Gotta say I am so sick of the anti-American "bring back Bielsa" bullshit on this list. It's finally time to say something. Bielsa was taking us down. He was an incredible manager for a mid-level Championship team because he had the ability to (a) improve the team's professionalism and attitude (b) improve their fitness to almost superhuman levels (at some cost to the players' long-term health) and (c) play with tactics that Championship managers weren't used to facing. But that only worked to a lesser degree in the Premier League, where (a) everyone is super-professional, (b) everyone is super-fit and (c) the managers are the best in the world (and so are the players). By last season the players were done and we were dropping like a stone back towards the Championship, getting absolutely hammered every week. Marsch rescued us. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. The reason Spurs scored one more goal than us yesterday is that their first goal was the result of two blatant fouls: one by the goalscorer Harry Kane pushing Tyler Adams (in much the same way that Bamford did against Arsenal, except that Bamford was penalized and Kane wasn't); and the second on Meslier, who was pushed into the back of his net and then sat upon, preventing him from being in position to actually save Kane's shot. I would argue that this was classic "big six refereeing," in which the Premier League feels invested in ensuring that the six clubs around which it bases its global marketing remain competitive for the top spots in the league throughout the season. Kane was also helped by a long tradition in the Premier League of granting the England captain more leeway than other players (going back at least to Alan Shearer kicking opponents in the head and getting away with it). Oh, and Spurs' fourth goal came from a throw-in given to them when the ball clearly came off the leg of a Spurs player. All the anti-Americans said Marsch's football wouldn't score goals. We've outscored our opponents 9-8 in the last three games. It wouldn't win games, they said. We've won two of our last three and were in position to win the third with fewer than ten minutes to go. It wouldn't be exciting, they said. If you haven't found the last three games exciting, maybe you should take up skydiving instead. Yes, our defence is a problem. I would argue a major factor behind that is that Bielsa's hand-picked left back, Junior Firpo, is crap. Marsch realizes this and doesn't play him, which, because we are so weak in that position, means we have to play arguably our best centre-half as left back. Until the club spend some money on very good defenders, we're probably going to continue to suffer results like yesterday on a regular or semi-regular basis.
-----Original Message----- From: Greg Adams <[email protected]> To: Leeds List <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, Nov 12, 2022 12:14 pm Subject: [LU] Spuds Well, that was great. We had a big chance of getting something today, but stupid, naive defending gifted the spuds enough chances which they finally took. We were second best, but some good play by individuals gave us a chance. Spurs were there for the taking, but no team can defend like that against any PL team, let alone a so-called top six one. This team does not know how to defend. The first two goals were the result of sloppy play by us. I did not see the third and fourth. It's time to let the clown go. His 'tactics' are a joke. There are enough decent players in the squad for us to be much better than this. Just look at how many times there are three Leeds players pressing one opponent and still do not win the ball or stop the player from playing the ball out. It's already been pointed out by many on this list that we are easy to attack out wide,yet we persist with two midfielders - one of whom is useless defensively and the other is permanently in headless chicken mode. Ah, fuck it. I'm too pissed off. I want this guy and his penisball out. Hopefully we can find someone who at least has a clue of how to manage in a top rated league. Bring back Bielsa. _______________________________________________ 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!
