Well, after a glorious run from Bull in April I wasn’t expecting to be stepping up to the plate so quickly....especially as a newcomer.
We just weren’t on our game at Brighton, whether it was Kalvin not playing, a loss of concentration after the recent big games, or just a bad day at the office where nothing quite Kilched I am not sure what was Ayling us, but onwards and upwards....
Kick off against Spurs, with their Koch emblem, is 12:30 on Saturday, and the match is on BT Sport, so I better be joining fans around the world from here to Dallas in heading down the pub....or maybe Costas....enough of the name puns...they are getting desperate!
Another match against one of the so called big six, the money grabbing ESL failures. Spurs have won trophies, but they are living on past glories with only an FA Cup win in 1991 and the League Cup in 2009 in the last 40 years. They are 9 points ahead of us after their win against the Blades with only 4 games left to play. If we can turn them over you never know...we could finish above them, but if they win it will help their European push, so this is still a game that counts.
We have a long history of games against them and a mixed record, winning 32, drawing 29 and losing 37 of the 98 games we have played since the first match up in 1924. Recent league history doesn’t really help either with 5 losses and 1 draw in the last 6 meetings, although we did beat them 2-1 in the FA Cup in 2013 with Varney and McCormack scoring for us.
Famous fans include:
England cricketer Jonathan Trott
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On to the game itself...I am not quite sure what to expect to be honest. Will we see some of the impressive under 23s get some game time from the bench, or given that there is still a chance of a few places higher in the league (at around £2m a place it is worth having from a financial point of view too) will we see more of the same. Given it is Bielsa I suspect it is more of the same.
I would like to see a run out for some of the young ones, I think we are likely to move some players on in the summer and we need to see if any of the under 23s are ready for the big step up just yet...it might save us £20m in transfer fees.
We have Cooper back from suspension, so with Lloriente playing well, and Koch back to full fitness, it will be interesting to see who gets chosen. At this stage it seems we might have Rafa back, but no news on Phillips, so we might see Koch stepping in and Cooper returning to CB. Given the speed of the Tottenham attack, I would play Dallas at LB rather than Allioski.
I would select this team, but given I am not an Argentine God what I think doesn’t really matter!
Meslier
Ayling Lloriente Cooper Dallas
Koch
Rafa Klich Harrison
Roberts
Bamford
Given I am from the Isle of Man the only weather I know is wind and rain, so I am predicting you will get what we always have, with a temperature of 13 degrees, a stiff breeze and rain.
This might help us and let’s see if the southern softies can handle the Leeds climate...Bale might have scored 3 against Sheffield, but the weather isn’t exactly forecast to be Madrid is it.
Spurs had a good win against the Blades, but their recent form is not great with 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss in the last 5 league games, and they didn’t look good in the Cup Final either. but I think there will be goals. I am predicting a 3-2 hard fought win for Leeds, with Paddy, Rafa and Tyler scoring for us. Roberts has been working hard and is due one. Quite frankly I don’t care who scores for them!
Finally it is time to look up from pie charts, which are a really bad way of showing information to look at this fantastic chart by Charles Minard showing the progress of Napoleans advance on Moscow and subsequent retreat....we will have more luck in Europe in a couple of seasons time!
MOT
Have not been able to get in to forum for over a month now just trying something different but will not let me post so can only reply to someone And only on my phone and not my preferred method of laptop Have we built that new stand yet ?
koch, Liorente,raphinha and Rodrigo won't believe what E.R. is like with the fans in.
Alioski is a great squad player, it will be a great shame to lose him.
Another good performance by Dallas and struyck.
And what a great performance by Koch, can play in defense or midfield
Spurs were poor though, in transition I guess
Hope soton beat Liverpool tonight so we can overtake them!! 😂🤔😉⚽
yep well done manx
Great performance and could've been 6-3 to us.... Alioski was excellent and my MOM. Koch and Strujik were very good as well. 2 great saves by Meslier and he's gonna be the best keeper in the world one day. Glad Rodrigo scored and if he starts firing he'll be like a new signing!!
Well done to Klich as well as he's obviously been poor and not hitting the standards he made. As soon as I saw him and Roberts together in the middle I thought we'd only get a draw maximum! Rodrigo HAS to come in for Roberts now.... I say this every week though!!
Why wasn't Coops in the squad today?
Well done Manx and now we've got 3 'easy' games against sides with nothing to play for.... 👍😂😲🤔😉
Alioski was outstanding today. Best player on either team and that was despite great performances by Koch, Dallas, Bamford and Harrison.
Alioski had a good game, indeed, but we all know that he is very much, and too much, up and down to be a regular starter in a Leeds team striving for, let’s say, a top-6 spot next season. Roberts, I’m afraid, is also not fast nor dangerous enough to be a starter. On the other hand, Klich will come good again, and with Koch we ‘suddenly‘ have a valid replacement for Phillips when injured - or the possibility to play with two 6’s. Happy Days!
Great result Manx. Roberts works hard but his choice of final ball is 9 times of ten the wrong one. Missed Rodrigo's goal when my link went awol. Onwards to Burnley for another 3points!
Awesome💙💛
Fully agree BB!
Manxwhite gets to go again!! Bonus.
50 points!!! that's an amazing tally. Blunts managed 46 last season finishing 9th - we could yet make up to 59......
Congrats Manx!
That was some game. Another of the Greedy 6 brought back down to earth!!
Alioski immense for a guy that is leaving.
Harrison and Klitch have their mojo back.
Llorente, Struijk and Koch proving just how good they are
Meslier excellent again
Only real disappointment was Tyler. He worked hard but is not looking like a No.10
How this same side can have played so badly against Brighton last week, and then played so brilliantly today, is a riddle wrapped in an mystery inside an enigma.
Everyone put in a real quality shift.
So proud to be Leeds!
Fantastic performance.
More than made up for the Brighton disappointment.
But for Lloris it would have 5 or 6.
The whole team had their energy and zip back.
So much running from all our players, phenomenal!
Koch did the holding job well today, Klich looking back to something like his old self, Harrsion flying.
For me the star performer was Alioski. Had a stinker last week, but boy what a performance.
Yet another very good fight. And well played. Koch and Dallas maybe the starmen, and except for the occasional small errors and mistakes all played to a 7 or 8. MOT
I'll grab my coat- yer livin' a fkkin lie you lot, as long as your happy I suppose - YOU ALL HAPPY?? I AM, ALWAYS AND TO THE END. I only suck my dildos!! g'nite
Well done Leeds, great effort.
lols fuck off that was offside - they have video evidence to support their dodgy referees these days haha!!
who brought the pies?? GMO.
i say i can smell the social distancin' from 'ere we. are. the. robots.