I loved this from Nick - as he says if things continue as they are this could
be any one of us very soon
Dave
From: Nick <[email protected]>
To: leeds list <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, 24 January 2016, 11:48
Subject: Re: [LU] Bristol
A few minutes after our goal I headed down to the gents in the Kop…and
approached the doors with some trepidation as there sounded to be proper old
barney going on in there…screaming and shouting and all the rest. Some things
being more important than others, I carried on in, pushed the door open and
peered round the corner to where all the troughs are…and inside there in one
fella all on his own…standing there pissing, facing the wall, jabbing his
finger at the bricks yelling (really yelling!) “…and who thought buying that
fucking Carayol was good idea eh…useless twat, Huddersfield must be laughing
their cocks off at us…at least fat bastard has subbed him off…and that's
another thing, that fat bastard…how can you be manager of a fucking football
team and that fucking fat…I fucking ask you we’re a fucking joke…what a fucking
joke this club is…” then he notices that I’ve come in and am going to have a
piss and he just says, “alright mate” and starts whistling a happy tune.
This was by far the most interesting thing about yesterday’s game.
We have now had a run of 4 or 5 home games - unbeaten - in which we have had
fewer shots on goal than actual goals we have scored. It really takes some
doing. Yesterday, 1 shot on goal. 1 goal. And it was the winner, so yes, 3
points and yes a clean sheet. But fucking hell this is unmitigated garbage we
are being forced to endure week after week.
So what is wrong - some of it is confidence - see Silvestri for this one - he
is a good keeper, in the main, yes he needs to command his box a bit more…but
the one thing he does not need is barracking, because he just folds…show him a
bit of love and he will do well. There was a pretty hard core Anti-Kaspar
Schmeichel brigade…look where he is now.
But most of it is the way the team is set up at home - 4-5-1 - especially with
someone who is not an out and out striker as your front man. It is an
appallingly defensive mindset and hands the initiative to the visitors. If you
then have visitors who want to defend and play on the break (because this is
Elland Road after all…) then you are set up for a turgid stalemate. We need
4-4-2 at the very least. And one of those 2 being Antenucci - he has a bit of
guile and can hold the ball (yes, getting him to let go of the ball is our
major problem with him) - I have no great love for Wood but bloody hell it
shows where we have sunk to that people we relieved when he came on. Some will
point to him “making things happen” in the run up to the goal…and that is
certainly one interpretation; the other is that he is a big lump who stumbled
around in the box trying to get on the end of the cross, when the ball bounced
off him and fell kindly to Doukara, who slotted it home first time…decent
finish.
I don’t know what it is about our midfield…we seem to be turning Bridcutt and
Cook from being useful tenacious little players with an eye for a good pass
into a couple of players who expend tons of energy achieving nothing, losing
the ball needlessly, playing dangerously bad passes to team mates, then
charging recklessly into challenges and getting booked. Adeyemi, I was never
particularly convinced by, but he seemed to be more at home supporting the
front guys and had a decent couple of games just off there, so we drop him.
Murphy flatters to deceive, but at least works hard when he’s trying to close
down their play. Dallas - has flashes of good play, mixed with long periods of
anonymity - which is pretty much the JD of a winger. Mowatt has finally
decelerated so much that he is overtaken by growing grass. Oh, and we sold
Byram…(photo of him in the WH game in our paper this morning, did nothing for
my mood). Carayol - only 2 games (that I’ve seen) so far and one moment of
brilliance…and what of Botaka?
Then there is Scott Wootton…this is one of the longest running jokes in recent
history…other teams actively leave him alone so that we pass to him…it is like
putting the game on pause…as the “converted centre half” tries to work why this
round thing keeps coming back to him cos he’s sure he kicked it away only a few
minutes ago.
The other problem is our inherent negativity…the passing goes along our back
four minute after minute until one of the witless fuckers gets bored and thumps
a punt out towards a corner flag. Even when we have made a sudden break and
turned play and are heading into the opposition half, the odds are that one of
ours when he gets the ball will turn around and play it back…and further
back…eventually ending up with the keeper. It is demoralising stuff. There is
value in keeping the ball, yes, but there is even more value in scoring a goal
or two. I can’t believe this is the “natural way” this group of players play
the game, this has to be a directive from the coach. Just look at how we take
all 11 men back into penalty area when the opposition get a corner/free kick.
just having numbers in there solves nothing - they have to actively defend,
mark a man, watch the runners etc - never mind that it leaves us with no
outlet.
And yesterday, we win a corner 5 minutes from time and we are so scared that we
leave 7 men back around half way…just in case…the City defenders were looking
round to see what was going on.
So, in summary, Evans is out of his depth, he has been reasonably lucky but it
won’t continue and we look to be a good bet for 15th again…and next time it
will probably be me yelling at the walls in the gents...
Rarely have I “enjoyed” a victory so little.
> On 23 Jan 2016, at 20:38, [email protected] wrote:
>
> On my way to the bus stop one of my neighbours asked if I was off to the game
> and who were we playing. I said 'yes' but could not recall who our opponents
> were. That reply was about right in so much as I will have no recollection of
> this match come Monday.One the one hand we won, we kept a clean sheet and
> Doukara scored with his only shotOn the other, it was dire and the goal was
> the only shot we managed all game - they had 2 chances in the first half and
> missed a sitter (header) in the second. It really was awful stuff. If anyone
> was taking a friend / relative to this as their first ever football game they
> would never come back for another one. From first to last minute it was
> terrible, two bad teams playing poorly in front of 20 thousand uninterested
> bored supporters, who struggled to raise any enthusiasm.We won and the three
> points will help make sure we do not get dragged into a relegation fight (you
> can forget the play offs) but this was as bad as it gets (add this to MK dons
> and Preston) and it is 2 shots in 3 home games (MKD was an own goal)I would
> give Dallas half his wages and the rest 30% tops. None of them did anything
> to deserve the wage packet they will be picking up - Ok maybe give Doukara
> 50% too since he did score.In fairness he did put it away nicely when the
> ball fell to him in the area and it was the only chance that fell his, or any
> other Leeds players way.There was a total lack of desire, skill or cohesion
> in the first half and we went in to a chorus of deserved boos at 0 0 only
> because they were as bad as us. This was not the team that beat Hull and were
> unlucky not to beat Derby, two of the better teams in this league.To be fair
> Evans (again) realised this was not good enough and changed things early in
> the second half bringing on Wood and taking off the totally ineffectual
> Carayol. The fact that the under fire Wood was greeted with cheers and sighs
> of relief shows how bad things were.We offered nothing and did nothing. Then
> a ball in the area fell to Doukara and he hit it into the corner of the net -
> a good finish. Would we go on and win 3 or 4 nil or would we shut up shop and
> keep the points we had .
> Really we did neither - we did not put our foot on the gas and go for it but
> we did not settle for the point either, we just continued plodding on not
> sure what to do and got a lucky escape when they missed a free header. The
> players played as if the season was over and the crowd bought into the
> 'nothing to play for vibe' that surrounded the whole set up We really need an
> exciting signing or just something for the fans to buy into or this season
> really is over wiht a long way to go
> As bad as it gets for a win and 3 points
> Dave
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>
> MARCHING ON TOGETHER
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