Farke has to find a way to start Joseph next game.

He's our brightest player right now. Not bothered who
he sacrifices. Just find a way.

I'm sorry but I think the hectic schedule has knackered us with 8 games in a month it's looking like too many individuals are not firing on all cylinders and although we got away with it tonight I'm worried about Friday.

If we can somehow scrape a victory then we will have 9 days before we face Millwall and then 2 weeks off for the international break where fingers crossed no more players get injured and we will enter the final stretch needing I think 6 wins from our last 8 provided we beat Shef Wed and Millwall first.

I hope Anthony is okay and has the energy we need to make a difference for us on Friday and I've come round
to thinking we need to start Joseph on Friday night too plus Archie in midfield where I think we'll see a more dominant Leeds performance.

Summerville, Kamara and possibly Rutter 2nd half clearly need their battery recharging but whether DF will relegate those 3 to the bench I'm not so sure.

comment by Macca: aka Wheelchair Dave (U8194)
posted 1 minute ago

I'm sorry but I think the hectic schedule has knackered us with 8 games in a month it's looking like too many individuals are not firing on all cylinders and although we got away with it tonight I'm worried about Friday.

If we can somehow scrape a victory then we will have 9 days before we face Millwall and then 2 weeks off for the international break where fingers crossed no more players get injured and we will enter the final stretch needing I think 6 wins from our last 8 provided we beat Shef Wed and Millwall first.

I hope Anthony is okay and has the energy we need to make a difference for us on Friday and I've come round
to thinking we need to start Joseph on Friday night too plus Archie in midfield where I think we'll see a more dominant Leeds performance.

Summerville, Kamara and possibly Rutter 2nd half clearly need their battery recharging but whether DF will relegate those 3 to the bench I'm not so sure.

^^^

Careful Macca. We apparently have the best squad.

If that's the case, we can't use being tired as an excuse.

The best squad can weather anything this division
throws at it. Anything. Options galore at every position deems that to be so. Or at least it should.

That's if it actually is.

Thought it was crying out for a change in formation in the second half and felt we needed another midfielder on the field. Gray for Rutter who looked so tired.
Overall we had the better chances and deserved the win and looks like we had another penalty not given after seeing relays of the keeper challenge on James.

comment by Kebablegs (U17699)
posted 6 minutes ago
Thought it was crying out for a change in formation in the second half and felt we needed another midfielder on the field. Gray for Rutter who looked so tired.
Overall we had the better chances and deserved the win and looks like we had another penalty not given after seeing relays of the keeper challenge on James.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Was watching Stoke City stream with mega-biased commentary. At first they were saying that James should be ashamed of going down like he did. After they saw the replay they said they got away with one and deffo a penalty.

Overall a good first half and puzzling second half.

We’re going to have to do better than that going forward.

Oddly Jonty, I thought Gruev was decent and Kamara always looked uncomfortable and like he was going to get dispossessed when he had the ball. It just goes to show that it’s so subjective and sometimes we only see the bad in particular players. I’ve been guilty of that so often. Hopefully Farke is making the right calls for us!

I think Batts everyone knows how relentless the Championship is no more so than DF who has successfully steered Norwich twice to automatic promotion so I think he would have wanted a couple more experienced heads brought in during the January window and by all accounts he was desperately trying to do so right up to the dieing seconds before the window shut.

I know LIW maintains we can't just buy players to sit onthe bench incase someone gets injured and I do unsterstsnd that plus the easy on the eye style of play DF adopts certain players we were rumoured to be after would not fit into the side but unfortunately you have to be prepared to play ugly sometimes to get crucial wins and so to cover those times you have to have that versatility and that option on the bench that can be the
crucial difference in winning and losing tight games.

The rewards for promotion to the EPL are so huge that any slight advantage in the case of having that extra experienced no nonsense signing for example Ipswich having Kiefer Moore, I think could very well come back
and bite us because against Huddersfield and tonight
who would you rather have to break the deadlock or
clinch the win? An experienced 6 foot 5 colossus that
bullies and unsettles the opposition for fun, someone
you can just lump it forward to as a plan B against a stubborn defence or a young inexperienced though
quick 5 foot 11 forward that opposition defenders more often than not can stifle and frustrate??? .

Hey I'm not saying Joseph isn't a great talent and hopefully he can be like a new fresh energetic signing for us in these final 10 games and make all the difference to us going up automatically but I just have that nagging feeling that Ipswich may have the last laugh over us with their January transfer dealings compared to us come the
season end.

We looked frightened of our own shadows in the second half. We need to show we mean business on Friday. There will be no space to sit on the ball and no room for passengers. Owls and watch them hoot.

Pluck the Owls and watch them hoot

Macca, add Sarmiento & Al Hamadi to the Moore
signing. Both came on as subs and were key to them
winning. Ipswich added goals and creativity in their
window. It's no fluke that they're second.

We looked comfortable first half but then yet again, went shy in the second half. We look tired and keep getting over run in midfield. Expecting a similar performance on Friday. Could have done with another CM on the bench as we lost Gyabi and Bate isn't up to it, where are the U23 midfielders? We had 2 keepers on the bench against Chelsea as we don't have any back up CM's at the club. Gambling on keeping 2 of Gruev, Kamara, Gray and Ampadu injury/suspension free.

Can't call the top 2, Ipswich won't go away and Southampton are hot and cold. Just taking it game by game and see who's 2nd in gameweek 46.

Two thoughts to share. Stoke were excellent and were very unlucky not to get something out of the game. Their manager said if they play like that for the remainder of the season, they’ll be fine. Alas for him and Stoke fans, teams only play like that when they play us. Not sure Piroe should have bothered coming on. Practically did nothing.

Kamara kept giving the ball away. Id play Archie there next game. Thought Roberts looked okay. Cree and Georgie look tired but we got a win. Still should have options on Friday to beat Wednesday. We are a different class to them.

As Ronnie Hilton sang, two points at home and one away (that'll do) we will achieve that we will be going up,

I think after Friday, the team then has 9 days off before Millwall and then there is the international break.
Hopefully those nine days will give the boys chance to have a couple of days off.
I think subsequently we may lose Roberts (Wales), Rodon (Wales), Ampadu (Wales), Gruev (Bulgaria), Kamara (Finland), Gray (England), Summerville (Netherlands), James (Wales), Gnonto (Italy), Joseph (England) and Rutter (France) to international duty. I hope not.

How many times over the years have we come on after a game saying we should have won that but didn't.
Its rare we claim 3 points after not playing particularly well although bear in mind we should have been out of sight first half.

Win on Friday night and there will be no stopping us.

Didnt play well last night but

still missed 7/8 sitters

comment by Macca: aka Wheelchair Dave (U8194)
posted 6 hours, 51 minutes ago
I think Batts everyone knows how relentless the Championship is no more so than DF who has successfully steered Norwich twice to automatic promotion so I think he would have wanted a couple more experienced heads brought in during the January window and by all accounts he was desperately trying to do so right up to the dieing seconds before the window shut.

I know LIW maintains we can't just buy players to sit onthe bench incase someone gets injured and I do unsterstsnd that plus the easy on the eye style of play DF adopts certain players we were rumoured to be after would not fit into the side but unfortunately you have to be prepared to play ugly sometimes to get crucial wins and so to cover those times you have to have that versatility and that option on the bench that can be the
crucial difference in winning and losing tight games.

The rewards for promotion to the EPL are so huge that any slight advantage in the case of having that extra experienced no nonsense signing for example Ipswich having Kiefer Moore, I think could very well come back
and bite us because against Huddersfield and tonight
who would you rather have to break the deadlock or
clinch the win? An experienced 6 foot 5 colossus that
bullies and unsettles the opposition for fun, someone
you can just lump it forward to as a plan B against a stubborn defence or a young inexperienced though
quick 5 foot 11 forward that opposition defenders more often than not can stifle and frustrate??? .

Hey I'm not saying Joseph isn't a great talent and hopefully he can be like a new fresh energetic signing for us in these final 10 games and make all the difference to us going up automatically but I just have that nagging feeling that Ipswich may have the last laugh over us with their January transfer dealings compared to us come the
season end.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Macca, the problem with buying players in January of course isn't that they will sit on the bench waiting for their opportunity but that they need to be better than what you have already in the squad. They would therefore go into the matchday squad.
It would have to be that way because if your ambition is to go up, any player you buy, assuming you get them in for longer than six months will form part of next season's squad and will need to be of EPL quality.

We clearly needed to strengthen, but not by buying.
It was obvious from early in the window that the right kind of players for loans to fit Farke's system were not going to be available, we were certainly unlikely to buy anybody.

Moore, left Bouremouth to get games, to start.

He wouldnt start for us, its not football manager Lads.

Generally thought we were in control first half but a bit sloppy at times. Second half Stoke were a different proposition and their subs looked lively and dangerous.
Rutter attempting too much fancy stuff instead of keeping it simple at times, again.

Until he scored, was getting a little frustrated with James as his deliveries were poor or intercepted.

Thought Roberts played well, proving quite effective.

We finished looking tired and relieved at the win.

We need to be very careful at Hillsborough on Friday night as typically Wednesday, who have been very poor until recently, have hit a rich vein of form - 4 wins in last 5?

We can't relax or tire next game - It's that simple.

Hoping Jimmy does better as he's not been as effective last few games.

Meslier was major difference last night.

Yes I get all the above mentioned points and I've calmed down considerably from last night thinking because Ipswich snatched another last gasp win it caused me to think we are jinxed into missing out on automatic promotion and I was looking for reasons why and although we struggled to get over the line it was a very important win against a Stoke side like everyone we face raised their game considerably and as Farke said one of our best in terms of winning ugly.

looking at the fixtures again for Ipswich and ourselves and Southampton assuming Leicester won't get a points deduction this season for FFP irregularities I think my prediction of us needing 100 points to get an automatic place is a bit excessive but not by much so I'd say now in the beautiful Cheshire sunshine 97 points will be sufficient and a tough Friday night win against Shef Wed is definitely within our capability and will put the pressure back on our rivals.

I still think despite DF's easy on the eye style we could do with an uglier plan B which okay Keifer Moore under the circumstances described was never a realistic option but I'm surprised the club didn't try and land a similar type of player from abroad or in league one or two who we could afford and have been able to stick on the bench like a specialised quarter back coming on for a specific lump it up to him role but I'm hopeful Joseph can be our trump card instead.

On a side note in mens basketball and Tennis it's quite common to get players who are very very tall 6foot 6 in Tennis and nearly 7 foot in basketball and I'm just surprised football clubs haven't yet had more players of that height playing for them up front or even in defence because can you image bringing on a 7 foot player and having him at corners he'd be like "The Chief" in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, towering above everyone else and easily scoring.

So who is our current Jack Nicholson offering the 'Juicy Fruit'?

A magic film Dave!

8 matches in a month.....tennis players playing 7 matches in a fortnight, Pliskova just played 8 matches in 8 days on 2 different continents.

Tiredness would not be an excuse at this level.

2 matches we've not been at our best and we got 4 points. Am sure there will be a defeat along the way, but we cant be asking for much more than we're getting right now and unlike previous season we're pretty much injury free, do we trust in Farke to know how to get us up?

I do.

comment by Macca: aka Wheelchair Dave (U8194)
posted 8 minutes ago
On a side note in mens basketball and Tennis it's quite common to get players who are very very tall 6foot 6 in Tennis and nearly 7 foot in basketball and I'm just surprised football clubs haven't yet had more players of that height playing for them up front or even in defence because can you image bringing on a 7 foot player and having him at corners he'd be like "The Chief" in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, towering above everyone else and easily scoring.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Because people who are tall, arent has nimble, quick or has good on the ball.

lumping the ball up to a giant, isnt has easy has it sounds.

8 matches in a month.....tennis players playing 7 matches in a fortnight, Pliskova just played 8 matches in 8 days on 2 different continents.

Tiredness would not be an excuse at this level.

———————————————————————

Players can get tired, in both Tennis and footballers.

Different sports, so not has easy to compare.

4 games in 11 days, all tough games, going to take its toll.