"Brighton refused to sell him to us for any price.".............exactly. They claimed we were "direct rivals" to them, a notion which I frequently scoffed at on various message fora in the early weeks of the season (but I'm not being so mouthy about it now!)
On Sun, Dec 13, 2020 at 3:58 PM seanscribe--- via Leedslist < [email protected]> wrote: > It wasn't that we refused to pay what Brighton were asking for White (that > was what happened with Udinese and de Paul). Brighton refused to sell him > to us for any price. I have to say they were right to do so, given what a > massive hole he's left in our defence. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Richard Walker via Leedslist <[email protected]> > To: Alec McQueen <[email protected]> > Cc: leeds list [email protected] <[email protected]> > Sent: Sun, Dec 13, 2020 3:26 am > Subject: Re: [LU] West Ham > > Agree with all that Alec especially about White. £30 million is a lot of > money but it would have been money well spent and we wouldn’t have the > big defensive problems we have now. > > > Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone > > > On Saturday, December 12, 2020, 11:24 pm, Alec McQueen <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I think all this is totally expected. What wasn’t expected was our flying > start to the season. We have done OK on balance so far. Compare us vs the > bottom 4. > > But let’s be clear: despite MB being a footballing magician, he is still > orchestrating very average Championship players in the best league in the > world. Frankly, he is still performing miracles. > > It is clear we don’t have enough players, nor do the players we’ve got > have enough class. Especially in defence. We should have paid whatever they > were asking for White. He would now be worth double what we would have paid > for him. And we would be top half. > > Can we stay up? I expect us to. But it becomes a big gamble if we don’t > recruit some serious classy players in January. If MB decides to stick with > what he’s got, it is going to get hairy. > > Still enjoying the journey though. Prefer this to where we’ve been in the > last 16 years. > Cheers > Alec > > Sent from my iPad > > > On 12 Dec 2020, at 19:20, Richard Walker via Leedslist < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > 12 games in and it's been a good journey so far. The transformation > from average championship team to a team holding their own and winning > games in the PL is nothing short of a miracle. However, I think it's clear > that we have hit our first crisis and for me questions have to be asked. > Yes, we've been unfortunate with injuries but if Bielsa's 2 players for > each position strategy included Ayling switching to centre back then we're > in trouble. Our defence is in crisis and looks like conceding at every set > piece. A makeshift defence of Dallas, Allioski, Cooper and Ayling would > have raised eyebrows in the championship but at this level it's the > equivalent of football suicide. We have now receded back to the pre-Monk > days where we conceded at nearly every set piece. Monk sorted that by > bringing in Jansson,abandoning player for player marking in favour of > telling Jansson to just go and get the ball. He did, and we looked solid in > defence for that season. Bielsa can't move until January to sort this > problem but hearing him say that we don't need a centre back in January as > we have Ayling and Philips who can play there makes me wonder whether > defence might be his weak point. We need 2 new central defenders now !!! > > Last night was a really poor, disjointed performance against a team who > are solid but unspectular. Our home form is really shaky and at the moment > we don't appear to like playing at Elland Road. Maybe the players should > spend more time actually practising on the pitch as someone on WhatsApp > suggested. We had too many attackers on the pitch. The gap between defence > and attack was massive and Phillips and Klich just couldn't cope with their > pace and strength. Klich and Harrison turned in their worst performances in > a Leeds shirt and it was no surprise when West Ham won the game from an > unneccesary set piece late on. In reality, 4 or 5-1 would have been a > fairer result and for that we have to thank Miesler. > > Scores: > > Miesler - 8. Kept the score reasonable. Maybe should have done better > with the goal but if Dallas let's his man have a free header from 3 yards > it's not going to end well. > > Dallas - 4. His worst perfomance under Bielsa. Defensively he was all > over the shop and although he did charge forward a lot in the 2nd half when > switched to left back he was pretty ineffective. > > Allioski - 2. When his crosses are hitting the first man and his link up > play with Harrison is non-existent you have to ask what does he bring to > the team other than a massive gap down our left which West Ham exploited ? > Subbed at half-time and rightly so. > > Ayling - 6. I thought he did well under extreme pressure in the first > half and overall he was the better central defender but hes obviously out > of his comfort zone and is going to struggle in the PL in this position. > > Cooper - 5. He did a lot of good defending and he created our goal > however at key moments he reverted back to league one Liam. He's > struggling. > > Klich - 5. Hardly completed a pass in the first half and all his usual > intelligent play was missing. 2nd half he looked like he was tired and was > crying out for some assistance. > > Philips - 5. Worked hard but looked out of his depth to me. Compare to > Declan Rice who I thought looked strong throughout and also grew into the > game and started to really control the game and push forward with the ball. > Philips had one half-decent shot but overall he was completely outrun an > outplayed. To his credit he kept on battling and did some good defensive > work in the 2nd half. Give him the freedom of the park like he got at > Goodison and he can play at this level. Close him down and run at him and > he's out of the game. A 100% championship player. > > Harrison - 0. I think there was one half decent cross but he looks like > he's totally lost his confidence. He's not linking up, beating his man, > putting in crosses. I think we all questioned whether he had enough at this > level. I think that question is being answered. > > Raphinha - 5. Bright start and he worked his socks off but he didn't see > enough of the ball due to that massive gap in midfield. He shouldn't be > spending his time sprinting back and covering but that's what he used most > of his energy doing last night. > > Rodrigo - 6. Started slowly but grew into the game and he was our one > player who looked likely to create something or score late on. He should > have done from that header. I don't see him as a No 10 though and I don't > think we can have the luxury of starting a game with Bamford, Rodrigo, > Harrison and Raphinha. Bamford looks very ineffective in games likes this > and when he was subbed the obvious switch for me was to push Rod up front > and bring on Pablo to play the no 10. Instead Bielsa brought on Roberts who > looks low on confidence and was totally ineffective. He's done that before > because in his mind he has to substitute a striker for a striker and for > some reason Rodrigo isn't a striker ? Very frustrating and what is going on > with Pablo ? Why have him on the bench if we're not going to use him when > chasing the game. Pablo has to come in for Newcastle. > > Bamford - 4. Bought the pen well but apart from that he looked > ineffective although the service wasn't exactly there. > > Subs: > > Shackleton - 6. At least he had a go, showed some aggression and > running. > > Roberts - 3. Ran about a bit. > > Costa - 0. Possibly the worst sub performance I've ever seen. Lost > possession, gave away the free kick for the goal and on the whole looked a > completely different player to the one who bagged a brace against Fulham. > > Hard time ahead especially with the defensive situation. Scum to come as > well. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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/ > > > > Dorigo's Right Buttock... > > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > > Dorigo's Right Buttock... > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > > Dorigo's Right Buttock... _______________________________________________ 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/ Dorigo's Right Buttock...
