Homwe in time for tonights game after 10 days holiday with wife and her family in Lanzarote None of them are football fans so it is odd watching games alongside them - managed to see both Forest and QPR on TV RE - Forest , I loved the way we went at them when down to 10 men and thought another miracle was possible when we got our noses in front but it was not to be. I do think if we could have kept the lead for 10mins or so we would have won, but we didn't and 2 quick goals killed us off. I have read all the 'we should have shut up shop' comments on here and elsewhere but it is not our style and with that mindset we would have drawn Villa and Blackburn games , so it is high risk high reward. Also I love the way Bielsa analyses and explains everything post match - it means we can all understand (if not necessarily agree) with his decisions. For Forest he said he could not take anyone off (went through all options) without weakening the team at a time when we were still on top of the game - it was corners that did for us. If the ref had done his job and sent their lad off early doors we would have won - fine margins Re QPR - I thought the bench was as bad as Monk & Christiansen but the starting line up was OK in the circs - again fine margins cost us - Roberts hitting the post in first few seconds would have changed the game. Bielsa again explained why he rested certain players and played others, again all reasonable choices, and like most of us I was not too happy to lose narrowly - in the event it saves us a long trip to Portsmouth and the possibilty of a humiliating or worse physcological defeat or extra games. DERBY - tonight is massive - it really could define the rest of the season. As fans we are a bit mentally scarred after the last 2 collapses - Monk when we were 99% certain to be in the play offs and missed out, then TC (and Heck) when we went from top in November to out of the play off race a few months later. Add to that there is this 'half myth / half truth' story that Bielsa's team always run out of steam and collapse at the latter stages of the season. As if these 2 factors are not enough we have the fact that we are Leeds and we always blow it at the end (a legacy of Revie's 'more often the bridesmaid hardly ever the bride' team who should have won miles more trophies than they did) So a defeat tonight and it is 3 losses on the bounce in the league and the probability that we will lose top spot and lose all our points advantage over the chasing pack. It will lead to a lot of 'Leeds are falling apart again' stuff from our own fans let alone other teams. It will also call Bielsa into question for the first time and his stubbornness in the transfer window. A win on the other hand means we keep top spot whatever anyone else does and puts the pressure on Norwich and West Brom who play each other and on Sheff Utd. It also puts us back on the rails and gives us more hope of beating Stoke and Rotherham Good news is Cooper and Pontus should be re-united at the back and make us more solid - bad news is the loss of Douglas and even worse the possible loss of Pablo, our main bit of guile. There is no reason we cannot win if we play to our potential but we will need to be on top of our game and cut out the silly mistakes but I would bite your hand off now for a 1-0 to us , I can't see a repeat of the 4-1 hammering we gave them at their place So onwards and upwards - lets get this show back on the road and get back to winning ways ! Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected]
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