Leeds Utd v Wolves Matchday Thread

Have to say I am disappointed once again. I sit firmly in the camp of winning breeds confidence. Winning makes money. Winning lifts trophies.

Our record in this competition absolutely stinks. 2 quarter-finals since the year 2000 and defeats to doncaster, bradford, southend and tranmere.

Sick of putting out weak sides season in season out when its the one trophy we could possibly win. To be fair to the side tonight there was positives and I thought on the whole they played relatively well but beyond the first 5 minutes we never really created anything.

Personally felt this was an opportunity to go for it with the month break. How about we get to the last 16 and create a bit of excitement for the club away from the pressures of every point counts.

On a second note of disappointment it was again frustrating to see another goal scored in the same manner. A seemingly non-dangerous position turned into a cup exit by players being sucked towards the ball like magnets. We have a situation down our left where Firpo feels he needs to help 3 of his players win the ball versus 2 of theirs coming out of the back line. This means he has left an acre of space behind him. We do win the ball back but Greenwood quickly loses it. They have an easy ball down the wing to number10. Gyabi is then sucked to the ball leaving Traore behind him in acres of space. At the point of the cross 3 leeds players have been attracted to the ball, leaving 2 on 2 in the box and Traore completely unmarked. It reminds one of watching 6 year olds on a pitch where there is zero shape and they all chase the ball.

One more game and we have better get at least a point at Spurs or this cup exit will have been in vain. Then Jesse better starting working on his defence.
Maintaining shape / Attacking the first ball / Aggression/ Pressing as a team all need a lot of work.

I don't really lose sleep over cups these days.

Let's face it, there's only one cup that matters
now and that's the CL. And we're light years away
from that. Staying in the Prem is the goal. Just
concentrate on that this year. If we stay up, have
a really solid go at the FA Cup next season.

A couple of weeks ago it looked a distinct possibility we would go into the ridiculous World Cup break in the bottom three.

If anyone had offered me a choice of wins against Liverpool & Bournemouth or go through to the next round of a competition which nobody cares about & realistically we're not going to win anyway - no brainer.

Spurs is a free hit for me on Saturday considering we still have that game in hand on most sides.

Absolutely no complaints from me on the team selection last night & there were some very encouraging performances from the young lads.

On to Saturday.

Brighton beat Arsenal away and we lost away to Wolves. Very much inferior to the giants of Essex it seems.

comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 3 hours, 25 minutes ago

If anyone had offered me a choice of wins against Liverpool & Bournemouth or go through to the next round of a competition which nobody cares about & realistically we're not going to win anyway - no brainer.

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Nobody??

I would have preferred that he started with a strong lineup, and tried to get a two goal cushion, and then give the younger players as much time as possible, with some of the pressure off.

comment by Real Estate - Podemos ser Top Four de nuevo (U21471)
posted 3 hours, 22 minutes ago
I would have preferred that he started with a strong lineup, and tried to get a two goal cushion, and then give the younger players as much time as possible, with some of the pressure off.
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i agree. just think 10 changes was too much and not necessary.

maybe we have to differentiate between having respect for the League Cup generally and making a strategic decision for the club to give invaluable experience to a number of our young players with an eye to accelerating their development.

We need a goal scoring striker to become available now much more than we need a run in the League Cup. Last night was about pushing Perkins and Joseph - think Gnonto's already up to speed. Getting knocked out at this point is a price I'm willing to pay if it means we can resolve the striker problem sooner rather than later.

But what do I know? I'm not gutted we lost because PL status must remain top priority this season.

comment by Kebablegs (U17699)
posted 5 hours, 41 minutes ago
comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 3 hours, 25 minutes ago

If anyone had offered me a choice of wins against Liverpool & Bournemouth or go through to the next round of a competition which nobody cares about & realistically we're not going to win anyway - no brainer.

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Nobody??
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Ok you do!!

Wouldn't mind an FA Cup run but really coudn't care less about the League cup. A pointless competition.