What a difference 6 days make. Turned my phone on morning after Forest to get WhatsApp message from my son with a spring in his step, today's message " thought I would be used to it but I still woke up this morning angry enough to tell my Leeds shirt to F Off" Lots of other fans also told LUFC to F Off by leaving with 15 or more minutes to go , some being told not to return by the lad in front of me as he ranted and raved at their disloyalty Whole thing was summed up by the bloke interviewing Javi on MOTD " forgive me for saying this but that is one of the worst second half performances I can remember seeing...... your team just seemed to crumble " Adam Pope says Rich suggestion of a half time bust up is just unfounded rumour with no truth to it. Whatever the truth that was abysmal second half and has put us massively back into trouble. We were so buoyant in the pub pre game and really looking forward to the match and expecting to win ! To be honest we started like we would win, continuing where we left off v Forest, winning every second ball, crowding them out and giving them no time or space to play in. When we had the ball we looked slick and inventive with good movement and passing. We created any number of chances, I recall a nice flick by aaronson that was well saved , shots by Sinisterra saved and whistling past the post, a decent header by him that was easily saved and another when he slid in and almost scored, in fact Sinisterra could have had a hat trick. We even looked good with our set pieces one free kick turned around the post by the keeper, another led to a Struik header well saved and then the goal. Obviously a training ground routine, a good ball in , Paddy made the run and headed home, lovely goal, and we were all enjoying it. Palace did come out a bit after we scored but other than one corner when they hit the post they looked ineffectual and as the board went up for one minute added on, we were all looking forward to a half time lead, albeit rueing the fact it was only one goal. Then a stupid foul , a free kick into our box, ball flicked on, Mes caught in no mans land and palace player heads in. Surely offside and VAR would save us ? Unfortunately not. Then came the biggest turnaround I can recall. The mood in the ground at half time was subdued instead of upbeat but the general view was we would come out all guns blazing again and put the game to bed. I can see why the " bust up " rumours circulated as the players came out heads down and never got going. Palace just ripped us to shreds and our midfield and then our defence disappeared and gave up. This was worse than even the end days of Bielsa when 0-0 became 0-3 and game over in the blink of an eye, this was sustained and relentless from palace as they missed and wasted chances as well as scoring 4 , ripping us open at will and we had no response except to surrender easier. It was diabolical. Just like the players could not be bothered defending or trying I cant be bothered going through the goals, suffice to say twice we looked for offsides as the attacker was given so much room ahead of the defender twice, poor concentration played them on. Pre game we were all praising javi and suggested he should be kept on, now I wonder if he should be sacked today so awful was it. He did try and change things and even made what I thought was good move, by giving Rutter a 10 minute run out when the game was lost. Great I thought a chance for him to get or make a goal and get his confidence up I instead our €35m star looked like someone who had won a competition ( remember George Weahs 'cousin 'at Southampton-) he was that bad, and compounded it by an outrageous dive in the penalty area. So a really bad day at the office, real harm to our goal difference and, I think Firpos booking rules him out of our next game v liverpool ( apologies if wrong) I have been watching us week in week out for 48 or so years but am struggling to find a game to compare it to, I have seen many heavy defeats but they have been down to goalkeepers - lukic v Arsenal, Ruhubka v Blackpool, - or when we have just been out classed by superior opponents, but cant recall a game when we were so much better than them first half and totally annihilated second. Even the 4-1 to 4-6 v Preston ( Parkin) does not seem as bad. Javi has his work cut out, we could be bottom 3 again when we face the scousers, but then have 3 games when we could pick up the points we need, but not playing like we did second half Worrying times 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/ Dave Dowden, a legend, a Totty Twin, a pie man! R.I.P.
