My early morning optimism lasted until around 3:30. We kicked off towards the
South Stand and immediately the ref made Leeds re-take the kick because Johnson
encroached into their half by a toe nail. Two minutes later Leeds got a free
kick and he brought play right back to because the ball was taken a centimetre
from where the free kick happened. Oh no, the ref is a wanker we all thought
and he ruined the game today with incorrect decisions, petty decisions and
stupid decisions. He really was incompetent. That’s not to say in any way that
he was responsible for our performance but it would have been difficult to have
a decent game of football with this clown in charge.
So what went wrong today ? I could go through the team and give you 5 things
every player did wrong today (I might do that in a minute). You could argue
that every player doesn’t deserve to get picked next time however I think the
main problem is a team problem in that we’ve hit that period for the manager
and his team when nothing is going right. This results in low confidence and
the team not playing as a unit. Everyone begins to panic a bit , everyone has a
bit more pressure on them and as a result everyone does things that they
previously wouldn’t have. As a result the shape of the team gets lost, people
waste energy chasing lost causes and we start conceding silly free-kicks and
goals.
First half today, we started ok. When I say ok I mean we had a lot of the ball,
it wasn’t good pass and move football but we did create some chances. The
difference for me is that the players have lost a bit of self belief and as a
result we see lot more high, long balls when previously Kilkenny would marshal
things through midfield. Our main tactic at the moment is the long ball to
Johnson which for me is too predictable and most of the time ineffective, the
problem being that when he do lose the header we aren’t picking up the second
ball so Brighton found it very easy to stop us playing. The low confidence,
long ball game is also pretty ineffective when you’ve got 2 ft tall Mcsheffrey
playing alongside Beckford. Neither got a sniff today, and for all those that
slagged Mcsheffrey off from the first whistle because “Luciano Becchio” should
have been playing, well f*ck off ‘cos it wouldn’t have made the slightest bit
of difference today.
Becchio wouldn’t have done toss all with the tactics today. Coming on when
they’ve got 10 men is a different job than having to feed off aimless long
balls when they’ve got 10 men behind the ball. You could have had Clarke and
Jones playing for Leeds today and they wouldn’t have had a shot between them.
The only positive for me in a first half which we controlled without really
threatening was Howson who was really lively on the right. So obviously and
painfully playing out of position he reminded Grayson what he can do. He can
pass (he played the 2 best balls of the match from the right), he has pace and
he passes and moves quickly. Grayson though decided to take him off early in
the second half whereas he preserved with the hapless Doyle who turned in the
worse performance of the season for me (and that includes some of Becchio
outings). Doyle never got near the ball. He scampers around and on the face of
it makes it look like he’s a tiger of a player never giving up and always a
problem to the opposition. Nothing could be further from the truth, he is too
slow, always a yard behind the ball and never actually getting there. He really
is crap and when the chips are down like they are at the moment he really
offers nothing to get us out of this
slump. With Howson on the right and Johnson, being Johnson on the left you are
really looking to Kilkenny for the spark and he unfortunately can’t do it on
his own. He needs the players around him to make runs, offer themselves,
without that he might as well do what everyone else did and pump it long.
Their keeper made one comfortable save in the first half and that was from a
decent run and shot from McSheffrey, something that Beckford failed to do in 90
minutes. As I just said I’m not blaming the front 2 today but as a Beckford fan
I did think he could have done a bit more today. He didn’t look that arsed.
Second half was much of the same except Brighton having weathered our long ball
game decided to push forward. They realised that one of our defenders was
actually a failed central midfielder masquerading as a right back who had
convinced the management and the fans that effort and 100% commitment can earn
you a place in the team even though you haven’t got the faintest clue on how to
defend. Yes I would have started with Hughes, but what does that say about
Bromby and Crowe, the latter not even making the squad? Grayson’s signings
coming into question again.
So, on come the subs, off goes our brightest midfielder and Bradley Johnson and
on comes the one man team that is Max Gradel and our brightest star Snodgrass.
Off goes McSheffrey to loud cheers – the same folk has been shouting “Luciano
Becchio” everytime McSheffrey went near the ball – wankers of the highest order
in my book, most seem to come from the Kop because there were a lot of groans
near me when Becchio came plodding on. I’d like to say they made a difference
but I think it was mainly down to Brighton going down to 10 men, having to take
their best player off (the winger who roasted Hughes about 50 times) and their
whole team dropping deep. Gradel to his credit did look up for it and really
did get stuck in. He should have scored but he did enough for me. Snodgrass
eventually got the goal in the 3rd minute of injury time. We didn’t deserve to
lose this game, however we didn’t deserve to win it either but forget all that
the
worrying thing is that we are a team in crisis, low on confidence and not
knowing where the next chance, goal or win is coming from. It really is that
bad and this must be Simon Grayson’s hardest challenge so far in his career. I
currently would worry that we won’t make it this season.
Scores:
Casper– 6. Didn’t have to do anything really apart from pick the pen out of the
back of the net. Moved far too early for me.
Hughes – 2. Terrible. All over the shop.
Lowry – 4. At left back he looks out of position. He made a number of good
defensive headers from their corners making me think he is a central defender.
Yet another player playing out of position.
Kisnorbo – 6. Yes, he’s our best defender and as usual he got through a load of
hard work today however he is a player that plays close to the edge and I think
he was lucky to stay on the pitch today. He made at least 5 dodgy tackles that
resulted in free-kicks but only got booked late on. He’s a nutter, the type you
want in your side but when under pressure as we are could turn into a bit of a
liability.
Naylor – 5. Some good work at times but I think he’s struggling a bit along
with his team.
Johnson – 4. Started ok but then he reminded us of what he is capable of with
some aimless passing. I was beginning to turn a bit of a corner with this lad
although I still wouldn’t have started with him. He’s not going to make it is
he !?
Kilkenny – 4. Will never have a good game when all his team mates are resorting
to long balls.
Doyle – 0. I can not think of one contribution he made to the game today. When
the ball did eventually make its way to him he gave it away. Slow and lacking
acceleration which is not good when you’re supposed to be the harrier in
midfield.
Howson – 6. Lively. Was once the captain but now the player who is pushed out
of position by crap loanees and then gets dragged off to be replaced by
loanees. Grayson is ruining this lad.
McSheffrey – 4. Showed a couple of runs in the first half and one decent shot.
Never really got near the ball much in the second apart from one decent cross
that set up the Gradel chance. Fellt the wrath of the brain surgeons in the Kop
before being dragged off. If I were him I’d fuck off back down to Solihull
sharpish.
Beckford – 3. Didn’t do anything. There were a number of 50:50 balls which in
my opinion he came off 2nd best too easily. Also some of his deft flicks were
inappropriate today.
Subs:
Gradel – 7. Tried to beat their whole team on occasions but definitely made an
impact.
Becchio – 5. Just fought with their number 6 – literally they were having a
barging and punching match for the last 10 minutes – the ref missed it
completely. Anyone else see it ? I think he unsettled them a bit. Usual Becchio
performance, loads of effort no attainment.
Snodgrass – 7. Scored the goal and looked lively on the right. Why was he
dropped ?
Grayson – oh dear, it’s all going wrong. I liked his post match interview ,were
he said he will roll up his sleeves and get to work to put things right. I am
behind him, I think he can but I feel we’re sinking fast. Have we got the
bottle and determination to dig ourselves out of the slump.
Finally, my mate rang me from the West Stand at final whistle , he sits just
behind the away dug out, He told me that there was nearly a full scrap between
the benches after Leeds scored. Apparently Glynn Snodin took offence to
something their assistant manager did and wanted to fight him. He had to be
held back but others got involved too including Poyet. I heard Poyet’s post
match interview where he blamed it all on Grayson and the Leeds bench who he
thought over celebrated the goal in front of them. He said he felt sad because
the Leeds management team were obviously under pressure which made them act
like that. Interesting.
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