I am sorry about your niece. I think the club should be involved in the community -- and should take a high profile. This feels very different though. If you are going to give, do it anonymously; that is true charity. This reeked of PR management and exploitation of a tragedy. Sure if the kid wanted to go out on the pitch then do it-- but why tell the world who he is and what he has? The club is rich enough to donate, and so are the players.And there are enough executive boxes to put the bight on. If the parents want to set up a charity fine, then do so. Nevertheless, this all had a touchy-feely PR spin; I really did not like it. And I am not saying don't help the kid. I am saying it gave me a bad taste. Head long into another banning?
-----Original Message----- From: Leedslist [mailto:leedslist-boun...@gn.apc.org] On Behalf Of nat...@sky.com Sent: 28 October 2017 19:27 To: {broken-address} <seanscr...@aol.com-is-broken.gn.apc.org>; richleed...@yahoo.co.uk; leedslist@gn.apc.org Subject: Re: [LU] Sheff Utd That first paragraph is spot on - good to see the club playing part in the community etc but what happens on the pitch has got to be the first and main priority - all the rest is just trimmings I feel for the lad and his parents (I lost my 6 year old neice a year ago after a long and painful illness) and it is good that the club and players are helping them BUT not when it may be to the detriment of what happens where it counts as far as LUFC goes DavePS great to see the u17s join the u20s as WORLD CHAMPIONS - lets hope the Premier League teams do not ruin these lads careers by insisting on buying foreign players rather than giving the youngsters a chance. Great comeback from 2 down. Who knows, maybe , just maybe we will have a first team in Qatar or wherever that can genuinely compete From: {broken-address} <seanscr...@aol.com-is-broken.gn.apc.org> To: richleed...@yahoo.co.uk; leedslist@gn.apc.org Sent: Saturday, 28 October 2017, 16:41 Subject: Re: [LU] Sheff Utd A couple of thoughts: Christiansen has complained that the players' heads were still in the dressing room when the first goal went in. Has it crossed his mind at all that making the entire build up to kick-off about Toby, this terribly ill kid, complete with your central defender/captain carrying that kid out of the tunnel prior to kick off possibly distracted the players (and Cooper in particular) from getting their heads right for a really aggressive, tough Yorkshire derby? I am all for the club getting involved with local charities, and I like the Russell Crowe "All Leeds Aren't We?" Twitter video for Toby, but I thought the pre-match stuff perhaps went a bit too far, and was a clear distraction to the players. Our players have a hard time being aggressive at the best of times. That build up virtually guaranteed they wouldn't be focused at kick-off. As far as the rest of the game, well, I've been saying it since very early in the season: we are not aggressive enough, particularly in midfield. Even in the games we were winning in August and September, our midfielders in particular were being muscled off the ball too easily. Pass and move football is very difficult to play in the Championship if your players lack the physical strength and attitude to hold off a challenger prior to releasing the ball. We are crying out for a Roy Keane/Patrick Vieira type of midfield general (or if you prefer, a Billy Bremner/Johnny Giles/David Batty/Olivier Dacourt type). Someone who can receive a pass, hold off a challenger and then play a good, accurate pass to the feet of a teammate, while also being able to put in a few crunching, intimidating tackles early in the game to make the opposition players scared to be on the ball. I do not think we have any players remotely like that in our squad. Ronaldo Vieira is the closest. Buying someone to fill that role should be our January transfer priority. In the meantime, we also have a distinct lack of height in midfield, which means that when the opposition press our defence, forcing Lonergan to kick it long, we stand almost no chance of winning the resulting aerial duels, I think it's worth thinking about a 3-2-4-1 formation that would at least mitigate some of these factors. I would plump for Lonergan in goal (Wiedwald appears to be a physical coward whose reluctance to put his body on the line for the team has directly led to at least two goals.) As a defensive three I'd go with Cooper, Jansson (we desperately need him back to his imperious best) and Pennington. At right wing-back I'd go for Ayling, who actually looks quite useful coming forward. Left-wing back is a bit harder, but I'd go for Dallas to inject a bit of British aggression. I'm willing to listen to arguments for Berardi, I'm just not sure of his qualities going forward. Anita doesn't impress me at all. Too lightweight. As the two defensive central midfielders I'd go with Vieira and Shaughnessy. The latter was a midfielder at Reading, is a decent passer of the ball and, crucially, is 6'3" tall. It would be his job to win every high ball pumped into the middle of the park. The four more advanced midfielders are tough choices. Saiz is a must. He has the right attitude and almost got us a point on his own yesterday. The other options - Phillips, Alioski, Klich, Hernandez, Roofe - all have their weaknesses. Against teams where we might expect to see more of the ball, I'd probably go with Hernandez, Phillips, Roofe and Alioski. If we're under the cosh, perhaps I'd put Klich in. Up front I suppose I'd go with Lasogga, only because there are no other options. A couple of games ago when Grot came on as a sub the commentator said something about him being a very versatile player, and I immediately thought, "Yes, he can play in a number of positions and not score in any of them." This team would feature six tall outfield players, so I would be playing for every single set-piece possible, then getting Hernandez to swing the ball into the area for those guys to get their heads on it. If we need a goal in the last ten, pull one of the shorties off and put Grot on. That way we'd have seven 6-foot-plus players jockeying for space in the opposition's penalty area. I also wonder if the club has a sports psychologist. We do not play with enough aggression. Somehow, that must change if we are to achieve anything this season. MOT Sean -----Original Message----- From: {broken-address} Richard Walker <richleed...@yahoo.co.uk.is-broken.gn.apc.org> To: leedslist <leedslist@gn.apc.org> Sent: Sat, Oct 28, 2017 5:03 am Subject: [LU] Sheff Utd 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 go al 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 h ow 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. StruggledPennington - 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 opponen ts 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. SubsGrot - 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 listInfo and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslistTo unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.orgFLAME 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 _______________________________________________ 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
