Happy chuffing New Year That was a bag of shite. Pure and simple. We were utterly hopeless from start to finish, in more or less every position, hence we made an average Oldham look good. But worse, much much worse than the "display" was the spirit. The was a lot of nasty finger pointing, arguing and general being pissed-off with each other amongst our players - there was no post match huddle - they nearly all buggered off down the tunnel as soon as the whistle went...I hope it's a blip but if not then DW has some big work cut out.
- their first was just "one of those things" - a headed clearance which their guy was first to 30 yards from goal and he leathered it - top corner - more often than not at this level they end up in the back row... - the second - from a corner - after a dreadful cock-up in defence (Hughes or Fraser?) - the guy leapt well and finished well but it was unchallenged - more or less like Swansea's 2nd After this we fell apart. - the third was slow build up - lots of unchallenged stuff - a low cross from the left and their forward slid in first to the ball We scored in the first minute of the second half with a nice goal from a series of flicks from Beckford to Kandol to Constantine who scored with a stooping header from 5 yards. For a few minutes the crowd lifted. Then nothing. It all died and withered on the vine. We never looked remotely like pulling it back. Our much vaunted spirit was nowhere. Problems: The full backs - woeful - Hughes is being played out of position and so has an excuse - he should be played in midfield to at least get some bite back in there - this does leave the LBack as either Parker (who was rubbish yesterday) or Huntington Heath - given the imminent absence of Rui - I am not happy at all that our CHalfs will be this lump and Huntington - Hunts may have been OK coming into a sound defence but in an already shaky defence... Midfield - when the pairing of Kishi and Thommo was announced there was much puffing of cheeks thinking "who the hell's going to do the running?" - as it turned out, no-one - anyone know how long Howson is out for? And yes, for the record, it looks to me as though we are missing Douglas' workrate (but not his passing). Prutton was one of the few yesterday who put in some effort getting in some decent tackles, but he is not the man to command a midfield. Carole needs service - I think he got the ball about 5 times yesterday before being subbed - but even then he did little with it. Where was Westlake? Is he injured? Up front - we have two game plans; one is to give it to Beckford and then hope for the best; the other is to hoof it long and then hope for the best...you get the idea. I hope to god that we tell anyone with any kind of money to eff off if they enquire about Beckford because at the moment he is the one possibility we have of scoring enough goals to get us up - and that, long term, is the one and only thing that the employees of Leeds Utd should be interested in this year... Kandol - completely lost whatever it was that kept him in the team - never looks remotely like scoring - Constantine is either crap or still not fully fit - Flo is no good to anyone played in midfield, especially if the possible suppliers of the balls to him have been subbed off. Very very glum. CASPAR - all right some dodgy flapping but also 3 or 4 goal saving saves...and some really shit distribution FRASER / HUGHES / Parker - difficult to decide who was worse - Hughes' only redemption being that he is a midfielder HEATH - fish out of water MARQUES - the one defender worth his paycheque PRUTTON - similarly the one midfielder worth his paycheque THOMPSON - too slow - too easily caught in possession - I get really angry with the number of hospital balls he plays to team mates - unfit KISHISHEV - not up to it this year CAROLE - not involved at all KANDOL - sadly it seems as though his early goal scoring form was a blip...shit BECKFORD - can't do it alone so to some up Caspar, Rui, Prutton and Beckford tried and managed some contribution - the rest, pure bollocks (that includes the subs) On Saturday I think we should start with: Caspar, Fraser (don't know of any alternatives), Parker, Rui and Huntington - Prutton, Hughes, Howson (if fit) or Westlake, Carole, Flo and Beckford God knows what DW said at half time because it didn't have an effect that lasted more than 10 minutes. Time to prove yourself DW because the attitude stank yesterday. No excuse for fans booing during the match. The one thing I would say, looking at the bigger picture, is that if someone had offered us a play-off place by xmas after the 15 point deduction, every Leeds fan on earth would have snapped it up. Now they need to make all the hard work thus far, count for something. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist DELETE THE FOOTERS WHEN REPLYING YOU LAZY SODS!!!! DELETE THE FOOTERS WHEN REPLYING YOU LAZY SODS!!!!
