Leeds United

[DCJonah]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

Im not a leeds fan but have to say biesla is doing a great job there. They have never floated with relegation. As hard as it is to admit he has done  better than smith did in his 1st premier league season.

Qusstion is can they follow it up better next year like Smith has?

Completely different scenario really. Leeds have not had to rebuild a new team from scratch and spread their spending across so many signings. They also came up as champions, we finished 5th in the championship. 

And it also took Biesla two years to get them up as opposed to 10 months from Smith. 

[villalad21]

14 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

And it also took Biesla two years to get them up as opposed to 10 months from Smith. 

Don't forget they only got promoted because of Covid  

[Wainy316]

3 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Don't forget they only got promoted because of Covid  

They did, and we only stayed up because of Covid.  Difference is, we can accept when we're told home truths and not turn in a baying mob.

[useless]

Bielsa worked a minor miracle getting them promoted in the first place, especially automatically, would have been an achievment to get them in the play-offs, their squad was midtable championship quality, nowhere near as strong as the squads we had in the championship, these are their championship finishes in the six seasons prior to Bielsa's arrival: 13th, 7th, 13th, 15th, 15th, 13th, and they only got that one 7th place finish because of Chris Wood's goals, no other team that season was more reliant on one player.

Even if you look at their team this season, because of injuries for the most part they're using the same players they used in the championship, that is players in the championship that didn't amount to much both as a team or as individuals before Bielsa arrived.

I'm not sure why there's a need to keep comparing Bielsa and Smith anyway, they've both done very good jobs, but in different circumstances.

[Stevo985]

17 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Very, very unlucky today

Why are your posts about Leeds so much more positive than your posts about Villa?

[Stevo985]

The irony always is that Leeds will get loads of praise for how they played yesterday because it's a breath of fresh air and exciting and all that.

But they conceded 4 goals. If they were a bit more boring and a bit less "breath of fresh air" they'd probably win more games

[TrentVilla]

24 minutes ago, useless said:

Bielsa worked a minor miracle getting them promoted in the first place, especially automatically, would have been an achievment to get them in the play-offs, their squad was midtable championship quality, nowhere near as strong as the squads we had in the championship, these are their championship finishes in the six seasons prior to Bielsa's arrival: 13th, 7th, 13th, 15th, 15th, 13th, and they only got that one 7th place finish because of Chris Wood's goals, no other team that season was more reliant on one player.

Even if you look at their team this season, because of injuries for the most part they're using the same players they used in the championship, that is players in the championship that didn't amount to much both as a team or as individuals before Bielsa arrived.

I'm not sure why there's a need to keep comparing Bielsa and Smith anyway, they've both done very good jobs, but in different circumstances.

I’m not sure people really compare them, more that the compare how they are treated by the media, in part I think because of nationality, there is quite a disparity between the two.

[Demitri_C]

3 hours ago, Zatman said:

Well he didnt have to buy a new squad like Smith did. 12 of the 14 players yesterday played for Leeds last season in the Championship. Last season we averaged 4 players a game that played in the Championship for us

Huge difference 

Valid point

[Rino8]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

The irony always is that Leeds will get loads of praise for how they played yesterday because it's a breath of fresh air and exciting and all that.

But they conceded 4 goals. If they were a bit more boring and a bit less "breath of fresh air" they'd probably win more games

The only thing separating us from top 4 is playing normal football?

 

Playing with previous managers and this squad got us to the lofty heights of 13th in the championship. Its ludicrous to suggest this way hasn't worked wonders for us, it leaves us exposed when we have all our best central players out and are forced to reshuffle against a team with much more quality. As it would any newly promoted side.

People always move the goalposts to criticise.

 

'I think they'll do a Norwich and go straight down' 

10th in February 'they'll never win the league playing this way' what am I reading 

[Zatman]

@Rino8 you seem a sensible Leeds fan in fairness so ill ask you and not the rest.

Do you not find the media praise when you lose a bit condescending. I dont think i would like people praising us every game when sometimes its undeserved. Obviously Leeds deserve praise for the season so far but games like the United game really would wind me up

[LondonLax]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

The irony always is that Leeds will get loads of praise for how they played yesterday because it's a breath of fresh air and exciting and all that.

But they conceded 4 goals. If they were a bit more boring and a bit less "breath of fresh air" they'd probably win more games

If they were a bit more boring and a bit less 'breath of fresh air' they would still be in the Championship. There's no way that squad should be 11th in the Premier League, let alone suggesting they should be higher in the league. 

[tom_avfc]

16 minutes ago, Rino8 said:

The only thing separating us from top 4 is playing normal football?

 

Playing with previous managers and this squad got us to the lofty heights of 13th in the championship. Its ludicrous to suggest this way hasn't worked wonders for us, it leaves us exposed when we have all our best central players out and are forced to reshuffle against a team with much more quality. As it would any newly promoted side.

People always move the goalposts to criticise.

 

'I think they'll do a Norwich and go straight down' 

10th in February 'they'll never win the league playing this way' what am I reading 

I think the way Leeds play is admirable and exciting to watch. I'd argue that there's a difference between playing open and attacking football against your Newcastles and your Crystal Palaces and playing it against the top teams in the league.

Its nice to play attacking football all the time but its pretty pointless doing it against teams that can hit you for 3+ goals as regularly as has been happening to Leeds this season. Surely there's an argument for adjusting your game based on the opposition rather than just letting teams have the opportunity to hit goal after goal. 

Leeds have had a great season and play stuff that is great for the neutral to watch. I don't think anybody is denying that. However were I a Leeds fan I would be concerned at these sort of games (despite the media's insistence that we should admire heavy defeats).

[VillaChris]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

The irony always is that Leeds will get loads of praise for how they played yesterday because it's a breath of fresh air and exciting and all that.

But they conceded 4 goals. If they were a bit more boring and a bit less "breath of fresh air" they'd probably win more games

I disagree with that.

This season they've lost heavily to Palace, Man. United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs and all those being away games. Palace is only one you could say was a game where they'd be expected to get at least a point particularly being a promoted team.

At the same time they've won at Sheffield United, beat Fulham and Burnley, won home and away v Newcastle and beat Palace in the return so exactly the results you need to have a comfortable mid table season. A few clean sheets in that run.

Maybe they should put the handbreak on but it probably would've mean they'd have just lost 1-0 at Newcastle or drawn the game so it's a style that will get the odd hammering but they've shown they quickly bounce back which is impressive. Only have to look at how we imploded after losing 1-4 at home to Leicester last December to see it's not easy to be smacked at prem level and react the next week.

They're having a very good season. I think they get overhyped plenty in media but I can acknowledge the season they're having. I remember after the Liverpool first game loads on here were predicting them still to get relegated and the reality is they're miles clear of it with 14 games left so they've surpassed expectations particularly as it's not close to being a top 10 squad and they may finish 10th.

[Rino8]

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

@Rino8 you seem a sensible Leeds fan in fairness so ill ask you and not the rest.

Do you not find the media praise when you lose a bit condescending. I dont think i would like people praising us every game when sometimes its undeserved. Obviously Leeds deserve praise for the season so far but games like the United game really would wind me up

It's funny, it's like there is some kind of memo from sky etc to push us as everybodys favourite losers. I think the length of time we've been away from the league and Bielsa being manager has combined to make a perfect storm of media nonsense.

I hate both sides of what we get from the media, the criticism and suggestions Bielsa should turn into Roy Hodgson are just as bad.

 

There's a narrative that Bielsa does this because he wants to entertain and that's not true, he's corrected loads of sky journalists on loads of occasions that he plays this way because it's the best way he thinks we can get the win.

 We don't go out to get a 'result' like a lot of the bottom half. We play our way and to win regardless of who were lining up against for better or worse.

[Stevo985]

28 minutes ago, Rino8 said:

The only thing separating us from top 4 is playing normal football?

Did I say that? Why are you suggesting I was talking about you winning the league?

All I'm saying is while the commentators are wanking themselves silly over how attacking Leeds are as they concede their fourth goal in a game, maybe shifting the focus slightly might prevent a few of those goals going in and get a few more points on the board?

I didn't think it was such a mental suggestion

Edited February 15, 2021 by Stevo985

[Stevo985]

13 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

If they were a bit more boring and a bit less 'breath of fresh air' they would still be in the Championship. There's no way that squad should be 11th in the Premier League, let alone suggesting they should be higher in the league. 

And now they're in the premier league.

If Leeds are happy to conced 4 goals in a game but be complimented about their style of football then that's fine. All I was suggesting was focusing a bit more on stopping those goals being conceded might benefit them

[ChrisVillan]

2 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Did I say that?

All I'm saying is while the commentators are wanking themselves silly over how attacking Leeds are as they concede their fourth goal in a game, maybe shifting the focus slightly might prevent a few of those goals going in and get a few more points on the board?

I didn't think it was such a mental suggestion

I think you'll find it was.

[LondonLax]

6 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

And now they're in the premier league.

If Leeds are happy to conced 4 goals in a game but be complimented about their style of football then that's fine. All I was suggesting was focusing a bit more on stopping those goals being conceded might benefit them

Presumably Bielsa's all action style has a ceiling but it will be interesting to see where it goes.

You'd assume they will strengthen the squad further for next season. Could they prevent the goals conceded by signing better players?

Watching last night the first 3 could be considered individual errors. Their young keeper in particular had a mare. 

[Rino8]

1 minute ago, Stevo985 said:

Did I say that?

All I'm saying is while the commentators are wanking themselves silly over how attacking Leeds are as they concede their fourth goal in a game, maybe shifting the focus slightly might prevent a few of those goals going in and get a few more points on the board?

I didn't think it was such a mental suggestion

We're a few wins away from European football in our first season, I think we have to take the good with the bad and sitting back against top teams would mean we just lose as does everybody else, I'm not sure this team would do much if we played zonally and got forward less, its a championship squad still who found a way to play that evens the odds.

 

Nothing is made of the fact we have Llorente and Koch still injured, are playing a left winger at LB, RB at CB and a CB at DM..

[Mark Albrighton]

4 minutes ago, Rino8 said:

Nothing is made of the fact we have Llorente and Koch still injured, are playing a left winger at LB, RB at CB and a CB at DM..