Switched on at 19:30 and you could be forgiven for thinking it was some sort of programme about Man City, the fawning over Haaland and De Bruyne.
Within a minute, Harland is through and Meslier saves us. Meslier seems to get slaughtered by some idiot on twitter, but without him last season we; have been down and he saved our bacon 2/3 times first half, I think we may well see him move on in the summer, one of our few players of value.
We rarely ventured into City half, they were at 75% possession, but couldnt make chances count and we somehow held out.
Kristiansen makes blocks yet often out of position, Struijk is just not a left back. Neither offer defensive solidity, positional awareness or good link ups and effectiveness going forwards.
Thought Forshaw was ok, Greenwood nothing special and Roca atrocious, unless passing ball to anyone but someone in a white shirt was what he'd been told to do.
Koch and Cooper did ok until their calamitous mix up to allow Grealish to nip in.
Rodrigo offered little up front and Aarinson just runs around a lot with no real impact, but overall we look really clueless going forwards. Passes dont quite reach, support is lacking, attacks too slow.
We've bee spoilt by the Bielsa years, but we';ve had a month off, a month to work together, plan, sort out tactics, but there seemed to be none.
We get 2 great free kicks, Greenwood cant clear wall with first, blazes wide with second, Surely practising free kicks all day, must be able to get them on target.
Only Gnonto seemed to offer any threat, but Man City were defending in numbers by this time
Gelhardt offers some half chances, but it felt like the tubes are too little too late and we have no real game changing quality on the bench.
Marsch made some barbed comments ts about Bielsa and injuries, but we have Bamford out out of the time, Sinisterra absent, ilnesses as well and our painfully thin squad is exposed.
I can live with 1-3 v Man City, but no signs of attacking potency, no sign of cohesiveness and I really wonder where this team is going.
Would Adams have made a difference? I dont think so.
I wonder how crucial Struijk scoring might be for second season in a row for that goal might just be one that helps keep our goal difference above others in relegation fight.
We got extremely lucky last week that almost all rivals lost. Could be a different story for our next match, its another where I'm not expecting any points, but our rivals will be picking them up at some point.
Marsch and Aaronson on point with their comments about staying in the process and hard work etc, but we're a point less at this stage compared to last season and we dont have Raphinha to get us out of jail.
If I was Jack Harrison and decent offer came in in January, I would be looking to leave, indeed, if we get a decent offer for him, I believe that club would take it.
I genuinely worry for the rest of the season.
Thoughts from tonight
posted on 29/12/22
comment by steross17 (U6898)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Jonty (U4614)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by steross17 (U6898)
posted 29 minutes ago
comment by Jonty (U4614)
posted 1 hour, 9 minutes ago
comment by steross17 (U6898)
posted 8 minutes ago
comment by Jonty (U4614)
posted 37 minutes ago
comment by werb (U7906)
posted 1 hour, 9 minutes ago
Also thought Gyabi looked strong on the ball could be a player there. Summerville and Roca to return.
Couple of signings and we are comfortable. Touch wood we're not getting tonked this year. Goal difference looking much better this season.
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Goal difference is same as this time last season, but we’re a point worse off this season.
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I think he’s referring to:
Leeds 0 Chelsea 3
Leeds 1 Arsenal 4
Liverpool 6 Leeds 0
Leeds 0 City 4
Minus 16 last season compared to plus 1GD this season.
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But at 1( games in we’re same as last season but a point worse. At present we’re on for a worse finish than last season.
Can’t compare those end of season scores with the matches we haven’t had yet.
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Those 4 matches we have had, and we are better off by 17 goals and 6 points…but I agree, can’t compare this season to last…even though we both just have! 😂
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I was thinking second half of season because that was when we had that run of results.
Compared to this time last year and thats WITH some incredible results, I dont think we'll be turning over Chelsea and Liverpool again this season.
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Probably not! I just went to check, last season as you said we were a point better off…then lost the next 5 to a goal difference of minus 20.
What do you think AR’s end game is? We really need to be hitting every window to the max, I saw somewhere our net spend is very low, and our wage bill is next to the lowest…can’t really expect to be doing much better than we are if we are honest.
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AR has been completely clear about things, we just haven't necessarily listened.
To develop players to sell them
His focus is on sports rights/digital media
Club to be self sustainable
This means, we're never looking to buy top expensive players, players will always be sold, he doesn't have Leeds United success as his main goal.
I heard today that the club is a mess internally, I think his liking of Lalas tweet seriously erodes support he has from fanbase.
I think we have to be very careful that we stop the rot, especially with cup coming up, we always fare badly after a cup exit!
posted on 30/12/22
Jonty… “I heard today that the club is a mess internally“
What does that mean? Explain.
Financially? Emotionally? Team? Admin? Leadership?
Worthless as a statement, without adding some context.
posted on 30/12/22
Jeez, doom'n'gloom to the max! Didn't see the game as I am on the move but we lost 1-3 to Man City, currently one fo the best clubs in the world - with the best striker, best AM, best coach, etc. I'm just glad we didn't get tonked.
Wish Marsch would cut the management speak but it's no less irritating than Bielsa's gnomic ramblings. AR may well be bought out very soon so we can't expect anything miraculous to happen. Hope we just hang on to PL status until new ownership takes over. Disappointing to be a low-level PL club and getting beaten a lot but money's the name of the game these days.
posted on 30/12/22
comment by salonika73 (U4688)
posted 9 hours, 22 minutes ago
Jonty… “I heard today that the club is a mess internally“
What does that mean? Explain.
Financially? Emotionally? Team? Admin? Leadership?
Worthless as a statement, without adding some context.
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I was talking about our defence and intention for players, I'd stated it feels like a mess, the feedback I got was that was correct.
I didnt get a chance to speak any more on subject, will try over next week or so.
posted on 30/12/22
Just a perception from my piont of view, but we are now well into our third season back and I can't see anything that will have us higher than 14th by seasons end.
We do seem to be doing a bit of a 'Burnley' the fight is there to keep us in with a chance of staying up, second half against City proved that, but the quality overrall just tethers us to the lower reaches of this division.
Aaronson and Roca in particular have got to improve and the defence - well lets not go there.
Serious Investment realistically , like Newcastle, is the only way to really shoot up this league - that's the formula nowadays
posted on 30/12/22
It annoys me that Amanda Stavely person is from Ripon. Shouldn't she have been trying to buy Leeds rather than Newcastle
posted on 30/12/22
Best thing for the club right now would be to announce the intent to sell. I don’t know what the situation with the 49ers is…are they even right for us?
posted on 30/12/22
Did the passengers on the Titanic ask if the lifeboats were the right ones for them, Steross?
posted on 30/12/22
comment by My favorite Marschian (U19827)
posted 44 minutes ago
Did the passengers on the Titanic ask if the lifeboats were the right ones for them, Steross?
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Marschian, are you suggesting we are going down like the Titanic?
posted on 31/12/22
comment by steross17 (U6898)
posted 4 hours, 24 minutes ago
comment by My favorite Marschian (U19827)
posted 44 minutes ago
Did the passengers on the Titanic ask if the lifeboats were the right ones for them, Steross?
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Marschian, are you suggesting we are going down like the Titanic?
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Let us just say that the SS Radrizzani has run out of steam