First goal I thought was Anita and Viera letting their man go - he drifted off the back of them and had acres of time and space to pick his cross. Not sure you can blame the marking in the middle - one cb had to shift to cover the bloke who crossed leaving the other with two to mark. Someone with Sharp’s experience was always going to find space there
S Sent from my iPhone > On 28 Oct 2017, at 10:03, {broken-address} Richard Walker > <richleed...@yahoo.co.uk.is-broken.gn.apc.org> wrote: > > a few thoughts > I was very impressed with the way Sheff Utd started. They played some of the > best football I've seen for a while and all their players seemed to know > where each other were and in Duffy they had the man of the match and the most > intelligent footballer I've seen for a while. I'd get a bid in for him in > January. If only our midfielders had the awareness and poise of Duffy. He > found time on the ball and used it effectively however that applied to just > about everyone in their team. Billy Sharpe, who I always thought was lively > but never convincing at Leeds, looked like a totally different player and if > it wasn't for Lonergan he could have / should have had a hatful in the first > half. > The Blades played with 2 effective wingers and full backs who also came > forward and contributed. It was actually good to watch and I rarely say that > about the opposition. Their style is similar to what we are trying to achieve > but I don't think we have the players to do it at the moment. > Their goal was a result of great link up play and good movement from Sharpe > in the box but it looked like he wasn't marked ? Need to see it again but if > a little bloke like Sharp gets a free header from 4 yards you have to ask > questions of our 6 ft central defenders. > I thought our defence crumbled under the attacks. Cooper and Pennington as > first choice is as bad a decision as selling Rob Green and I'm losing faith > in our attacker manager who doesn't seem to know who are the best defenders.. > Cooper for me is 4th in line at the moment yet if he is fit he plays and to > top it all he is captain. Bad decision after bad decision. > I also think we have to look a bit further than the central two who were not > helped by Ayling who I thought had a poor game defensively. Anita also > struggled against lively attackers. I like Anita but I don't think he's a > left back. > In midfield, we started with Philips playing as the 'no 10' and Saiz on the > left wing. Another bad decision, Philips hardly touching the ball and I > didn't know Saiz was on the pitch in the first 30 minutes. As for Lasogga, > big questions have to be asked. Can he really play as a lone striker in this > league when he's constantly outbattled and out muscled off the ball so easily > ? He looks powder puff to me. > Allioski saw a lot of the ball on the right but he failed to deliver on every > occasion. > Any positives ? > Well, yes. I thought we responded really well to going 1 down and unlike some > performances we didn't crumble. TC made a good decision in moving Saiz into > the 'no 10' position however this meant Philips was asked to play as a left > winger which rendered him even more useless than he had been previous to > that. > At one point after we equalised I thought we had them on the ropes and their > slick football stopped and we did take control but a mixture of an inability > to pass and keep the ball (Lasogga, Allioski, Ayling) let them back into it > and normally service was resumed when their 10 year old sub came on and > showed Lasogga how to play as a centre forward. Very, very frustrating. > Saiz tried as a one man show to win the game and he really had them worried > but he can't do it on his own and we can't expect him week in week out to be > the midfield and the attack. > Overall, I'd say it was a fair result. I thought we battled well to get back > in the game but ultimately key players let us down today. > Lonergan - 8. Kept us in it first half. > Ayling - 4. I thought it was his worst game for Leeds - he has always > struggled IMO on the back foot against pacey opposition. Not a premier league > defender as some think. > Anita - 5. Struggled > Pennington - 6. I thought first 20 minutes he was all over the place but I > wouldn't completely blame him. I thought he improved massively in the second > half and I thought he defended pretty well overall. I'd settle for him and > Jansson to be given a run in the team. Stopped fucking about with the > pairings TC. > Cooper - 3. I've never been convinced by him and against tricky and speedy > opponents and lik Pennington he started really shakily but he didn't improve > until he got injured. Is he playing with an injury ? He's very inconsistent > and the decision to make him captain is a really bad one. > Philips - 3. Another good goal masking a performance that contributed > nothing. Everyone will remember the goal and say that justifies why he is > one of the first names on the teamsheet. I say no ! His general play is not > good enough and putting in the odd hospital tackle doesn't represent a good > performance in my book. Take away the goal and I'd say he was our second > weakest player. Definitely not a 'No 10'. > Saiz - 7. Didn't touch the ball much in the first half as he was dumped on > the left wing in preference to playing Philips at no 10. Another bad > decision. Second half he scared them to death and was unlucky not to have put > us in the lead with a great shot which hot the post. Would we have won if > that had gone in ? Not sure. > Allioski - 3. Overhit and poorly executed dead balls and just isn't doing > things right at the moment. > Vierra - 5. I was disappointed with Vierra last night. He got around the > pitch and did some decent stuff but he looks naive (which he is) at times and > he loses his position and commits unnecessary fouls. He needs a run in the > team. > Lasogga - 2. Another very disappointing performance from the big man .... a > big man who plays like a fairy. He did win a few headers last night but > overall he was muscled out of the game and when he did get the ball at the > feet he was unable to do anything through being too isolated. I don't think > at home when the pressure is on us to attack he can play that role. That > creates a massive problem for us because we seem to have adopted a tactic to > play one up front. I still don't get that ? Why do we have to have a 'No 10' > role that plays deeper. Shove someone up beside him. No bloody idea who like > ? Is there anyone in the U-23 worth a punt or maybe Grot should be given a > chance from the start with Lasogga ? Or maybe, Lasogga isn't any good ? > Hamburg wouldn't let a player go and pay most of his wages if he was any > good. Have we been sold a dud ? > O'Kane - 4 . Eunan O'Kane, Mr average, Mr Unspectacular , Mr Nothing. He's > certainly found a new role which involves him sitting depp between the centre > halves and collecting the ball and laying it off to someone. Great ! That's > brilliant. We have a midfielder who is acting as a central defender. It's > fucking awful to watch and O'Kane for me is a perfect example of why we are > not progressing. He offers nothing. > Subs > Grot - just not able to impact a game on his own. I'm still not writing this > fella off though. > Hernandes - tried to get invovled and did a bit but nothing worked. > TC - bad decision after bade decision. It was noticealbe that Lonergan has > started to go long with his distribution which is either TC abandoning his > tippy tappy football across the back or the players deciding that route one > is the best way against pacey opponents ? I think his weakness is the > defence.. Getting rid of a consistent keeper and bringing in your own keeper > only to abandon that idea and bring in another old keeper doesn't fill you > with confidence. I don't think he knows how defences work - he's now plugging > O'kane in there and in general I feel he's stuggling a bit. 5 losses out of 6 > may have got you sacked under the previous owner but early results have kept > us in the top 6 and will give him the chance to put things right. I hope he > succeeds but the next few games will determine his future. > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leedslist mailing list > Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist > To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org > > > FLAME WARS 'R US _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org FLAME WARS 'R US