Seriously hungover but I’ll do my best.
Yesterday was a great day out and a great match. I thought Leeds were
exceptional however unlike Terry I thought QPR were poor. You could see that
they had good individual players but you could also see that they wanted to
dribble the ball over the line rather than being direct in the last 3rd. I
think
they were tailor made for our 4-5-1 system. They pushed on like a home side
giving us the freedom of the park at times. When we broke out 4-5-1 suddenly
became a 4-2-4 with Gradel, Howson, Snodgrass and Kilkenny getting forward.
Even
McCartney and Connolly were playing like wingers for most of the match. We
outplayed them and outfought them and really should have won by more. The best
thing for me was the way we passed and moved the ball around the pitch, some of
the passing was top class. Kilkenny, Howson, Snodgrass and Johnson (yes Johnson
who kept it simple and effective for probably the first time in his Leeds
career).
I did worry when Bruce came off early – Bromby and Collins doesn’t inspire you
with confidence and for 10 minutes after that we were all at see. Collins
backing off at every opportunity and putting the whole defence under pressure.
But then someone had a word (maybe Bromby) and all of a sudden we started
attacking the ball and not giving them a sniff. Were Collins and Bromby good ?
Well, again I think it was a mixture of them putting themselves on the line but
also some very poor QPR play in the last third when they just seemed to find it
very easy to concede possession. Bromby out of the 2 though did have a solid
game. I thought the whole team defended well though, we even saw Kilkenny
making
last ditch tackles. It really was a team effort.
Our main threat was the excellent Snodgrass. I’ve given him a bit of a slating
in some of my match reports for being a bit fat, slow and inconsistent. I was
looking at him yesterday and I think he’s slimmed down and he looks really
sharp. He reminds me of Chris Waddle, just full of ability and can skip past an
opponent with ease. He was brilliant yesterday, he terrorised their right back
and caused problem after problem. He also covered a lot of ground. He looks
sharp now and if I were a premiership manager I’d be having a serious look at
this lad.
We had options all over the pitch – watching Gradel in that first half was a
times like watching Gazza in his prime. Flicks over his head, impossible
control
and then move away from your man. He was on fire and his two goals were well
taken especially the second which was all about Gradel. We’ve all slagged him
off for being inconsistent and he has been but if he continues like this he’ll
be a major player for us. He is unplayable at times. So that’s the two wingers
but it was much more than that. Howson continued his fine form, what a player
this lad is. He’s got everything. I just loved some of his play yesterday –
playing a short ball then immediately moving on for the return just knowing it
would come and I think it was that which impressed me so much yesterday – all
the Leeds players knew what to expect of each other. We were moving around,
receiving, passing, tackling – a real team performance. I can’t really describe
how impressed I was. Warnock must have wondered what had hit him.
1-0 up with 20 minutes or so left you might have though we would start to hold
on. We didn’t we carried on pushing and carried on creating chances. We were
the
best team for the full 94 minutes and took total control when we went 2 up. The
atmosphere reflected the performance and it really felt that the good times
could be just around the corner with this performance.
Scores:
Schmeichel – 7. Didn’t have a lot to do – a few easy shots and a near fatal
collision with Kilkenny but that was about it. As I said QPR were really poor
in
and around the box.
Connolly – 8. I thought he was exceptional. He had a tricky customer to deal
with and he had a few problems but he did well and also contributed coming
forward.
McCartney – 8. Much better. Again contributed going forward.
Collins – 6. Poor for the first 20 minutes but then improved. I think we need
to
get better back up though in Jan.
Bromby – 7. Solid. I wouldn’t rule this lad out yet.
Howson – 9. Midfield dynamo.
Snodgrass – 10. Class. Man of the Match.
Gradel – 10. Class and 2 great goals.
Johnson – 9. By far his best performance for Leeds. I didn’t think he had this
type of performance in him and I openly admit that if he can tailor his game in
this way maybe he can be an important player in this league. He didn’t try
ridiculous long shots and ridiculous long passes or ridiculous chips. He just
played to his limited game – he’s good in the air, he’s strong, he does have a
nice left foot (we never doubted that) he just controlled the midfield and let
the others around him do the running and attacking. I was very, very impressed
and you’ve got to hand it to Grayson for perservering with him. He’s seen
something I haven’t and that’s why he’s a manager and I’m just a grumpy old git
fan J
Kilkenny – 8. He’s always been the main man for me. Such a good footballer,
such
good vision and just keeps the team ticking over. Yesterday quite a lot of his
balls didn’t come off and he got the groans of the crowd at times but he just
gets on with it, making himself available and starting the ball rolling. The
heart of the team.
Becchio – 5. Ok, the only downside yesterday for me was Becchio. Whilst others
played attacking, attractive football almost with ease Becchio always
struggles.
How many times did we see him try and return a simple ball and either
miscontrol
or spoon it up in the air making difficult for the receiving player. It’s so
frustrating when he does that. He had 4 main chances in the game. First he did
well for a backwards header which the keepr tipped over. He then found himself
clear of the defence on a one on one. Any striker worth his money would have
had
a pot shot, not Becchio he dawdled, it wasn’t on his favourite foot so he
turned
back and chance missed. Awful.
Then second half he was put through again. He again showed lack of pace as the
ground swallowed him up , he did however manage to scuff a shot across the goal
which Kenny nearly made an arse off. He still should have scored. Then he had a
free header from a corner which he ballooned in to the South Stand. He fell
over
a lot, won just about noi 50:50 headers and in general stood out as having a
poor game in a team of in form players. We have to look beyond Becchio, he
doesn’t fit into our style, he’s not a target man, he isn’t a passer, he is not
a mover , has little pace. He has however scored 1 in 2 but I think there’s
others on the bench who can score and contribute more. Out of his last 9
starts
he has drawn a blank on 7 occasions, so let’s not get too carried away with his
goal tally.
Grayson – 10. He’s got us winning games but also playing some great football.
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