What a totally unenjoyable match that was last night! The immediate future certainly does look gloomy. The only silver lining I can find is that I haven't seen Leeds play at Wembley since 1973, and now I might get a chance again!
It seems to me that last night was a combination of bad luck and a number of players really hitting a slump in form. To lose Beckford, then lose Kis, then lose a poor goal before we were properly reorganised...............those were 3 terrible blows one after the other. I think we actually deserve a bit of credit for finally getting at least some cohesion back after the half hour mark. Even though we had I believe the shocking total of ZERO shots on target (!), we did play some good stuff after that. We should not forget that we weren't playing against 11 dustbins............Millwall had not won 9 of their previous 11 without being a well organised, skilful side. On the plus side, I thought Doyle was very good..........no frills, but effective; I really admired Sodgrass for continuing to try stuff all night even though nothing would quite come off for him; I was appalled by Dickov in the 1st half, but by the end I had quite come round to liking him - I suppose it was bound to take a while to get used to the team and the level, but he was looking more and more impressive as the game wore on. Can't see it happening, but I would like to see him partner a hopefully fit-again Beckford on sat. My biggest worry now is whether we can cobble together a reasonable defence in the absence if Kis. It may be too eraly to bring back Higgs, but I think that has to be an option. At CB, Naylor is not the player he was, and Bromby is good a lot of the time but has too many alarming wobbles, Lubo seems to have done a Gradel (looked great on loan, but when finally signed morphs into a donkey). I wonder if Rui might be the answer. He was a starter for Angola in the Af Cup, and they had a successful tournament, so surely he can handle Div 3 football. He is supposedly fit again, and should be fresh. I don't know what Grayson can do at fullback though. If Rui plays in the middle, maybe Bromby at RB might be the best bet, and then is it too soon to get Parker back in at LB? In MF, Johnson is finished for me (he was woefully out of touch last night), I haven't seen McSheff, but he hasn't had good reviews, so I think we should revert to the not ideal solution of Doyle & Kilkenny in the middle, Howson on the rt and Snoddy on the left. I'm afraid at the moment, all I am hoping for is that we don't get absolutely mullered on Saturday! If we can get through that without any more massive blows to confidence - ie put up a reasonable performance even if we lose - and then somehow steady the ship against Swindon, I suppose there is still some hope! Rob Heath Munchen Weiss _______________________________________________ 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 and the hardest time in a sailor's day is to watch the sun as it sails away
