What a game. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I haven’t enjoyed a half like
the second half today for many years. I was jumping around like a 16 year old
for most of the second half as Leeds really took Carlisle apart. Maybe my
expectations levels are lowest of the low these days but today it felt like the
promotion season of 89-90. We steamrolled them in that second half, there’s no
way we could lose.
Now if you’d have asked me for my match report at half-time it would have been
a completely different story. I was livid as I moaned about Douglas and Johnson
not having the quality and against a team with a bit of pace and skill we
really looked second best. The only shot on target we had was a back pass
effort from Douglas and we really struggled to contain Carlisle down the left
as Kilkenny, playing on the right, decided he didn’t want to play there and
moved inside. This left Fraser exposed and it was no surprise when they broke
through to easily score from yet another break on the left. We did try and play
football at times and there were one or two good bits of play through the
centre the best being when Howson dribbled his way through the centre.
Unfortunately Freedman shot was just over. What I couldn’t understand about the
first half was the amount of long balls we played up to Beckford and Freedman.
Beckford isn’t interested in
challenging for headers and Freedman is just too small, so most of the time
the ball just came back. In midfield they were sharper and in their left winger
they had a real player who gave Fraser the run around. My first half summary
was
1) Howson didn’t look that great when closed down and given no space
2) Johnson likes to get the ball but lacks quality
3) Douglas is not worth a central midfield place if it means Kilkenny has
to play right wing. You could see Kilkenny just getting more and more agitated
with his position. I could see him getting sent off as Mac kept telling him to
hold his position and he just protested “I have to come central ‘cos Douglas is
shit”.
Yes, I was in the West stand again eating my prawn sarnies. I’m beginning to
like it in there.
I couldn’t see a way back from this one. How wrong I was. What happened second
half ? Inspirational team talk from Mac ? Carlisle tired ? Carlisle buckled
under the pressure from Leeds (crowd + team) . I really couldn’t say but one
thing is for sure Leeds were f’cking brilliant in that second half and apart
from our keeper who did his best to lose it for us I thought everyone of them
played at the top of their game. I was really impressed as we ditched the long
ball and began to play some excellent pass and move football. Howson, who had
really disappointed me first half, came into it more and started to run the
midfield. Johnson who in the first half had so much position but did little
with it started to look strong with his running and actually started to
distribute the ball intelligently. Douglas who looked his usual useless self in
the first half came in to it and started to play simple, effective football –
it made a difference. We equalised
from a move from on our left, it looked very messy and from where I was sat it
was hard to see what exactly happened but I would guess that the keeper spilled
it and Freedman nodded home ? Not a great goal but exactly what we deserved at
that point. A few moments later we were ahead when Kandol, who replaced the
injured Beckford, received the ball on the left hand side of the box. He
decided to cut inside and have a crack, It was a decent effort and their keeper
could only parry in the direction of Howson who poked in to the bottom left
hand corner.
I could only see us going on to win this comfortably but credit to Carlisle who
poured forward. They got a corner and Casper just fumbled it their no 9
(cheating , moaning tw*t) who had an easy task to shoot home. Terrible keeping
and I have to say that I think we should start looking for a new keeper. Our
defence is looking pretty decent at the moment but he is shaky as f’ck on
crosses and he is undermining the whole defence at the moment.
So 2-2, what next ? Well, we just raised the pace again and I was amazed that
we looked like the quicker team from then on. We were breaking with pace and
skill. You looked across the park and there were 4 or 5 white shirts breaking
with pace – so many options and we used them intelligently. Every good thing we
did second half was centred around one player – Dougie Freedman. Not only did
he show in this game that he has the skill and guile to outwit most defences in
this league he also showed that he is pretty quick over 15 yards and he also
showed that for an old bloke he really has the fight and stamina to out battle
the opposition at this level. He was simply brilliant. We got a free kick on
the left. Kilkenny whipped it in and their defence only managed to cleat it to
Freedman who smacked it in the top left hand corner with his left foot (I think
??). It was a great striker’s goal and we went f’cking mental. The whole West
Stand were on their
feet singing – when was the last time that happened? One old fella near me
didn’t know the words to Marching on Together but he was having a good go. The
atmosphere was brilliant. Under Wise I think we would have tried to shut up
shop at this point and started to waste time cynically. No such thing under Mac
– we went for the kill and instead of looking vulnerable and panicking like
f*ck towards the end we looked like the team who would score next. Both Prutton
and Kandol came close to scoring and the only worry was Casper again who patted
a high cross straight to a blue shirt on the edge of the area. Luckliy his shot
hit his own player as it looked destined for the bottom corner.
There were 4 minutes of extra time and we did go for the corners and did try
and run down time but we looked comfortable and at times the way we passed
around was impressive. Under Wise we got results but never looked that great.
This is basically the same set of players but under Mac we look like a real
team of players. It is just very impressive.
One other point – I’m giving my man of the match to Kenton. He was immense. In
that awful first half he ran the show down the left and really showed Bradley
Johnson how it should be done. Defensively he was against a really quick
opponent but what he conceded in pace he made up in effort and experience.
Second half he went on same brilliant runs and with a bit more luck could have
bagged a couple for himself. Because he was out of position I think it was the
performance of the season.
Scores:
Casper – 2. Weak link. Can’t handle crosses. I’m thinking in terms of a
replacement.
Richardson – 6. Suffered due to Kilkenny abandoning the right but he battled
hard second half. First half poor distribution.
Kenton – 10. Man of the match. Brilliant.
Lubo – 8. Tremendous , commanding performance. Lots of last ditched tackles.
Huntington – 7. Won header after header but it was a real up and down match for
him in my opinion. I disagree with the report that said his distribution was
good ‘cos he kept giving the ball away with his long and short ball
distribution. Also, what was he doing with the away fans ? He seemed more
interested in winding them up. He looked well up for it today. I don’t know the
bloke but it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s a bit of a Woodgate (that’s off the
pitch not on). I like the look of Lubo and Huntigton. I think Rui has the pace
but these two look solid.
Kilkenny – 7. Despite moving inside against the manager’s directions he did
influence things and in the second half he was instrumental. Lots of running
too. He was out on his feet when he went off.
Douglas – 6. I am not a fan as you know but I’ll give him credit for a decent
second half were he kept it simple and did a lot of running. First half he was
just awful.
Johnson – 7. First half awful but second half he really did impress me. Ok,
he’s not a world beater but I was happy that he was strong, won headers and
also used the ball effectively.
Beckford – 5. Went off early second half so didn’t benefit from the improve
second half performance. First half he didn’t get stuck in for me (maybe cos he
wasn’t fully fit ?)
Freedman – 10. Superb performance. The way he runs with the ball at times is
fantastic. Make him captain, buy him a house in Linton, give him free Tetleys
for 5 years, make his wife president of the supporters club and give him the
freedom of Leeds. Anything to make him stay up north.
Subs:
Prutton – 7. Did well and nearly scored.
Kandol – 8. I thought he did really well, probably the best he’s looked for a
long time. I still think he is shit though.
Hughes – 7. Ran around and made sure we were solid.
Mac – 10. Brilliant.
Crowd – 10 Brilliant. If there were any Carlisle fans in our end they were
keeping very quiet.
Bloody brilliant day out.
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DELETE THE FOOTERS WHEN REPLYING YOU LAZY SODS!!!!
DELETE THE FOOTERS WHEN REPLYING YOU LAZY SODS!!!!
