Radrizanus and Marschio are discussing the campaign so far.
R. So Marschio, or do you prefer Boggio as some of the ranks have named you?
M. Marschio is my given name sire, although I did hear the alternative whispered in our post battle defensive circle before we saluted our loyal camp followers.
R. So be it. So what are your ruminations on our just finished scrap with the sneaky foxy, doggy, bite your ankles clan?
M. Given the small amount of time with our new tactical maps, and all those round pegs squeezed into that square cut gaming board, we almost carried the day, but I think the gods turned their heads away from us, probably because Bielserus was so beloved by them.
R. What is your opinion on our current warriors?
M. It seems to me sire that the majority have been carrying minor wounds from the intensive sparing between battles. I plan to reduce the thickness of the practice swords and use bounteous padding in future.
R. So who is up next in this campaign?
M. Aston and his villains. A nasty clan with a strange talking leader who spits in your face when he talks. We are fighting them in grounds of our choosing where our noble camp followers will help rouse our warriors to a winning feverous pitch.
Bit we need to strike first. Our swords and spears need to be sharper and the death strikes need more commitment.
I also predict the posh lad will make his first appearance since he stepped on that over cooked dry pea several moons ago. The camp cook has sent to the mines for allowing this to happen.
R. Are we to remain in this campaign of such wealth and reward or must we entertain the notion of once more fighting those dreadful clans like the Mill toilet wall or Burning Ham ? Copious mead cannot shake the thought of facing them once more.
M. Have faith sire. Our Ultimate Spear Attack, or USA for short will soon be sung from the faithful.
R. Make sure I don’t come to doubt your faith. Our head executioner is getting twitchy once more.
Fair enough, 😉I'll still give you a hug if and when we beat Norwich.
Hey Soopa, at last we do find something to agree on😂.
Have said exactly that months ago, the free nr. 10 role is something that would probably see Raphina more than anybody else thrive in. Free role would make it harder to double mark him or would at least free other players.
He has the pace and the skill to go either way and can finish, but ofcourse he does need to get his head straight (make the effort) again.
Equally important would also to have a couple of decent midfielders behind him who will do the donkey work.
Someone said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result" Well based upon that conclusion, we've been completely mad for the last god knows how many months!.
Although I live on the South Coast, I would have no issues paying over the odds for Diesel and happily drive to Leeds, collect Firpo and Rodrigo and either drive to the airport, or go through Eurotunnel and drop them at the French border!!
I think JM is a decent skin, but if he selects Rodrigo on Sunday (I'm presuming that Firpo will hope he has an injury that keeps him out of the team for a while), then I think the fans will really turn on him and the board.
Fear and feel exactly the same Bull, think we're gone.
We'll be hit hard because players like Raph & Philips will obviously go for less money than if we were still a Premiership outfit. Add to that it's a World cup season, so those with any hope of going are most probably not gonna stick around either. So the board will have it's work cut out in trying to keep hold of the likes of Meslier, Bamford, James, Dallas... Can't see any of Koch, Firpo, Rodrigo & Llorente staying either, again fair to say we'll lose big money on those too.
Thing is that the best chance for swift a Premiership return is having & keeping a solid basis. Not at all convinced we've got that in place atm.
Cant win any game without scoring and i don't see our next goal coming either. What has really and will eventually see us down is at the back. Yes we were always suspect from the set-piece or corners (even in the championship we were dodgy too) but now meslier isn't making the saves to save us, made one fantastic save from ings i think last night really late in seeing the ball but got down very quick to push it around the post, but apart from that he was very nervy.
We got away effectively unpunished last weekend apart from brentford winning everyone lost too so status quo remained largely, but we wont and shouldn't be depending on others with 10 games to go ffs that's almost opening the wardrobe door where the white flag is kept.
Of course i'm willing JM well but ffs if you are brought in to turn things around at any club surly be to god you dont make the exact decisions as the one you replaced. KOCH AT MIDFIELD DOSENT WORK i don't have a fifa "a" coaching licence but i fcking know that dosen't work, I also know playing James as a 9 isn't going to work either, again i don't need a piece of paper to tell me that either.
Like i really would wonder if Tyler didnt get injured would JM have a) started him or b) brought him on as fisrt sub like what MB would have done?
I honestly think we are down and our squad will be rifled, bamford will go, has to go if he has any ambition to put on another english jersey, Philips likewise, Rapha will go, Dan James will, in fact if anyone gets an offer to stay in the PL they will take it, we need to stay in this league if we have any hope in holding onto our best players drop to the championship we will lose even the average ones.
ohhh and by t he way Firpo is a fcking joke
As for the debate on where the blame lies? Well firstly, Orta may have got a few transfers completely wrong, but he persuaded Radz to fund Bielsa and so Orta has a free pass in my book, but it was the summer were it all went wrong.
I think everyone was basking in the euphoria of finishing 9th in the Premiership, so much so, that eyes were taken off the ball. I'm pretty sure that Bielsa must have been the most demanding manager for the board, but give them their due, they met practically all of his demands, even his insistence to work with a small squad. Should they have been more insistent on strengthening the squad?, with hindsight definately yes.
However, even if they had managed to turn Bielsa's mind around re increasing the squad, the issue with BielsaBall is that you cannot just pick a player off the shelf and throw them into the team, they need to understand and work in the intricate system, be able to run all day, which takes time.
The alarm bells were ringing pre-season and then the injuries started to hit home, bits and pieces at first but then the spine of the team was ripped out. Add to that Bielsa's blind faith in some of the players and the shortcomings of a small squad were plain to see.
Reflecting the morning after the night before and the only thing that in my mind is certain, is that if it's up to ourselves to retain our Premiership status, then we are screwed, so we need to rely on the continued downward spiral of Everton & Burnley. I have no idea of where our next goal is coming from, let alone the next point and as for a win, well.................
Our ability to buy p*ss poor left backs continues, with Firpo following quickly on the heals of Douglas. Why the fck did we let Dramah go??????. Maybe we should try and temp Alioski back for a few games, he had his failures but ever gave up and also Berardi.
I agree TC, that Rapha is a complete waste of time now and has been since he returned from Brazil.
If we are going to go down, let's do it with a bit of passion, fight and with the youngsters who will be there next season, so bring on Cresswell, Summerville, Greenwood, Gelhardt, Bate. We have nothing to lose.
Excellent points TC10. Like I said earlier, too many players being played out of position. MB tried & failed at it, that won't change overnight.
Soopaleeds, I'm starting to think you must be a board member.
The blind certainly don't see, I'll have to give you that.
Russians also remain firm they've not attacked the Ukraine either.
How many games have Koch, Llorente & Rodrigo played for their countries at the Euro's? Llorente came with a reputation of being injury prone and most of his old club fans were delighted he left them. Koch made the German squad, but his actual game time was rather limited. Well Rodrigo..., even his mate won't call on him.
Can't see how Orta has made us millions??? You mean with the likes of Grot? Debock? Bouy? Cibicki? Casilla? Costa? Augustin?...
Tell me how much money we'll make in getting or trying to get rid of;
Rodrigo (in at ± 30M GBP), Llorente, Koch, Firpo (all in at 14M to 17M).
Would be surprised if we get anything like 50% back from our outlay.
You're on about Raphina, in at 17M & being reported that he can leave for 20M. That would be a net profit of 3M (not counting his wages), but in truth us failing to stay up will mean a transferfee of 20M in stead of what 40-50M?
That's great business.
Meslier, we paid ± 5M for him, but if he wants out, I seriously doubt we would get 10M.
On top of that we also risk Philips going for far less money.
As for the U-23's, those may well prove to be Orta's biggest success, but at this moment in time it's not really helping us is it? Oh and most of the bunch he brought in before turned out to be fairly crap.
Not doubting one second that Orta has made big money, but sadly not for us.
Never heard or read anything that MB had the final word on transfer.
One thing I do remember is that in January he said that reinforcements would be welcome. But ofcourse it was MB's fault they failed.
Paying MB & his staff 18M for one season, is silly, as is offering a non-proven coach a 3,5 years contract when a short time contract would have been sufficient. Think you'll find that almost every coach outstays his welcome.
I went to the game last night and I have to say we were awful in The first half. The ref didn’t help as he gave them free kicks for any contact, but failed to give us anything (at least it felt that way). Second half started brightly and we had three decent crosses put across the face of goal, but sadly nobody there to get on the end of it. Then they got their second and it was game over, there was no fight and no belief left in the players. Sad to say it but there was no belief left in the crowd either. We mustered one shot on goal which was a tame 25yrd effort from Gelhardt.
There wasnt one player that stood out as having had a decent game. Struijk was poor as was Ayling, Dallas was trying but it just wasn‘t working for him. Firpo was dog dirt. Forshaw was trying but again his passing was poor. Koch was a defender playing in midfield. Rodrigo might as well have not been in the field. Raphinha was trying too much in The wrong places and nothing worked for him,
he then started to get petulant and looked to be trying to get booked.
I could carry in but I’m sure you are all bored of this now. I was buoyed by the performance at lLe Leicester but last night brought us crashing back down.
I was working so only got to watch the highlights.did JM really play Ayling a cb,Koch in midfield,James up front as the lives cores app/bbc said?too many players out of position ffs and one shot on target at home is not good enough with Villa having 12 and scoring 3.the goals were poor,sloppy,same as we conceded under MB but at least we created chances under MB.
It's win or bust v Norwich.play the players in their right positions ffs.Firpo should be left back,left back at Thorpe arch(I've defended him before but Roque Junior was a better defender than him)
JM needs a win against Norwich or the crowd will really turn on him,we had a good performance v Leicester,put this result down to an off day and hopefully get a win on Sunday.
I can't see any difference between the team that Bielsa left us with Marsch playing exactly the same team, in the same formation, with players out of position and getting hammered on the break still....!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬
Surely now we can see after nearly 30 games that this team DOESN'T FKN WORK!!
Hattrick has to start just to be a goal threat whether he's fit or not....
Surely Cresswell has to start as a PROPER CB!?
Bate to come in for Forshaw....
For the FIRST ever time I wouldn't care if Raphinha didn't start and play Summerville instead....
Harrison, Rodrigo and Koch places have to be under threat as well....
That was fkn shite!. It looked like a group of players thrown together in a park on a Sunday morning after a session on a Saturday evening!!.
Normally when we play games where the pressure is on to win, we come out on top but that was absolutely appalling.
Firpo and Struijk were abyssmal, Forshaw seemed to be carrying an injury and therefore ineffective. Harrison was crap ( and I've been a firm supporter of him) and as for Rodrigo, what an absolute waste of skin!!!, never mind a shirt.
Do we have a victory in us? At the moment, I cannot see us scoring another goal never mind getting 3 points, so I have already penned in a victory for Norwich at the weekend.
And I will point out you are wrong every time you have a go at the wrong people.
Their only mistake was paying Bielsa £18M for the season and giving him carte blanche to have a small squad and have the final say on transfer activity.
I forgive them after what Bielsa did in his first 2 seasons.
You just don't understand and there's none so blind as those that WILL NOT SEE.
The board can only sanction money to spend that they can afford and they have pulled out all the stops to make cash available, so much so Radz has given up a large share of the club's ownership.
Orta has made far more cash than he's lost. Meslier and Rapha are just 2 examples, but look at the U23 business too.
Lots of our signings would have flourished under a different manager - Llorente, Koch and Rodrigo were already Internationals for Spain and Germany BEFORE they came to Leeds
Bielsa wanted the small squad - Bielsa thrashed them in training - Bielsa was stubborn. Bielsa tabooed the opportunity to bring in extra help in January - STOP BLAMING THE WRONG PEOPLE.
He did a wonderful job in so many ways but he outstayed his welcome, as he has done at every club. Now we have a broken and shot squad with just 10 games left to get it right.
The board had a terrible call to make and I support them with that decision.
Listen Soopa, I will have as many pops at the board as I want to.
For me the buck stops with them.
Have also heard the 'board' explain how much scouting and all the other stuff they do before deciding on players... I do wonder.
The list of misfits and fairly useless players signed by them is vast and that's not down to coincidence or just bad luck.
Can we simply blame the manager/coach for all those signings?
And oh, and they failed to see (already obvious in preseason) that we would struggle this season. Decent performances were far and few between.
Then in the January window, despite having something like 27 injured players, they still didn't move.
But hey, for sure they are without any blame!
Just compare this to Newcastle, despite them just signing 'dross' look at them fly.
Also I somewhat wonder as to who exactly appoints the manager/coach?
But at the end of the day, the blame game (board/management) isn't gonna help us either way. Hope that at least we already prepare for next season.
Yeah Soopa and was just about to post that as looked at fixtures!
Out of the last 10 games 7 are winnable.... we'll no doubt lose to Chelscum, Citeh and Arsenal.
Look forward to 3pts v Norwich on Sunday!! 🙈🙈🙈🙈
Need a BIG shake up cause that was fkn awful apart from the first 10 mins of the 2nd half....
I've constantly backed our players, apart from Roberts, Coops and Forshaw, as they're simply not good enough for the Prem....
Add maybe Ayling, Klich, Koch and Strujik to the list.
I've always backed Firpo and said he will come good but I've completely changed my mind on him and he's fkn AWFUL....
I've also said we'll finish mid table or just below but we're definitely in a relegation scrap now....
We can't beat the top teams and can't beat the mid table teams so HAVE to beat Norwich, Bumley and Brentwood to get out of this....
Absolutely demoralised the way an inconsistent team like Villa toyed with us....
That was shit was it not
This is embarrassing. Schoolboy stuff, men against boys. Too many average players. Of that tonight, who would you keep? Answers on a postage stamp.
Watford and Norwich both losing the only positive tonight
Lads, best start to prepare for life in the Championship.
Hope the board and the new coach start to prepare for next season ASAP.
Face it, we need to get rid of an awful lot of pretty average players and even more expensive misfits.
We're in tatters. There is nothing of something resembling a team left.
Still waiting for those in charge saying/admitting they've effed up → big time.