A win is a win and there's no doubt that we are playing with A) more passion and determination than we've seen for a while
B) a bit of steel and know how at the back and we haven't seen that for a very long while Having said that I thought we are poor in the first half and I thought we were lucky to be 1 up at half time through a goal from a corner !! The formation is a strange one with Chris Wood isolated up front, Sacko stood on the right touch line and Dallas doing all his best work covering for Taylor on the left. It needs someone to drive from midfield and O'Kane and Philips are to defensive minded to do that job so it's all down to Hernandes who lacks pace but has ability. If he is off his game then we're pretty much devoid of attacking options. In the first half Hernandes was off the pace. The first half reminded me of the Huddersfield game in that we looked like a team of misfits whereas Barnsley looked like a team with a plan. Quick, pass and move football which seems easy but you only have to look at our attempts to play to see how hard it can be. Time after time we looked static and clueless in midfield with most moves resulting in the ball going back to Green. It was pretty terrible stuff and Kalvin Philips was playing pretty much facing his own goal for most of the first 45 mins. I don't think the Philips and O'Kane is a strong enough partnership for me, Philips tries hard and gets stuck in whereas O'Kane seems very limited in both going forward and defending. I was disappointed with him today. The passing at times was awful, simple 5-10 yard passes not hitting their target. Basics ! Up front Chris Wood worked hard but he's slow and his general play just lacks quality. He could have had a hat-trick today but you never felt he was going to score whereas Sacko has to be the most frustrating player to watch. There's rarely any end product to his play. The best thing about today was the defending. All 4 defenders did well and it is credit to our improvement that we restricted a very lively Barnsley side who won the midfield battle to a few half chances. Green had little to do throughout. Even their goal was down to us. In Jansson we have a real defender, he wins everything in the air and on the ground, he's also a leader and can be seen shouting at his team mates whilst geeing the crowd up. He's a real find and there can't be too many better defenders in this league. The first 20 minutes of the second half were better. Hernandes decided to play and all of a sudden with Barnsley pushing up the park we had counter attack after counter attack. We were playing like the away team on the break and it took Barnsley pushing forward to give us enough room to be able to pass it around in the break. We even made that look hard at times. We had chance after chance until one fell to Hernandes who drew the keeper and slotted it into the corner. Top drawer finish. We could have added more with a bit of composure from Wood but he blasted over twice and then Hernandes had another chance which he placed past the post. But we are Leeds and we don't do things the easy way so for the last 20 minutes Barnsley pushed forward , got their goal, courtesy of a Charlie Taylor own goal and then caused us all sorts of problems as we retreated into our own box. Although it was nervy with Jansson clearing off the line and heading clear time after time I really didn't think they would score. We put 3 subs on to try something different but all 3 had no impact, especially Roofe who just added to the problem by giving away possession and a free kick, very poor from him. Antonsson looks a yard short of pace and has a fat arse, a bit of a Frank Strandli if I'm honest, and Vierra looked like a young lad without clue. We held on for a win and things are not looking too bad however I really don't think we are a good team and whilst there's improvements at the back I don't feel we are even close to being a play off team. Barnsley were a much better footballing team for me. Scores Green - 7 seems to be getting more confident. Ayling - 7. I think he's a bang average footballer but he got stuck in today against a lively Barnsley team Taylor - 6. Did well down the left in the build up to our corner for the goal. I do worry about him when he's put on the back foot. There's no way he's got what it takes to play in the premier league. Jansson - 9. Top class. One or two moments in the first half where he got he wrong side but he always seems to recover. Best signing for Leeds for a long while. Bartlett - 8. Steady rock of a defender. O'Kane -4. I'm not sure what he offers, a bit pissy weak for me, Philips - 6. He was getting dog's abuse from all around me and I thought he had a poor first half but I have to say I thought he did really well in the second half and out in tackle after tackle. Like others he suffers from a lack of pace. Hernandes - 7. Poor first half but much improved second half and took his goal well. Wood wouldn't have scored it. Sacko - 5. Headless chicken and actually didn't outpace Barnsley that much. He does work hard to win the ball back though. Wood - 5. Worked hard but he's low on quality. Dallas - 5. Does anyone know what Dallas is ? Is he a winger ? Don't think so ? Is he fast ? Can he pass the ball ? Can he cross a ball ? I'm not sure what he offers other than a lot of running and hard work. Subs - all shit. Not sure we've got strength in depth. Crowd - 27000 , pretty good atmosphere. I think generally people were happy but I was overall pretty disappointed with our performance. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
