We could, and perhaps should, have won this one today, but being a goal down with 5 minutes to go meant that we left the ground fairly happy. I hate it when managers come out after a game and blame their defeat on one decision by the ref. I usually end up shouting at the tv and asking what about the other 89 minutes or what about the sitter your striker missed etc? But today both apply - without seeing it again on TV I thought theirs was never a penalty, we should probably have had a soft one when Bryam was fouled in the box (I say 'soft' cos he played for it and went over easily -but it was a foul) and then what could have been the winner for a handball in the dying seconds, we also had 3 sitters missed by Morison !We started with only 2 of the foreign imports in the outfield XI and near the end ended with just Bellusci (so much for Cellino picking the team) We did change the formation from Sunderland and Bolton with Antenucci joining Morison up front in a 4 4 2 formation and Byram staying in midfield. We began on the front foot and had all the early play, then on their first attack the striker was tackled near the deadball line - corner or goal kick we wondered - neither said the ref who to the amazement of everyone, crowd, players - Leeds and Brum alike pointed to the spot. In the post decision discussion around me not one person even thought that a penalty was on the cards! Whatever, Silvestri kept up his record of not saving a pen for us (?) and dived the right way only to see it hit hard and into the corner - unstoppable. Before this a half chance had come to Morison but came to nothing. After we went behind the crowd got on players backs and the lack of confidence shone through as we fell apart a bit, miscontrolling simple passes and not doing the basics right. Silvestri came to our rescue with a couple of good saves as we threatened to implode and they threatened to get the second killer goal. We had a few chances with Wootton winning a header from a corner but failing to get it on target and Austin having 2 wild shots from decent positions.Second half was more of the same - they looked dangerous on the break and we feared the second goal, we huffed and puffed and things would not quite drop for us. Morison was our man of the match - he won lots of the ball and held it up well - if he was playing well and full of confidence he would have had a hat trick but as we know things are not working out and somehow a glancing header and a shot somehow both managed to go inches wide? Unlucky or bad finishing - my mate and the lad in front managed to argue the toss over that! As I said before Byram went down in the box and the ref waved it away - was that the end of our chances of getting something from it - well no, later with minutes to go the ball came out to Murphy just inside the box and he somehow caught it right and it ended in the net - no more than we deserved. Still time to win it but a clear handball was ignored by the ref and so to cries of 'you're not fit to referee' the game came to a close.Silvestri had made a few good saves and we got a point at a time when none seemed likely but overall we should have wonThe decision to take Cooke off (rather than Murphy or Austin) to bring on Doukara seemed strange at the time an with hindsight was clearly wrong.Some positives mainly Murphy proving that he does have something to offer, Billy Sharp working his socks off when he came on, some good stuff from Cooke and a mom performance from Morison that deserved him getting his name on the scoresheet. Some bad - Austin , typical Austin - more bad than good picking the wrong pass, having wild pot shots, Antenucci greedy on occasion and not looking like scoring, what happened to the lethal finisher of early season ? Wootton despite playing so well for Rotherham making schoolboy errors and having no clue what to do when he had the ball.So overall hard to assess but it means we now need 3 points on Tuesday (albeit we actually moved up the table a bit today)I would like to see the same team start on Tuesday but start with Sharp up front and see if he can link with MorisonWould also like to see Adryan at least on the bench - assume he is injured- to give us a different option Dave From: Simon McNally <simon_mcna...@sky.com> To: Richard Walker <richleed...@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: "leedslist@gn.apc.org" <leedslist@gn.apc.org> Sent: Saturday, 17 January 2015, 19:33 Subject: Re: [LU] A good day I have to admit I was worried at half time, we didn't seem to have much control of the game and looked too open at the back. In my opinion both Morison and Murphy have been written off/ unfairly criticised by sections of our support. I thought Morison was excellent today, he won nearly every header, held the ball up well and could have had at least two goals. Murphy grew as the game went on and deserved his goal. I didn't agree with Cook going off - I'd have taken off the awful Austin- but doukara provided more direct running. On to the negative. For me Austin and bellusci have no place anywhere near the first team. Austin frustrates me. He looks like he should be the ideal midfielder at the level but his positioning and especially his decision making are shocking. The number of times he tries long range shots with far better options around him - if I was redders I'd fine him every time he shoots from range. Another time he decides to take on his man when he was the deepest midfielder. Predictably he lost the ball and we nearly conceded on the counter. Bellusci is just dreadful. He's not fast enough, doesn't win enough tackles, gets caught out of position and wastes possession with ridiculous long range passes. He gave away a stupid free kick right at the start of the game. When their player was through one on one with him second half I said to my mate "this has got penalty and red card written all over it." Fortunately cooper got across and won the ball. I'd like to see us start with a similar line up on Tuesday. 442 suits the championship far more than the diamond. I'd have sharp in for antenucci, mowatt for Austin but playing left with Cook central and anyone instead of bellusci. Who'd have thought a 442 with a traditional target man would generate more chances? The referee was dreadful today - I thought we should have had two pens second half. I'm more hopeful than u was but I'd like us to sign someone to play left mid and more cover in a few positions and not from serie fucking b!
Simon Sent from my iPhone _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
