MDT Tottenham vs LEEDS

I've said for at least 2yrs now that Hattrick WILL get injured, be suspended or simply have a loss of form.... he NEEDS competition/cover with a PROPER forward instead of someone 'doing a job'.

This Cabral looks like the real deal and would be well within our budget. Yes, he's playing in a crap league but scored loads, is excellent in the air, can hold the ball up and leads the line.

On the flip side of this I know fk all about the player apart from what I've read....!!

Sorry Smurf, but I have to disagree with you.

Regarding the nr. 9 position of course we've got several players who "can" play there. Honestly, my gran could also play there with about the same end results → number of goals = zero.

Koch in midfield has proven to be a recipe for disaster.

He looks that much out of place that he goes from a being decent/good cb to a very mediocre midfield player.

But you're correct, there are games that Pascal can do a job in there and Forshaw since his comeback has had 1.5 good Premiership games.

But don't forget that both Pascal & Forshaw have looked OK, when Philps was in the side too. Thus far without Philips on the pitch it's been a very different story.

The left-back situation.

Last season, there was'nt too much wrong with playing Alioski in that position. We always knew what we were going to get, non-stop effort, running, stamina etc...

The one thing that was lacking when Alioski had to play there was merely the fact that he just was not a natural full-back/defender.

From what I've seen until now, Firpo's certainly not a better defender.

To be frank, he's not been at Alioski's level going forward either.

Getting used to Bielsaball may prove all that is missing, but I can't see it.

As for having to many CB's, I'm not so sure.

Llorente, Struyck,Coops & Koch have all missed a fair number of games.

And despite having Pascal, LLorente & Cooper available, yesterday MB still selected Philips to play in there.

To me the playmaker/partner for Philips and a real left-back were the positions we simply needed to improve (permanent signings and obviously upgrades not simply additions). The back-up striker could have been a loan-player.

Unlucky Iceman! We were excellent in the first half, just not sure what happened in the 2nd.

We need our best players back. Hopefully Shacks, Rafa and Rodrigo will be back for BHA. Ayling and Bamford back for Palace too. Firpo gets another week training to get match sharp and Koch back for early December.

Panic button will set in after 25 games if we are still in the relegation dog fight!! Hopefully our next 13 games yields another 24 points by then!!

For me Klich legs are gone and 2nd half of last season showed us that.

Harrison has had a desperate time of late (off the field) and when something like that hits close to home its only to be expected his "work" performance will suffer all of ours would if we had such a sudden bereavement to deal with. I'm going to stand up for anyone going through hell not pick holes in his performance.

Pablo Replacement - NEVER ADDRESSED and this could be seen 2 if not 3 YEARS AGO

Koch i agree seems to one of those ohh ive signed for a big club ive made it, i can relax now.

Dallas is struggling and wether its an early sign that his legs are gone / going maybe the next 6 months will tell us more.

Rodders still has a lot prove in my book, still far too much of a bit part player. For an international player with a top top side in Spain he should be the stand out performer in a white Jersey (like rapha is) when he takes to field.

Early days yet for Forshaw but his last two games he has been influential and hopefully he gets run of 10-15 games on the trot, injury free, to show us all it was money well spent taking him from boro.

We do have backup centre forward - several of them.

Left back is an issue, we miss Alioski badly. That said Dallas, Struijk can cover, as can Drameh. But above all else, Firpo is still embedding himself and learning Bieslaball.

Agreed, Pablo hasn't been replaced. That's the priority position.

Mmm, Struijk and Koch have both filled in the DCM. If they aren't going to cover Kalvin, then we clearly have a CB too many. Also Shackleton and Foreshaw when they played that position didn't look out of place.

In summary, there's little to no point spending a wad of cash on another player in January, who is going to need 30 odd so training sessions before they get up to speed. Any major transfers will need to be done in the close season. And they need to be upgrades, not additions. The u23s when they have played have done their bit and more. It's the senior players like Klich, Harrison, Koch, and until recently Dallas and Rodrigo who haven't performed.

Don't know how MB will react to that interview.

As a player it's certainly not wise to openly any manager's decisions, even more with someone like MB.

Glory, agree that the Firpo coming on didn't work at all.

Whilst Klich didn't perform well and went missing in the second half, we simply didn't have a like for like replacement available.

So in stead MB had to switch both Kalvin & Pascal positions to accomodate Firpo. I also understand that he's just back from injury, so we couldn't expect him to contribute much, still a lot more could/should have been expected.

Sounding like a broken record but this again goes to show, we haven't adressed/resolved some vital flows within in the squad.

MB in PC was asked about movements in the upcoming window and he rightly pointed out the club have already spend a lot of money.

Have we been carefull & wise with is another question.

a) no back-up centerforward

b) left-back issue remains

c) no Pablo replacement

d) no back-up for Philips when unavailable or needed elsewhere on the pitch

The way i look at it Kalvin knows the fans watch every interview these days and he knows fans will spot the bulls**t from 50 yards.

In my view he was gutted his facial expressions told the story what he was feeling inside, his words were "measured" in a way but he knew what we all said last season

"sometimes you gotta hang in there and just grind out a result"

whatever the attractive style we play under MB and we all know he wont change his philosophy on that Kalvin KNOWS the PL is all about points and the quicker a team gets to 40 points the better. We kinda stalled last year around the 30 point marker but once we got to the 40 barrier we went to 50 in a blink of the eye.

i hate bashing any of our players but the good spell Tyler had from Christmas last year to end of season is well and truly over and when i saw him coming on i just lost all hope of us getting the equalizer. Sad to say but like kalvin its the honest one.

Did anybody else think that was a very strange post match interview by Kalvin?, I swear it looked like he had been balling his eyes out before the interview ( which he obviously hadn't). Seemed to indicate in his answers that Leeds did not manage the game in the 2nd half. Personally, unless there was an injury to Klich, the substitute for Firpo was not a good one.

I thought our first half performance was excellent....

Our pressing and quick movement with the ball was quality.... and that's without Raphinha!!

Harrison was constantly running and getting past his man and crossing....

Kalvin had Kane in his pocket....

James is so quick and IF he had a final ball would be a wifebeater....

Even the 2 players - Coops and Forshaw - who I want an upgrade on, were EXCELLENT....

However, the 2nd half was totally different apart from the first 10mins.

Coops gave away the free kick they scored from....

Roberts came on but hopefully watched how his position should be played by Geldhart....

Forshaw LITERALLY stood still whilst marking Regulon at the free kick. He moved 8yrds to tap in the rebound while Forshaw STARED at what was happening. You tell your forwards to follow up so why can't defenders!? It seems to get swept under the carpet!?

Yesterday, at Watfordscum v Mancscum, when the disallowed pen for encroachment was smashed in, Bruno Fernando's just WALKED into the area whilst the forward SPRINTED in, albeit too early. Nothing is said about this kind of thing but you've totally made NO effort to track the forward.... I hope this is picked up by our coach's on the video because it's just basics and COULD have been stopped by sliding in.

Today's first half reminded me of the League cup game at Arsenal.

We dominated the first 20 - 25 mins, after that Spurs got themselves in it, but we took a deserved lead. Second half we somewhat ran out of steam & ideas.

Start of the second half they became far more dangerous, so I understood why MB moved Kalvin to the midfield area. But the switch backfired, because (a) Philips struggled to get going in midfield and (b) Firpo proved to be something of a weak link. In terms of defending Firpo certainly doesn't look to be an upgrade to Alioski, in terms of running power, energy and stamina there's also only one winner.

Up front we're just far too lightweight and small.

As Soopa says our squad is just too thin at this level.

So like it or not, reality is we're in a relegation battle.

Won't have a go at Roberts, but when he comes on I feel nothing but DESPAIR.

On to Brighton, in many a ways a far better team than todays opponents.

Daniel James my MoM; think he worked hard and with good confidence in himself. Gelhardt also good. Harrison’s best game this season. Klich seriously looks like he’s burned out. Meslier‘s distribution is a problem, but otherwise he’s a very good keeper. Roberts and Firpo as our game-changing substitutions , say no more.… We were, all in all, a bit unlucky, but we definitely need the running from Bamford and Ayling, and the creativity from Raphinha and Rodrigo. MOT

I'm afraid the gulf in class showed when the Spuds put the effort in. You can't blame anybody for the hospital waiting list we've got to deal with, but we're just too thin for a top league.

Thought the team did everything in their power. Problem is now we have a battle royal to stay afloat if Bamford etc don't get off their fat ar$es and help soon.....

Joe is so much better than Robert

Roberts is fookin useless and should never play for our first team again!

KP is a better CB than Coops. Kane completely in his pocket first half!

People say Bielsa has no plan B

Well he has - he's got all sorts of tricks today - I bet Conte had no inkling Phillips would be centre back/sweeper.

We still have much to do in the second half because Spuds will be sent out with a rocket up their ar$e, but well proud of that half.

Good first half.Need to by cool in second half.Keep up the same work don't back to much

Great footwork from Harrison. Well done Daniel James. Come on Leeds!

Back of the net to Dan. Great goal.

Paul Robinson can eat humble pie for dinner.

Good opening ten minutes by Leeds. As expected, Bieslas teams never give up, they never stop attacking. Looks like Cooper is sitting on Kane. Have been really looking forward to Gelhardt starting all season, thanks Wigan. Go Leeds!! Attack Attack Attack.