After 15 minutes or so yesterday I turned to a mate and said - you know what, there's been more excitement and more good play (from a Leeds point of view) in this first 15 minutes or so than there was in the whole of the Barnsley match. And that kind of summed it up for me...we did just about enough to overcome the worst team withe the worst defence, in the league. No one need be smug about it in the Leeds camp.
We lined up with Kenny in goal - who made one or two fairly routine saves in the first half...and watched for most of the second. Byram at RB; Lees and Peltier at CH; and Aidy White at LB - if nothing else, this was easily our most mobile back 4 of the season. I thought they looked comfortable-ish...there were a few moments of panic - both full backs have proved time and again that they have frailties when it comes to defending and can get caught out. Peltier is better at CH than at full back and looks more at home there. Lees is just our best CH. But, the problem with these guys comes when they are asked to be ball players...unless there is an obvious ball forward, they will just lump it...Byram being the exception to this - he looks to play football - and he does benefit from having Backley and Diouf out on his side. White, will get his head down and run fast until someone tackles him...the lack guile or awareness of teammates can be disturbing at times. And there is nothing up front for them to aim at. The midfield of Backley, Austin, Brown and McCormack plodded and struggled and huffed and puffed and just about did enough to keep us going forward - we did get better in the 2nd half as Bristol seemed to lose interest/heart...Austin is still getting back up to speed...he doesn't command games like he did at the start of the season, we can only hope he continues to recover. Backley was good in flashes, he clearly has a good touch, but he showed a tendency to overelaborate - but let's not knock it, he looked a cut above most others out there. His cross for the goal was a peach. Brown, I have never liked, he's nasty piece of work and seems more interested in himself than the team, but he put in one of those awkward "breaking things up for the opposition" shifts, and every team needs one of those. McCormack is not a midfield player...far too often he was out of position, uncomfortable in possession out wide and he was pretty anonymous. But he got up at the back post and took the goal well - if I was their manager I'd be having a long chat with the full back marking him, asking just how such a small fella got above him to head the winner. Becchio - did not have much to do...didn't do much. Diouf was involved in everything that happened going forward and really made a nuisance of himself. Possibly the biggest problem for McCormack - who is naturally our "number 10", is that that is the only place you can really play Diouf as well, and he is doing well at the moment. Overall it was a struggle against the sort of team we shouldn't struggle against, but you know what will happen next week, suddenly everybody will turn up - players and fans - and we'll run em close for 70 minutes. Same old Leeds. Warnock doesn't have a clue...get rid. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] PETE CASS (1962 - 2011) Rest In Peace Mate
