Leeds v Leicester

Haha oh sorry. Yeah not sure what he’s had but I wouldn’t mind him pouring me one

Don't forget Leicester have also done Man City away 5-2 and last season stuffed Southampton Nine nil away so no shame in losing to a very good side that as Southampton have proved really well how from a heavy home defeat you can learn and improve massively.

I’m a bit concerned the way this side gets the jitters - there seems to be a communal sense of panic when something goes wrong. First 20 mins against Man City, we repeatedly panicked and coughed the ball up. Today we made them look better than they were first half by defenders neither getting tight nor backing off... giving the ball away under no pressure . Falling over running into each other. Just a fcking shambles.

Got a grip after about 30-35 mins and huffed and puffed for the rest of the game, without really showing the quality needed to get something from it.

We can expect more of the same at palace so we need to bring our A game.

comment by milkyboy (U12731)
posted 3 minutes ago
I’m a bit concerned the way this side gets the jitters - there seems to be a communal sense of panic when something goes wrong. First 20 mins against Man City, we repeatedly panicked and coughed the ball up. Today we made them look better than they were first half by defenders neither getting tight nor backing off... giving the ball away under no pressure . Falling over running into each other. Just a fcking shambles.

Got a grip after about 30-35 mins and huffed and puffed for the rest of the game, without really showing the quality needed to get something from it.

We can expect more of the same at palace so we need to bring our A game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

You called it before the game.

And I agree with the jitters. I know the way we play out will sometimes cost us against a good press but the spell in the first half was nothing to do with a press. We were misplacing simple pass after simple pass under no pressure. Klich & Koch the biggest culprits. Meslier also looked to have shat his pants.

I still think we managed to give a good account of ourselves for decent amounts of the game. Especially the second half. We don’t need to make huge improvements to change the outcome of that game.

Palace will be a similar challenge but one with slightly less threat.

... agree with all of that faith (especially the bit about me calling it )

As you say, no problem with mistakes against the press, It’s an occupational hazard for bielsaball but it’s the team wide rabbit in the headlight stuff. You feel you need the senior players to take leadership responsibility.. but when they’re the ones looking most terrified...,

I think we all knew last night was going to be a big test, but it brought the euphoria of the villa game down with a bump.

Yes the biggest disappointment for me is that the players don’t seem prepared to accept the situation when we are struggling and make the decision to play safer and calm the game down for 5 or 10 minutes. And that’s why we are all shaving a couple of years of our life expectancy. The Meslier roll out straight to Leicester man was the biggest example of this.

We weren’t actually massively exposed to the counter through over committing men up the pitch. Vardy managed to get free a couple of times but each was defended well and he didn’t get a shot in target. Our problem was giving the ball away cheaply in our own half. This is unusual for us when you compare it to our performances against Liverpool and Man City (after first 20) who pressed us far better than Leicester did.

For that reason I am not as worried about Crystal Palace. I can’t see us making the same amount of mistakes again and so I don’t see Crystal Palance causing nearly as many problems

Can I throw into the mix the wet-pitch factor (he says, clutching at straws). Koch’s ill-fated back pass to Meslier would have reached the keeper in normal conditions and Bamford’s poor first touch for what would’ve been a certain goal may have been a slippery... oh sod it, who am I kidding, we were just second best... ☹️

If Bamford's header goes in it becomes a different game but the way we fell apart at the back was a big worry. The nerves seemed to infect everybody and as stated by Milkyboy it needed an experienced wise head to calm things down after the first goal. Regrettably this did not happen and we were still all at sea when they got their second. After half an hour we started to look more like ourselves but by then 2 down against a team like Leicester it was always going to be a tough ask.
Getting the early goal in the second half, somewhat fortuitously, gave us hope but I always had the feeling Leicester were coasting and could step on the gas if they needed to. Again if Pablo's shot goes in to make it 2-2 who knows, maybe they would have got nervous.
All in all they had a makeshift defence, but coped with us quite comfortably, and they had a deadly, pacey attack which we could not get to grips with

Don’t think we can use the wet pitch as an excuse. Also think Kochs error for the first was just a poor decision regardless. You have to be aware of your oppositions strengths and Vardy is just too dangerous to be risking that pass.

First goal is always important for Leeds. Our record when scoring first proves this. We score first and sides have to push men forward, we don’t need many gaps to open up for us to exploit. But this was a game were it was doubly important because of Leicester’s tactics, organisation and pace on the counter. Score first and who knows what happens.

Rodrigo will be our starting centre forward before Christmas and I back him to take Bamfords chance.

Raphinha will likely take the 10 role at some point which will leave us with so much pace in attack.

And Phillips will transform the sides ability to break up counter attacks.

We are still a side developing and I don’t think that performance was as far away as the score line suggests. I’m looking forward to the game at theirs to see how far we have progressed

comment by HaveFaithInLeeds (U8688)
posted 6 hours, 47 minutes ago
Don’t think we can use the wet pitch as an excuse. Also think Kochs error for the first was just a poor decision regardless. You have to be aware of your oppositions strengths and Vardy is just too dangerous to be risking that pass.

First goal is always important for Leeds. Our record when scoring first proves this. We score first and sides have to push men forward, we don’t need many gaps to open up for us to exploit. But this was a game were it was doubly important because of Leicester’s tactics, organisation and pace on the counter. Score first and who knows what happens.

Rodrigo will be our starting centre forward before Christmas and I back him to take Bamfords chance.

Raphinha will likely take the 10 role at some point which will leave us with so much pace in attack.

And Phillips will transform the sides ability to break up counter attacks.

We are still a side developing and I don’t think that performance was as far away as the score line suggests. I’m looking forward to the game at theirs to see how far we have progressed
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Us too.... Maybe Vardy will be fully fit?