On the dodgy stream, Bijol didn't look as bad as Richard says and he even looked good when we needed big lumps to decisively head the ball away. But more than half of a defender's work happens outside of the telly frame and you have to be there to judge, as Richard was...
As for his passing, again on the telly what stood out was the collective loss of steam about 10 minutes into the 2nd half which made it look more like defenders had nobody to pass to in any case. As for that loss of steam - I think that DF said after the match that if he could have made 10 substitutions he would have. I hope that is the short term after effects of illness & injury and not a fundamental physical weakness across the team. If we can only play our game for 60/70 minutes then we are straight back down. For me we seem to have 2 Rodons - Dr. Dynamic and Mr. Anonymous. I hope that DF has enough of the potion to keep Dr. Dynamic up and running all season :) Damian On Sat, Oct 25, 2025 at 9:24 AM Richard Walker via Leedslist < [email protected]> wrote: > Friday night under the floodlights in the pissing down rain yet they still > water the grass before the game and then the ball skids across and gets > held up and players are sliding and falling ? Did the groundsman get any O > Levels ? > On to the game, and another good win and 3 more points towards safety. Not > to be sniffed at especially when you consider our two best players both > went off injured early in the game (Okafor and Gudmondsson). Leaving the > ground trying to avoid the puddles (God knows why I chose to wear white > trainers) the atmosphere was subdued. I think most were very disappointed > with the 2nd half as we set out to play like the away side by defending > very deep and trying to player on the counter. Unfortunately that tactic > relied on either 1) DCL winning the ball on his own, going round a couple > of defenders and smashing it home, He was never gonna do that.2) Brendy > (seems to be what everyone calls him these days) running the length of the > pitch, beating 4 men and smashing it home. He nearly did that and was only > denied by the bar. > So the tactics were questionable but if you looked at our team , you might > realise it was probably the best we could do. Tanaka was playing after a > lengthy delay, Bijol (more on him later) was making his debut as > effectively was James Justin who came on early for Gudmondson and Ampadu > wasn't 100% fit apparently. We really struggled and you could see by > letting West Ham dominate the game we would end up hanging on. We did > though so let's forget that 2nd half and concentrate on a great 1st half. > 2 early goals set us up with Aaronson getting his goal after a good header > from Okafor was parried. He probably scuffed it like he does most passes > and shots but he managed to scuff it into the net this time. Then Rodon, > the corner converter specialist, unmarked bagged a 2nd and his 3rd from > corners for club and country. Long may it continue. DCL ran his socks off > and Okafor looked dangerous as did Brenda and Bogle on the right. Tanaka, > Longstaff and Ampadu won everything in midfield and we dominated throughout > and thoroughly deserved the 2 goal lead. The Hammers offered little apart > from one half volley which Perri initially saved but spilled it but his > recovery was really good (reminded me of Schmiecel) as he quickly got down > to punch the ball away. Great goalkeeping. I was worried when we signed a > Brazilian keeper - there hasn't been too many of them over the years, and > he's looked a bit dodgy early doors but he was solid last night and his > kicking and throwing were excellent. Still need to see him tested more with > shots and I haven't seen their goal back yet - didn't look like he had much > chance ?? > Tanaka definitely gives us something different in midfield rather than > having 3 very similar defensive midfielders and hopefully he will get > fitter and better in coming games. I thought the subs did ok especially > Justin, who I really like the look of. He's quick, confident on the ball, > decent awareness and gets stuck in. I think he's too good to be sat on the > bench. > I think the main area of concern for me was Bijol. I think it's always > difficult for a new centre back coming into the team and immediately > forging a new central defensive pairing. I think back to Rio Ferdinand and > Chris Fairclough's debuts - both were spectacularly bad with Rio getting > subbed early and with Fairclough I thought we'd bought a dud. Bijol > struggled and we definitely missed Struijk's confident and intelligent > passing. For a centre back, he's got good feet and good passing ability. > Now I'm not Struijk's greatest fpan - I think at times he's too slow and > ponderous and I think he's going to have his problems in the PL. However, > Bijol looks to be lacking both in ability on the ball and ability to > defend. I felt we struggled to get things going from the back especially > down the left as Bijol wasn't as comfortable or as adventurous on the ball. > Also his defending left a lot to be desired. He was fouling and holding his > opponents all night and towards the end I felt he was really struggling. > Obviously it was his debut but the signs weren't good for me. Struijk comes > straight back in for me and I think central defender is a priority in Jan. > Jimmy returned and had a nightmare. We marked him well and he looked very > low on confidence. He got subbed 2nd half to boos ringing around the ground > but he got a good ovation from the West Stand where I was sitting. > scores: > Perri - 7. Confident performance Bogle - 7. Not his best game but he > worked hard defensively and tried to push forward Gudmondson - 6. Got > injured (hope it's not bad). His link up play with Okafor didn't quite come > off today.Rodon - 9. Man of the match for me. Scored a goal and had to do > more defending than usual. Also contributed well going forward in the first > half.Bijol - 5. Struggled, He did do a few decent clearance and > interceptions but he looked out of his depth. Ampadu - 7. Worked hard, Had > a great moment 2nd half when he ran the length of the pitch, nutmegged the > defnder and then tried to curl it with his wrong foot into the bottom left > hand corner. It nearly hit the corner flag. Need to see a bit more quality > from him at times.Longstaff - 6. I've been a bit disappointed with him over > the last 3 games. Lots of ground covered, lots of challenges, good corners > but not really stamping his authority on the game.Tanaka - 7. Ran out of > steam but was everywhere in the first half.Okafor - 7. Looks our most > dangerous player. He wasn't fit tonight but he still had his > moments.Aaronson - 8. Bloke sat next to me refused to clap or acknowledge > anything he did but the fact is Brenda is our hardest working player, one > of our best defensive players and the one who creates a lot of chances. Yes > he's probably our most wasteful player at times but last night he was > tremendous and he was our only outlet for most of the 2nd half. His run and > shot 2nd half was brilliant and for all his faults he cannot be > dropped. DCL - 6. Totally isolated. Won lots of headers but with nobody > within 20 yards of him it's to no avail. > Subs:Justin - 7. Could be a really good utility player this > season.Harrison - 6. Typical performance, worked hard, one half decent shot > and gave it away as well Gruev - 6. Interesting that he chose Gruev over > Slack ? Gruev looked off the pace for me - he's a player that needs to play > week in , week out and get into his groove. He's not going to get that this > season. James - can't remember him doing owt ? Nmecha - 5. Came on and > didn't really offer anything. > there were 13 mins of injury time in the first half ! Stuart Atwell was > bloody awful. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 Steve "Score one, score one more!" Gillen. _______________________________________________ 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 Steve "Score one, score one more!" Gillen.
