Everyone around me was furious with the ref for ruining the game by sending 3 players off and being the main reason why we lost this game. Whilst I accept the ref and his linesman on the east stand side were the worse I've seen for some time I think we only have ourselves to blame. When you know the ref is dodgy and will book you for farting why, when on a yellow card, do you blatantly hack down a Boro player right in front of him. Max Gradel – you are as thick as f*ck.
Then there's Johnny Howson – I'm a fan but is he captain material ?– I think not. Any captain would have seen the Gradel booking incident in the first 5 mins and would have made sure that his team kept it sensible , instead Johnny led from the front by deliberately hacking down a Boro player for a blatant yellow card then repeating the offence by obstructing a Boro player when he was last man. I've heard Grayson bleating that the ref was going to book the Boro player for diving but then was overruled by the 4th official. Strange if true but it was clear to me, Howson obstructed him and deserved to walk. Bad ref yes but really poor discipline from the Leeds players. Having said all that I'm sat here with my glass of red wine not too disappointed with the showing today. I thought we started off fairly lively, when we went down to 10 men we were actually the better side and even with 9 men when the game was effectively over I was impressed how we never gave up and ran ourselves into the ground and actually had Boro on the ropes at times. The plus points for me were the back four, who were pretty solid against a fairly pedestrian Boro attack. Bromby did pretty well with some really good last ditch headers in the first half. He only made one big mistake all afternoon and he got away with that after giving away possession cheaply in his own half. Kisnorbo was more like Kisnorbo, giving the opposition attackers no space at all but at the same time conceding cheap free kicks. I suppose you can't have it both ways. Lees is tall, strong, composed and confident. Yes he slipped once and got turned for the goal but I think he's going to be a regular this season. Looking at him, the way he won his headers and the way he plays he looks like a centre back to me and I'd like to see him playing in his best position. I would hate to see a young talent have to emerge in the team in his second best position. O'Dea is a big lump, too slow for my liking. He does remind me of a tall Ian Harte but as I said before he doesn't have a good left foot so I'm struggling to see what he adds to the team ? The best I could say about him was that he didn't get exposed which is more to do with Boro than his performance. Our new keeper had a good afternoon, when down to 9 players he made save after save all to no avail but he kept us in the game and gave us a chance. Not sure about their goal, it might be harsh to suggest he could have got it cos it was struck well but I did think where was our keeper ? Also, I'm not sure about his command of the box, he hesitates but that might just be getting used to things – hopefully. In midfield I thought we were lively with our 5 man midfield. With Grayson's mind numbing, pre-determined, programmed 4-5-1 formation we need to play the ball through the midfield as we have a midget up front on his own. We did try and definitely made some openings as Howson, Snodgrass, Brown, Gradel and Clayton all passed and moved effectively. It was promising. Got to mention Clayton's chip from the half way line, nearly worked and shows his confidence at the moment. He is head and shoulders above his team mates at the moment, a real inspiration. Down to 9 men and 85 minutes on the clock and having covered more ground than anyone on the pitch he chased a lost cause ball and managed to out pace and out muscle the Boro defender. Unfortunately the move petered out but his determination and fitness levels impressed me more than anything today. He got a standing ovation from the Kop and North East – he deserved it, he was tremendous. I am convinced that we would have won this game either 11 v 1 1 or even 10 v 11. But with 9 we had little chance. I see this game as a confidence booster not just another defeat and it's good that we've got Hull on Tuesday even without Max and Johnny. ; Scores on the doors Lonergan – 8. Good saves 2nd half. Lees – 7. Confident. Would like to see him play centrally. O'Dea – 4 Big, useless lump. Don't rate him Kisnorbo – 7. Much better, some really good defending. Bromby – 7. Probably the best I've seen him play for Leeds but I'm still not a fan. He's just too average. Howson – 7. Lively as always and when we went down to 10 men he really covered some ground and made a difference but I don't think he's a great captain. Brown – 7. Much improved. Did simple things covered quite a lot of ground. I'm hoping he will get better and better with games. Clayton – 9. High energy, good tackling, good fitness, good link up play ….excellent. Snodgrass – 7. Some good moments in the first half but doesn't look as fit as he could be. Gradel – 2. Braindead. McCormack – 6. He needs support, he's not a lone player and he struggled today. Worked hard until subbed. Subs: Nunez – 6. Ran his socks off when he came on and wanted the ball. Didn't do much with it though. Was a bit greedy on one occasion when he shot from outside the box when a pass to Mcormack would have been the better option. Thompson – 5. Didn't make an impact and doesn't look like much of a player to me. Sam – 6. Did ok. Grayson – going to have to consider playing someone alongside McCormack and going 4-4-2 cos it's not working … and by the way Simon, shoving yound Lees up front late on was a really stupid decision. Lots of anti-Bates chants – I don't join in cos I see them as negative and we needed positivity with only 9 men on the pitch. One bloke went on to the pitch to retrieve the ball in the absence of the ball boys – he nearly got arrested however the Kop turned on the security blokes and it threatened to get ugly. I hope this saved the bloke from a ban but I suspect not. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER (There's it)
