Another tough away day, another very good point. Definitely a match to focus on the positives of a clean sheet rather than unduly dwelling negatively on a blank at the other end.
First half, as media reports have fairly put it, was a case of each team cancelling one another out. Our passing and movement wasn't quite there, and we struggled for space in a generally congested midfield area. The movement of Becchio was poor, and the wide men just weren't timing their movement well. This restricted our passing options and was then compunded by Kilkenny uncharacteristically misplacing most of his passes, as he was forced to try and force passes into small gaps given the poor movement and his radar was off. Johnson passed to Reading. Set against that was the excellence of our central defence and keeper. These 3 look set in stone now and are building up good mutual understanding and trust. Very positive. I struggle to recall many specific first half incidents (it was one of those halves) except that Max was exceptionally lucky to stay on the pitch. He went down in a tussle with Griffin, their ageing right back, and then whilst laying on the floor blatantly kicked out at Griffin. Thankfully it was apparent neither the ref nor the linesman spotted it (it was a clear straight red) and each player just got booked for the ensuing handbags. Every time Max looks to have grown up he suffers a relapse. Our best chance was probably a freekick in a great spot on the side of the area which Snoddy just hit straight into the keeper's hands. They claimed a "definite" penalty but to me it was ball to hand as it struck O'Brien's arm from point blank range. From the resulting deflection Max produced a lovely back heel flick clearance off the line. Partial redemption. Second half and predictably Reading upped their tempo, with Kebbe's introduction after an hour giving McCartney a hellish last half hour. Easy to criticise McCartney, but after a generally tough afternoon it's never easy for a fullback to face a very fast lanky awkward winger charging at him. We went 4-4-2 with Max pushing up and Bradley going to the left presumably to help give McCartney more support. Maybe it worked defensively, but it nullified us offensively as it just meant Max was out the game - he is so much more effective when kept wide. Reading pressed on more and more. Kasper made a string of excellent saves (one excellent reflex save from a Harte freekick from 20 yards that he barely saw but thrust an arm at to push away) and Bruce and O'Brien did sterling work. We creaked but held on. It was one of those afternoons you hoped our counter-attacking abilities would enable us to nick it but somehow it was never quite there and when we got possession we just lacked pace of movement and thought. With 15 minutes left Paynter and McCormack replaced Becchio and Gradel - a fair enough change, though possibly could have been done 10 minutes sooner - neither really impressed me and both lacked sharpness and pace. Always a chicken and egg this one of course as they won't get this without game time. Not sure why Somma wasn't on the bench as he was exactly what we needed to come on I felt. As time ran out the ball was cleared out to McCormack who moved forward and laid a pass on to the rampaging Howson (a hell of a run after 90 minutes toil) who controlled and shot well and hard at the near post as the defender closed down. Excellent save by their keeper. Would have been a cheeky stolen win but so nearly achieved. Scores on the doors: Kasper - 9 - back to his best. Only criticism is once in the first half he did another Norwich, falling to the ground at a corner claiming to be pushed as the ref ignored him. Got to be stronger there Kasper. Having said that from then on he was commanding and made several excellent punches. Connolly - 7 - solid. He's a "7 - solid" kind of guy. McCartney - 6 - had a tough afternoon with pacey wingers and got done a number of times, but stuck at it. Bruce - 8 - looks a much better player next to... O'Brien - 8 - dominant in the air and doing everything we could ask of him. He has been a cracking signing. My only concern with O'Brien is we don't do another Naylor and give a longish contract to someone who may only have another year or so left in him and will struggle to step up beyond this level. He is susceptible to pace. Still would be happy to sign him on say an 18 month contract in Jan, though suspect he will want an extra year. Snoddy / Gradel - 6 - disappointing days. Quite a bit of switching wings to try and make things happen but it never quite did. Disappointing against 2 slow full backs in Griffin and Harte but sometimes a wiser head can beat young legs. Max - grow up please. Kilkenny - 6 - didn't quite happen for him, but in his defence the options and movement in front were poor. Johnson - 6 - actually did a better job as a defensive midfielder this week, spotting passes and intercepting and getting blocks in. Then spolit it by almost invariably passing to Reading or into touch. At his best he just paid off to another Leeds player, though it would be so laboured as to slow down everything. Howson - 7 - bit more subdued than of late but fantastic run and effort to almost snatch the win shows his worth. Becchio - 5 - bad day at the office for Lucciano. Now doesn't score more goals than Berbatov. Copious flailing of arms, and dramatic claims for freekicks. He worked all day but struggled to unsettle their centre back as he didn't have anything of the deck to trouble them. One very poor piece of play when someone (Kilkenny? Howson?) was looking to thread a pass through to him between the centre back in the first half. Somma would have been making the run. Becchio just stood looking to turn his back to goal. He just seems to struggle to flick his mindset at times from "this is going to be an attritional slog up front" to "now I need to be the quick forward wanting to score on the break". That said I was not enthralled by McCormack or Paynter when they came on. Assuming Grayso is sticking with starting Becchio, would like to see Watt and Somma back on the bench for the pace option. Sam, Paynter and McCormack have their strengths but then don't stretch tiring defences with pace. Leeds fans were in good voice once more. Reading fans were soulless rubbish. With a soulless rubbish stadium. Rubbishly located. With rubbish transport links. And it was very cold. Overall though very pleased - 6 matches unbeaten now. That's a cracking effort and we just need to consolidate it with a home win on Saturday. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
