However, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I genuinely didn’t care when we lost on Sunday. I was almost relieved-certainly would rather have lost than go to a replay-I didn’t even celebrate with my shirt over my head when we scored... it was all a bit surreal.
For me, Sunday was almost perfect.
Previous seasons have seen us field weakened teams and I’ve beeen fuming.. but this year seems different. The last couple of years we were on decent runs of form.. momentum was good, and the losses completely derailed the season. This year, we’re actually in the midst of a mini slump-whilst still playing well , we’ve had back to back defeats, so loss of momentum isn’t as big an issue. We’ve also got a chance of promotion-well, more than a chance but as a Leeds fan I can’t think any bigger than a chance.. but we know it’s on.. a real possibility. The game let us rest some tired bodies, Pablo, Klich and Roofe, whilst Phillips’ enforced absence will allow him to rest up and come back fitter for the final run in.
We also got some more experience under the belt of some of the talented under 23’s. A taster for players like Kun and Oduor, whilst Davis, Shakelton, Halme and Clarke got more minutes-players that may be called upon as the season reaches its final stages-make no mistake, we have got some serious talent in our youth ranks-with the potential for them to maybe even rival O’Learys babes of Smith, Kewell, Woodgate, Harte etc.
We also competed-we didn’t get hammered, we didn’t embarrass ourselves against lower league opposition.
I understand that winning breeds the right mentality, and we need to turn the results around, but I think we’ve now got a real chance to kick on. Friday against Derby is massive, and a win then will see the FA Cup defeat forgotten.
A defeat and I might need to go and buy a cat to kick..
Coming up in the next blog...
How good are our youngsters? Some insight into the ones who have broken through and the next ones from u23s who we may see.