can keep going, and we will be there at the finish.

[AVTuco]

Hutton had a good game, Chester too as always, Adomah aswell... on the other hand Elphick isn't very good, and Gestede is pretty much useless. Kodjia was poor aswell.

We could've won if we were lucky, but in reality it was deserved.

Hopefully... hopefully we recover next week.

[Rugeley Villa]

8 hours ago, TRO said:

Don't think they cost much either.....they are big in stature and have all bought in to a unified approach.....strong, powerful and industrious.

Very strong team. Exciting times to be a Leeds fan.

[thunderball]

Villa in control with out threatening in the first half. Leeds solid and set up to snuff out Kodjia and Adomah, worked for them too - stalemate. They scored a good goal and we were punished for poor goal keeping positioning (but allowed the man time to place his cross perfectly). We then chased the game to our detriment.

Clearly we need more guile and threat in the centre, and possibly another expensive forward. No one team has everything in this league, that why it's a good judge of manager (and budget), we have both now, so over the season this favours us. 

Our trejectory is still upwards, we have more gears yet and January will provide Bruce with options. I reckon before the window opens we will be in touching distance with playoffs so we will be on track for a Man Utd second half season momentum push. What encourages me is that there is no one in this league who you fear, we will always have a chance.

[romavillan]

8 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

I don't care about football philosophy and style of play. If Bruce gets us up nothing else matters. After 6 years of shite I am happy to see positive results above anything else.

Yeah ideal world we would be thinking about playing with style and destroying teams. Fact is after being abjectly pathetic in almost every area of the pitch for years and being completely humiliated in our last season in the top flight, then failing to make an impact in the first quarter of a season at this level, we do not have that luxury at all. What we need is points, how we get them is irrelevant for me at this stage, we need wins and confidence and a felling that we are difficult to beat. That has to happen before anything else IMO.

I have an ideal way that I like to see teams try and play, the time for us to be thinking about that is not half way through a very tough season. Even if we do get up then the priority will still be not getting stuffed every week. Maybe the summer after we first manage to stay up could be a good time to try and impose a long term strategy of beautiful football philosophy from the under 11s through to the first team. I just don't see at as an issue myself at the moment. We clearly need to find the net more but we don't need to be a purist's dream yet. We need to make sure we aren't a total **** nightmare like we have been for ages (until the last little run of form before Leeds away).

[limpid]

16 hours ago, pacbuddies said:

Locking the match thread before the game is over. What's that all about?

I locked it when the final whistle was blown. Perhaps you need to subscribe to Sky Sports.

[Eastie]

Gestede should be an impact sub at best - kodija needs to play in the middle and we need to let McCormack play in the hole - ayew, gabby , gestede all bench players at best .

gardner is not good enough to start games alongside Westwood - it's one of the other and I'd prefer Westwood to Gardner.

hutton is poor at right back - we need to bring in at least 3 in January with more quality in midfield and right back - maybe Rhodes on loan as most of our strikers are not up to it .

would also like better cover in goal than bunn and a back up central defender - plenty to do but promotion is still very much achievable - we need to pick up points this month and enter January in or around the top 8.

[AntrimBlack]

17 hours ago, TRO said:

we'll agree to disagree.

Well, I'll agree with TRO. I love Amavi, but Sako definitely got the better of him most of the game.

[AntrimBlack]

I thought we were actually the better side untill they scored very much against the run of play.

Bruce has done this several times now - throwing on all the attackers, something we have criticised other managers for doing. It has worked a couple of times, but not this time. The subs should have come on earlier, and should have been the personnel to retain a structure and exercise a degree of control, rather than lumping the ball forward and then frantically chasing it. We lost all shape at that stage.

A couple of points:

Why take off Adomah, our best player in my opinion.

Gestede should not start.

Our midfield is ineffective.

Hutton is a grafter, but not good enough.

[TRO]

9 hours ago, romavillan said:

Yeah ideal world we would be thinking about playing with style and destroying teams. Fact is after being abjectly pathetic in almost every area of the pitch for years and being completely humiliated in our last season in the top flight, then failing to make an impact in the first quarter of a season at this level, we do not have that luxury at all. What we need is points, how we get them is irrelevant for me at this stage, we need wins and confidence and a felling that we are difficult to beat. That has to happen before anything else IMO.

I have an ideal way that I like to see teams try and play, the time for us to be thinking about that is not half way through a very tough season. Even if we do get up then the priority will still be not getting stuffed every week. Maybe the summer after we first manage to stay up could be a good time to try and impose a long term strategy of beautiful football philosophy from the under 11s through to the first team. I just don't see at as an issue myself at the moment. We clearly need to find the net more but we don't need to be a purist's dream yet. We need to make sure we aren't a total **** nightmare like we have been for ages (until the last little run of form before Leeds away).

totally agree with that.

[TRO]

4 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

Well, I'll agree with TRO. I love Amavi, but Sako definitely got the better of him most of the game.

AB to totally rub it in he ran 40-50yards in to the heart of our defence, for their second...it was Amavi's man all evening but Sako's confidence grew.

[TRO]

That was a good game for Steve Bruce to see.....it could be more of a plus than a minus in the long run.

[TRO]

Its clear, I never seen this game like many did.

to try and explain my view in boxing terms......... we was throwing the punches but they was soaking them up and as their defence was negating  our punches they grew in strength and confidence......eventually the tide was turning and the upper hand of the physical battle was changing.....they threw a punch and knocked us down and from then on we was chasing the fight.

There are lots of things wrong with us that may deny us promotion, but it has been a massive improvement and there is still more to do.

Steve himself has harped on about the importance of the physical side of the game ...i respectfully think some fans dismiss this as of less importance than I personally think it is.

Leeds IMO are not better equipped technically than us but on the showing of the last game better equipped physically, which allowed them to fight back in to the game....just like Blues did.

Edited December 5, 2016 by TRO