Dave, I admire your optimism. But the evidence so far this season suggests that of those players returning at least one or two will get re-injured, while a couple of the other non-injured players will also get hurt. In addition, I think it will be a bonus if we see Clarke on the field again this season. The club still haven't said what happened to him medically, and Bielsa's comments the other day about giving him as long as he needs to recover didn't sound like he was nailed on for Bolton. (And if/when Clarke does play for us again, it would help if we played to his strengths, which means moving the ball quickly out of defence and giving it to Clarke when he's got space to run at the opposition. Far too often in the last few games we've moved the ball too slowly out of defence [ahem, Luke Ayling] and then either given it too Clarke when he's stationary and the opposition have planted two men on him, or ignored him altogether and passed to a teammate in a less promising position. Clarke is our most dangerous player and we need to make the most of his skills.) The league has still to rule on the so-called "spygate" episode. Like others, I think they are dragging this out unnecessarily and will choose whatever punishment they think they can get away with that most hurts our chances of promotion. I like the idea of Bamford/Roofe/Brown/Roberts becoming some sort of rotating goal machine, but I doubt it's going to happen. We've yet to see Brown play a minute of football in the first team. Bamford's missed a sitter in each of the last two games. Roofe has gone off the boil somewhat (earlier in the season he would have buried the chance that shaved the outside of the post in the last game) and Roberts has been lively but not lethal in his appearances so far. The league's apparent decision to not allow us to be awarded penalties is also costing us in several ways. First, and most obviously, in points. Second, in goal difference, which I expect will be key this season. Third, and perhaps most insidiously, in fitness/injuries, because instead of being three or four up in the latter stages of games (think the last Derby game, when we had two clear penalties not given, or the game on Wednesday night), we're having to bust a gut to protect a narrow(er) lead in the closing stages, and can't necessarily rest our best players. I hope I'm wrong, but 46 years supporting Leeds tells me that the most Leeds United end to this season would be to lose in the playoff final because of a couple of controversial refereeing decisions that go against us. I have already resigned myself to this reality. Cheers! Sean
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> To: Leeds List <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, Feb 15, 2019 9:18 am Subject: [LU] Looking good Supposedly Brown , Berardi and Dallas are all down to play for the u23s tonight We are getting our players (Bamford and just before that Roberts) back at the right time - IF Brown can be anything like the player he was and IF Clarke gets the all clear we will have a full squad (bar Douglas- assuming Forshaw is fit like they thought he would be) to choose from for the 3 games in 6 days after our 10 day break It will make the bench much stronger and will give us a minimum of two good / reliable players for each position, exactly what Bielsa wants with no spares causing problems Casilla / BPFAyling / Berardi / ShackletonPontus & Coops - Berardi / Phillips / HalmeAlioski / Davies / DallasPhillips / Forshaw DMKlich / Forshaw (no8)Harrison / Alioski - wide leftPablo / Clarke - wide rightRoofe / Roberts / Pablo / Brown- no 10Bamford / Roofe - CF Looks decent with lots of options - I know various fans have issues with certain players - Harrison, Alioski, Forshaw and Ayling have all come in for (mainly harsh) criticism at different times but Bielsa likes them and that will do me at this stage Bamford , Roberts & Brown should be able to give us the fire power we have generally been missing -despite Roofe's best efforts, our goals per chance / per shot ratio is the main thing that is costing us this season Still a lot of football to be played and it will not be easy (we may well be 3rd by the time we entertain Bolton a week tomorrow) but things do seem to clicking into place quite nicely. We have shown that our youngsters can all come in and do a decent job if needed and now our first choice players are coming back things are looking up and , best of all, it is entirely in our own hands especially with Sheff U and WBA to come to ER - win both of those and the gap between us and them starts to look good 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 _______________________________________________ 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
