Well that is the season over and out with a whimper not a bang We were well and truly outclassed in the absolutely 'last chance saloon'- we have known for a while that the play offs were out of our reach but last night was the final nail in the coffin, no "we still have 30 points to play for " etc - this team will be lucky to get 3 Wolves are allegedly cheats but will no doubt escape any real punishment - Leicester supposedly broke the FFP rules and made £100m from doing so and were fined £3m - not much of a deterrent. Wolves alleged cheating is to do with third party ownership, so a bit more complicated,but whatever it is , it is working for them (so far) This looked the game that it will be in a few months time, two teams from different Divisions. As the players lined up Wolves looked a big side, lots of 6 foot plus players with two huge centre backs. They were also quick mobile and strong.
The 26k who were present at the start of the game (about half this by the end) really did try on occasion to lift the team and really gave their all , with a brilliant long -lasting waccoe half way through the second half being a highlight. I cannot think of any other English team who has fans today who would and could do the same in a game when we are 2 down and getting the runaround (when I got back to Picc station it was full of the new breed of City fan - more half and half City / Basel scarves than pure City ones) Myself and lots of other fans got our wish and Felix was out. I had wanted to see BPF start although a two minute 'blooper reel' of his time at York gave me severe doubts. My favourite (well I am about the only one left who thinks there is something there with him) Hadi Sacko also got a start with Dallas on the other flank and Forshaw and Phillips in between them. Saiz was number 10 behind Lassogga and the defence was as per usual with Anita keeping De Bock out. From the first minute we knew this would be a long night - we tried hard and did get at them a few times early on but they just brushed us aside and played through us. Their two wide men stayed very wide- one of them even headed the ball back from outside the pitch!- but we still could not get a grip of midfield They had a couple of good chances, one I am not sure how he managed to miss and one led the fairly impressive BPF into a good save. (I have not yet had the 'benefit' of TV for any of it so my memories may clash with what you saw on TV) Would they keep missing ? Could we do enough to keep them at bay? The answer of course was 'no' but the goal when it came was a disaster from our point of view - it was if the ghost of Gary Mac and numerous managers since him had returned. A straight forward corner onto the penalty spot - their lad totally unmarked and bang 0 1. How many times have we seen this over the years (remember Kevin Davies 'marked' by Rudy v Bolton a few years back? Two goals) - this was just bad defending and nothing great from them The game continued in the same vein as before - with us being outclassed and just wondering how many they would get (as my mate said , it must remind me of my rugby playing days at school - long story) We offered nothing as BPF was called into action time and again and they missed some good chances. Then we fell for the same trick again - a corner, BPF tipped it against the bar but they re-acted quicker to the rebound and it was 0 2 Before the game my mate had 'predicted' (tongue in cheek I expect) that it would be 2 2- well Wolves had done their part When we discussed the 2 2 at half time it was agreed by all that the next two goals would also be scored by Wolves so 2 in each physical goal looked a good bet Second half was more of the same except we all knew the game was over and they took their foot off the pedal a bit. We brought on Hernandez who looked sharp and looked our only player capable of doing anything (playing for his new contract?) - Ekuban also came on for Lassogga , who again did not get a touch, but all to no avail. We did manage one shot as Berardi sent a thunderbolt into the side netting. I dont recall their keeper making any save of note all game The game drifted away and so did many fans and then the trickle became a rush as a quick move from them led to BPF coming way out of his goal and their forward chipping it in over BPFs head and into the empty net - a cool finish, but a keeping error ? Thankfully the ref was keen to put us all out of our misery and we only had to endure 2 minutes of injury time. So another bad game came to a close and with it realistically another bad season. I got a text from my son on the way home (he could not make it last night) "If you weren't such an idiot and had supported a local team, we would enjoy football. This is on you"My reply "WE ARE LEEDS nuff said" and he had to agree So the season is as good as over - despite the tannoy as we left ER telling fans to buy tickets for the "vital and huge Sheff Wed game"- and what have we learned ? Nothing. What progress have we made? None. Once again we are going to go into pre season and the transfer merry go round worried about losing our only decent players and having to buy at least 6 or 7 players - at a minimum we need a first choice keeper, a left back, a centre half (probably two), a centre midfielder, a winger (or two) and a striker. Heck needs , one or two at a time, to give the young players and fringe players a go. IS BPF good enough, can De Bock make the left back spot his own, will Lassogga stay (if not let Ekuban play every week) - then can the likes of Denton, Pearce, Roi etc make the step up. He needs to find out exactly what positions need replacing Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedslist/ RIP Jimmy WAC-COE
