It is difficult to see where this rot is going to stop.
..too big a club to go down...too much history... on paper, a good enough squad
to be comfortably mid-table in this league...all of this means zip come 4.50
every Saturday when another 3 points has not been achieved. 28 games and 18
defeats. That is horrendous form.
WBA played for 60 minutes and wiped the floor with us. They passed with speed
and accuracy, they moved intelligently creating angles for team mates...speed
of thought and movement, they always closed down our man with the ball and were
first to every loose ball. They had a hunger which we did not. It was
embarrassing. After their third goal, which was admittedly seconds before the
end of the half, I just got up and went to the bar. Without even thinking about
it I had broken one of my own unwritten rules of following Leeds - never leave
before the whistle goes. Didn't even cross my mind to stay where I was.
For three minutes it went OK - not that I saw the first goal - that happened
as I was crossing the car park having slightly underestimated the last
pint/walk to the ground/kick-off time, equation. From the TV I see that Flo
headed down, firmly and accurately into the bottom corner - a good header from
Elliott's cross that would have tested the keeper had he been where he should
have been - the fact that he was stranded nowhere, adrift, between his
goal-line and the 6 yard box while the ball sailed over and wide of him, just
made it look easier than it really was.
So I sits down to see a WBA free kick on the edge of the box - hit the wall,
rebound to Greening 25 yards out who hits it low and hard through a forest of
legs into the far bottom corner. The lead lasted 3 minutes. And from here the
out of control wagon careered downhill. We didn't get another meaningful kick
of the ball for 60 minutes. Albion through Kamara, Greening, Phillips et all
ran us ragged. Foxe allowed himself to be brushed aside, last man on the edge
of his own box when the ball was at worst 50-50 - criminal. Somehow we didn't
concede any more until just before half time when Kamara brought the ball in
from the midfield area of the left side - who should be there? Blake? Nicholls?
And given 10 yards free space as he was he picked his spot and lashed the thing
into the top corner. A peach of a finish.
The only Leeds players to come out of this spell with any credit were Sa and
Marques - the latter is proving to be a revelation, fast on the ground,
excellent timing of challenges, pretty decent in the air, brave, good sense of
position and decent on the ball - where the hell have we been hiding this
guy...oh that's right we've had defenders in abundance and so didn't need him.
My own suspicion is that Wise would really fancy Foxe and Heath as his ideal
pairing but just can't indulge that given Marques' form at the moment. He'd
better keep this level of performance up though just to be on the safe side.
We did put some more effort in in the second half - or were WBA saving
themselves? - you never can tell. Any way we competed a bit more, but you never
really buried the feeling that however many more we might score WBA would
always have another goal or two in them. We got a free kick 20-5 yards out just
right of centre. And Thompson struck it so sweetly that it just pinged straight
onto the spot where in the old days the angle of the stanchion would have been.
While we pressed and the crowd noise rose there were scant few real chances
created - the only real one being Healy's volley on his left foot that he
lifted over the bar from 8 yards out. A draw would have been harsh on WBA.
The C Halfs for WBA were also outstanding - they have apparently just turned a
£10m bid for Davies. I don't know what are they thinking of, putting young
footballing talent before the dollar sign. You'll not get anywhere like that.
I see Beckford is on loan again - Scunny this time - I know he hasn't done much
since his arrival but what I don't get is if we've just got Flo - 6 ft 4 - we
are clearly going to launch the ball to him, who in this squad is going to
catch the flick-ons? Beckford to my mind is the only one - certainly more than
Blake or Kandol. I'm confused. As for Wise's shennanigan's at the end - he
should know better. Whatever else we need it is not that kind of "leadership".
SULLIVAN - some decent saves - little he could do about goals 2 and 3 - maybe
unsighted for the first
SA - first time I've seen him - looks tidy enough and willing to play the ball,
willing to battle - all of which made the shouting of some gimp behind me,
nearly all of which was directed at Sa, the more mystifying...at least to me
MARQUES - MOTM - by a chuffing mile.
FOXE - limited lump - won some headers - so what - didn't do his job when
called upon
ELLIOTT - decent enough distribution - seems a bit one paced but then Kamara
does that to most people
BLAKE - out of postion - ineffectual
NICHOLLS - out of his depth thug -
THOMPSON - saw nothing of him until his very well struck goal, then he livened
up, a bit - too early to judge
LEWIS - in and out - mainly out
FLO - as with Thompson too early to judge - nicely headed goal - didn't see
much else
HEALY - decent amount of effort but to little effect
----------------
subs
credit to Wise - he made attacking substitutions at a time when there was still
the possibility of influencing the outcome
MOORE - ran around - the movement caused the WBA defence some different worries
KANDOL - did not achieve too much - him and Flo kept going for the same ball -
doesn't excuse idiots booing as he comes on. I think he's limited too, but he's
in a Leeds shirt.
EINARSSON - returned from some Nordic limbo and showed v little - but didn't
have too much time.
----------------
To end on a really sour note, that I hope was a one off, was some fucking twat
handing out "Britain First" stickers just up by the footbridge over to Holbeck.
However desparate things become there is no place for wankers like that. OK he
wasn't at the game but he was clearly targeting the crowd leaving the game.
Fortunately everyone that I saw that took one, took one look at what he'd put
in their hand and screwed them up and lobbed them.
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'I am in shock,' said Ferguson.
