Well that was an extremely depressing experience. A poor loss, to a poor team, in (admittedly) poor conditions. There were no redeeming features that I can remember.
Even our goal, while being nice for the young lad, was born of 2 huge pieces of luck - the wind holding up the high cross and then the keeper slipping as he tried to readjust his position. Among the things it said to me were: - as a team (club?) our self confidence is shot through once again - this has been a common theme for years - its not just this manager or this chairman - I can’t believe in some ways that this is the same Leeds I used to love in part because they never gave up. Eventually I am hope that enough of the young lads will come through with a kind of gang mentality that will bring this back…but who knows, we’ve got it hold onto them first - once again our back 5 wilt at the first sign of pressure - Wootton is a disaster a RBack; is there really no one better in that position in the reserves? Bellucci - too randomly prone to major gaffes and has zero pace; Bamba - yeah, Ok he’s done some good things and I have seen more good than bad from him so far, so I want to give him time, but yesterday was a car crash from him; Breradi - despite his occasionally wild challenges, seems to be the best placed and most comfortable defender…and he can play a bit…seems to link well with Taylor down the left; Silvestri - sadly is the best keeper we have - I reckon he on average he make around 2 “goal-saving” interventions a game - he made a great save yesterday when the fella was through one on one after Bamba’s ludicrous back pass - even if the ref gave a dead ball. But he doesn’t come for crosses, he doesn’t inspire confidence in his defence and he doesn’t command his area. As a unit they were all over the place time and again yesterday, they don’t seem to talk to each other and Silvestri doesn’t seem to talk to anyone - you lose count of how many times Bamba or Bellucci turn round and try and exhort some kind of calling from him during the game. - and we don’t learn - their first goal: a sweet corner, flicked on from the penalty spot to a bloke lurking at the far post who was unmarked and knocked it in - they repeated this move at least two more times during the game and we only just got away with scrambled defending…their second goal was only a slight variation on the theme. Footballers/coaches who don’t think and adapt during the game are going nowhere - our midfield looses a lot of its forward momentum and drive when we don’t have Cook and Austin in there. - Antenucci is head and shoulders above the other forwards, but what yesterday proved was that you could have Messi up front, its totally pointless if he gets no service. I would be surprised if he touched the ball 20 times yesterday - efforts on goal…Byram at the back post, shot blocked; a dribbler from Antenucci; Taylor at the back post, took too long, smothered; Sharp’s header against the bar… - Morrison peeled away at the back post, got a clear header, planted it in the Kop…somebody in the crowd shouted something, Morrison obviously heard, turned, looked like he was going to have a go…eyeballed the caller for a minute then jogged away. - Philips - he’s young and it was his home debut - so these are just opening observations - he needs to step up the speed of reaction time (get with the pace of the game)..it will come. There were more than half a dozen times yesterday, when he was in the right place, first to the ball, or first to control the ball and then he took a beat too long to use it and someone was back in at him and had the ball away from him. Also, you could see what he was trying to do with some passes, but things close down quicker in these games than those he’s used to…he’ll be interesting to watch. He also could probably do to do a Mowatt and get into better physical shape to help him with that. BTW Mowatt was dreadful yesterday. The only 3 or 4 that earned their corn yesterday for me were Byram, Taylor, Murphy and possibly Breradi. The rest…pish. At least on Tuesday we’ll see a proper Leeds midfielder... _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
