Well, I missed my first 'first home game' since the relegation season of 81-82
season due to shambolic ticket arrangements. Paying £70 for a Gold Membership
wasn't enough to secure me a ticket as it was a free for all when the tickets
were released. Then I entered into around 10 hours (I kid you not) of
refreshing screens to try and grab and returned tickets. I don't think I saw
one ticket come up in that time despite lots of messages on Twitter saying that
they had managed to grab a ticket. Then on Saturday morning I turned to the
touts and kranks and was offered all sorts but I was so pissed off by then I
decide to crack open the beer with a couple of mates and watch on TV. What made
it worse was all the Twitter messages of people going to their first game and
empty seats not taken up. A real shit show from LUFC. Surprisingly it was easy
to get a Crewe ticket.
Anyway, on to the footy and I thought it was a decent game with two evenly
matched teams. I thought Everton looked sharp with Gray, who was a yard or two
too quick for Ayling and others, whereas Raph for us looked like he meant
business.
I thought we looked our most dangerous in the first half, getting back to our
quick attacking football of last season although I don't think we are quite
there yet. The reasons for me were:
1) Firpo - early days for the lad and he definitely did try to get forward
early on and try to overlap, however he doesn't look that dynamic or pacey for
me and I'm not sure if he is replacing Allioski on that display. Haven't seen
too much defensive ability either. He was also out on his feet after 50 mins
and was quickly taken off. Going to be hard road for Junior.
2) Centre back pairing isn't good enough. Cooper's method of defending is going
to cost us. It did yesterday with his shit tugging antics. It's something he
does frequently and does tend to get away with but he's got to stop that now.
Overall, I'd say Cooper is at best a squad player and playing alongside the
inexperienced Struijk it's no surprise we're leaking goals. Llorente and Koch
are the pairing for me but we have to accept that both have been injured for
long periods since joining the club.
3) Phillips - did well first half but I think he ran out of steam and by his
own admission is not as fit as he should be. Fuck knows why ?
Here's my scores:
Miesler - 8. Kept us in the game as he always does
Ayling - 4. I thought that was his poorest game for a long time. Gray ran rings
around him.
Firpo - 4. Not convinced but early days
Struijk - 5. Looks the part but I'm unsure about his positioning in key
moments.
Cooper - 3. Dreadful defending and could have easily been sent off with another
careless tackle 2nd half
Phillips - 6. Did well to keep Richarlson quiteish first half.
Klich - 7. Lots of running and took his goal well
Bamford - 7. Fantastic first half but faded and started to look a tad desperate
towards the end.
Raphinha - 8. Our best player by a mile. Fantastic strike for the goal
Dallas - 7. Playing all over the park. Some great defensive work.
Harrison - 7. Lively first half but faded 2nd.
Subs:
Roberts - one or two moments
Shack - not involved too much.
On Sunday, 22 August 2021, 10:48:27 BST, nattan--- via Leedslist
<[email protected]> wrote:
Well we are back and back with a bang - the atmosphere was everything we
remembered and more , the limbs after the 2 goals were as good as any game
since we went all seaterIt was a fitting game to re- start in front of fans ,
lots of end to end stuff, some crunching tackles, decent chances
_______________________________________________
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/
Rest in Peace Guy, and wear your hat!
_______________________________________________
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/
Rest in Peace Guy, and wear your hat!
