Bit late to this, but yes, Dave, pretty much agree with that. Ayling and Cooper are creaking - despite Cooper’s cracking goal - for Cooper the judgement now is whether his undoubted leadership qualities makes up for the declining / limited qualities as a defender. Hjelde looked at sea as a left back. Dan James is fast and unguided - he doesn’t do enough with the ball once he has it, hopefully we will get a fit and engaged Harrison back soon
On the plusses though Cresswell and Byram came on and did well - Byram added some zip and confidence down the left. Looking forward to seeing what Drameh can bring as well - we might have a decent and young back five in a couple of weeks. I suspect it is not worth getting too hung up on Meslier, who I think is a fine young keeper but who is shell-shocked after the last 18 months behind our defence - the same could be said of Struijk - because who knows how long Meslier will remain at the club. Gray and Ampadu were quality in the middle - Ampadu gets his foot in, and makes good use of the ball, while Gray looks very accomplished - hope his progress continues. The kind of total football forward line of Sinisterra, Somerville and Gnonto (and James) where everyone doesn’t really have a position, but just roam and cause havoc where they can, really looks like a promising way forward…if we can keep everyone - or most of them given we have Jack H and Poveda - who came on and had a very effective 20 minutes or so - to factor in. Promising indeed. Nick >> >> From: nattan--- via Leedslist <leedslist@gn.apc.org >> <mailto:leedslist@gn.apc.org>> >> Subject: [LU] Cardiff >> Date: 6 August 2023 at 19:52:54 BST >> To: leeds list <leedslist@gn.apc.org <mailto:leedslist@gn.apc.org>> >> Reply-To: "nat...@sky.com <mailto:nat...@sky.com>" <nat...@sky.com >> <mailto:nat...@sky.com>> >> >> " f off home and shag your sheep" chanted leeds fans at the end ( i make no >> comment re Yorkshire sheep shaggers ) and it made us laugh but at one point >> this song could easily have been booing the team off . >> After 2 boring and pretty awful years in the Prem, this was a return to the >> championship and the madness that goes with it. >> Pre game we all agreed that no predictions about the season coukd >> realistically be made till the window is shut, and i stick with that view. >> Keep Summerville, Sinisterra and Gnonto and add a good goalscorer/ no 9 and >> we can walk this league , lose those 3 and don't add to the squad and things >> will be tough. >> Oversall we were streets ahead of cardiff as Ampadu and Gray bossed the >> midfield and the 3 lads up front tore holes through their defence. This >> game could have been 3 or 4 nil and not flattered us. >> However all our failings came back and it made even a point look dodgy for a >> long period. >> We gave away 2 really soft goals, Hjelde proved he is not a left back and >> Ayling, much as i love him, showed he is finished, as we let them have the >> freedom of our last third of the pitch and our penalty area, so we were >> suddenly 2 down, having nearly scored the goal of the season when Gnonto >> fired just over. >> The good news, Byram looked the part especially going forward , and we kept >> going right till the end and looked the fitter of the 2 teams >> So all in all 2 pts dropped or a point gained , take your pick, but it was >> fun. >> It was great to see a leeds team, once again, wanting to keep the ball and >> pass it around and then the attacking flair of GSS up top was brilliant to >> watch. >> We will play much worse and win this season. >> Get a goal scorer and we will be fine if we can keep these players >> Dave >> _______________________________________________ > _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedslist/ Dave Dowden, a legend, a Totty Twin, a pie man! R.I.P.
