Right lads first ever MDT thread on this forum so the pressure is right back on me to deliver. Following on from the excellent draw against chelski and winning our last against Fulham (yes LEEDS WON in LONDON) this is my 3rd match in the hot seat. For those of ye new to this message board someone has the privilege of doing a Match Day Thread (MDT) and continues to post a thread in their own "style" until Leeds lose a game then someone else takes over. I like to have a flutter so i tend to look at season stats and take it from there, others (andyl) for example bases his MDT's as "discussion" set in roman times between R (the emperor) & B (the field General), Mouseman takes about 2 lines (if we are lucky) and Lord Snoddy concentrates on the weather forecasts (why?? nobody really knows but thankfully leeds dont lose that often these days so we dont have read much of Lord Windyarse's messages that often😂 😂 )
Ok enough of the rambling time to sink my teeth into this
Leeds back at ER after a huge win against Fulham (did i mention bull managed to bust the london curse?) and surely now on 39 points we can consider ourselves safe and will be in the PL again next season.
3rd April 3pm KO (not great for me personally wedding anniversary hopefully it will be plissing rain and herself will want to just do the ironing) fingers crossed eh......
This will the 84th meeting between the 2 Yorkshire clubs Leeds won 31 Draws 23 Lost 29 so history shows us not much between us however in the premier league we have played the blunts only 5 times winning 3 drawing 1 and losing 1 however since the new millennium (2000) our record against these cnuts is far worse P13 Leeds won 3 drew 2 and lost 8 so very much coming home with our tail between our legs. Last time out tho 27th Sept 2020 Bamford scored in the dying minutes to grab all 3 points at Bramall Lane, another winner Saturday week Paddy and it will make all of our Easter Weekends alot more enjoyable.
Too early at this stage to predict a starting xi but will post something when all of our players come back from international duty (however with the Polish FA announcing that Klich tested positive for co-vid i cant see him being anywhere near the squad next time out)
Current PL Record
Leeds P5
Won 2 Drew 1 Lost 2 Goals For 5 Goals Conceded 4 Clean Sheets 2 Total Points = 7 out of 15
Sheff Utd P5
Won 1 Lost 4 Goals For 1 Goals Conceded 10 Clean Sheets 1 Total Points = 3 out of 15
This Season PL Record - LEEDS
Record: 12-3-14, 39 points (1.34 per game), 11th in Premier League
Home Record: 18 points (5-3-6) Away Record: 21 points (7-0-8)
Goals: 45 (1.55 per game), Goals Against: 47 (1.62 per game), Diff: -2
Blunts PL Record
Record: 4-2-23, 14 points (0.48 per game), 20th in Premier League
Home Record: 10 points (3-1-11) Away Record: 4 points (1-1-12)
Goals: 16 (0.55 per game), Goals Against: 50 (1.72 per game), Diff: -34
Goalscorers so far this season
Bamford 14
Harrison 6
Rapha 6
David McGoldrick 6
Dallas 5
Klich 3
Costa 3
Rodders 3
Billy Sharp 3
On paper this should be a comfortable home win but we all know football aint played on paper and the fact its a local derby most form can be thrown out the window. "if" we go at them from the get go and really apply pressure all over the park, stay solid at the back and keep our discipline then eventually they will run out of steam. In some games blunts have played reasonably ok but if they concede the first goal they tend to let the heads drop and they generally dont find a way back into the game.
As always we get the first goal we could get another few and if all goes very well i could see us beating the WBA 5-Nil score line because at some stage someone is due a hammering. The downside i see would the players be looking at the next 3 games? City, Pool & scumchester??? will they want to keep some energy in reserve for those 3 high profile games? i hope not and while im not saying they will its only a natural reaction for anyone thats played sport to do this. The idea of "i want to show i can play against the big boys and look at what i can do against the very best".
Famous Celebrity Blunt Fans
Sean Bean - Actor
Joe Elliot - Rock singer (Def Leppard)
Jessica Ennis - Olympic Gold Medallist
Paul Heaton - Singer (Housemartions, Beautiful South)
Michael Palin - Actor (Strangely he also supports Wednies so should he be on the list?)
Not alot of people know this but the famous fighter pilot Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, DL, FRAeS used to drop bombs over the city of Sheffield as target practice in trying to improve his strike ratio in mainland Europe. Seemed strange to him at the time but when he heard in was only Sheffield he quickly got over it. This was all sanctioned by Churchill but dont tell anyone where you heard that nugget of world war history😜
Weather Forecast for Saturday 3pm
Temp 9.25689754896574 degC
Cloudy (not raining)
Pressure 1016.014524187596mb
wind 18.124545478749mph WSW
Weather Forecast for Saturday 5pm
Temp 8.7589687522727 degC
Possible shower 0.212154mm
Pressure 1016.000893654527mb
wind 17.8953212564354mph SW
And finally no MDT would be complete without a pie chart
Great MDT Mouseman and good luck on your prolonged run....
I'm going for a positive 3-1 victory with a Raphinha brace and one for Rodrigo....
Danish, exactly my thinking. He tried to get up quickly and then decided, Jeez i'd better lie down for a bit. Not saying he wasn't hit on his head, but I instantly got the feeling he knew had committed a red car offence!
Macwhite, i read Heck comments too, made me laugh!
For 80+% of the game we ran circles around them, taking the micky ...
Hecks must be on some very strong stuff, was fully expecting him to follow up that comment with, "we went easy on Leeds to save energy for our upcoming Champion League fixtures".
Roberts got up quickly: many thanks to Bielsa for not letting his players over-react. However, now the Sheffield player got himself injured and, understandably, stayed down, and that way probably avoided a card.
I thought Stuart Dallas was brilliant yesterday and for me, he is a definite candidate for POTY.
Shame he didn’t score with that lovely curling shot that grazed the cross bar, it would have helped settle my nerves somewhat!
On a side note, ‘Heckwhatsthatinmybotton’ was of the opinion Bielsa took Patrick Bamford and Tyler Roberts off because Leeds were struggling to live with the visitors!!???
Ill have a half of whatever ‘Heck’ was drinking please!
Agree with the red card. MOD panel just talked about the concussion
should Baldock have been sent off for the tackle on Tyler?
I only watched the highlights as had the misfortune or good luck of working all weekend.
it looked like a straight red for me,Tyler(fair play to him)went in knowing he was going to get clobbered,Baldock had both feet off the ground with studs up.its a red all day for me in today's game.
good win from the boys,a great send-off for hotshot.on to city,out of our 4 tough games we will get at least 2 decent results,I hope 1 is against skum
Congrats Bull 7 points from 9 and even I believe we are now safe.
However, next 3 games look daunting and, remember, you have not yet earned the "Legend" status given to Iceman for his stint at the end of last season.
Excellent victory, although we made it difficult for ourselves at times with sloppy passing. In my opinion Bambi is still nursing an injury and whilst the service wasn't necessarily great to him, he was clearly off the pace. Considering the position we are in, I think Gelhardt now in for a few games and get Bambi fit. Rodrigo doesn't fit into the out and out striker role. I guess the issue will be that Bambi is in with a shot of being the Premiership top goal scorer so probably wants to play on.
Klich I think now is a busted flush and needs to move on at the end of the season along with the others previously mentioned in other posts.
I'm not quite sure what's gone on with Roberts but the last few games he has definately merited his name on the teamsheet, has The Master finally worked his magic on him!!.
The next 3 games are out and out freebies, so assuming there is enough fuel in the tank, may as well go for it and see what happens. All the pressure will be on them as regards European places.
Super leeds, we are staying up , that will do.
Love it 😆
weary good 3 point
Llorente was class
Credit where credit is due, Roberts was good today and starting to get some kind of consistency.... Still not quite there yet and I'd still have Rodrigo ahead of him but some encouraging signs.
Rodrigo also put in a very good shift on and off the ball 👏
Harrison was overall very good and he has the best first touch in the Premier League bar none. 👏👍His touch for the cross for the 2nd goal was unbelievable and let him put it in the danger area. A poorer touch and the defender would have closed him down....
Spot on TC10, in the second half for a good 15 - 20 mins we played them off the park. Only thing lacking was the killer goal.
Missed a number of good chances and messed even more counterattacking moves.
Rodrigo lacks sharpness (showed why he doesn't start) with Klich more or less the same.
Very entertaining and only criticism was we should have won by 4 /5!!
Llorente, Dallas and Raphinha were excellent and Kalvin and Alioski were also very good after 3 games in a week....
Even the pitch was excellent and played very well....!! 👏👏👏👏
Back
Still look vulnerable at the
We're all over them.
We should be out of sight by now!😡
Feckit
FFS, everything that could go wrong...
Baldock lucky to stay on
Come on leeds
The first game in our new home!! CMON LEEDS
Or even played Koch instead of Roberts and gone 3-3-3-1....
Heckingbottom with be giving his “ we all hate Leeds” speech before the game. Score early and we will knock the wind out of them.
Great MDT to start a new era shag
I'm going for a 3-1 win; Paddy, Raph and 'arry for us, Major Sharpe to score for blunts
Unseasonably average temperature tomorrow.
Can’t wait after the dross the international games were come on Leeds
Cant remember the last time we playd a game saturday afternoon @ 3? (could be mistaken or was drunk at the time). Still say 3-0 but if we get a couple early on coud be a lot more.
MOT
Not long now lads hope Kalvin will have enough time to re-energize the body / mind after the 3 international games, have seen throughout the season that we struggle in games when he isnt playing.
Leeds 3-1 Sheff Utd
Rapha, Jack, PaddyB
Cannot wait for Saturday! Butterflies in stomach and real football is back!
Great MDT Leeds win 3-0
Meslier
Ayling, Cooper, Llorente
Phillips,
Pascal Alioski
Dallas
Rapha, Harrison
Bamford
may not be a recognized system but i wonder would a 3,1,2,1,2,1 work?
Think the back 3 are as all year
playing Kalvin just in front of the back 3 (advanced sweeper if you like)
And Dallas with Pascal just in front of Kalvin (this will force the opposition wide) if a ball is crossed in we have not alone a keeper, 3 center halves and effectively 4 "midfielders" not too far away to clear / collect the cross.
Win the ball we have our 4 "midfielders" close to our box so options for the outfield pass, then that player has 3 players further up the pitch (2 wide, 1 down the middle bamford) so more options to play another pass
PLUS that player also has 3 other "midfielders" available to help set up a quick counter-attack. For me its strong defensibly but also allows a high tempo break as space has automatically been created from the formation. Yes it puts huge pressure on the middle 3 to perform both in their passing game but also tests their fitness levels but even more so on dallas, alioski and pascal as they will the players that will make up the attacking 6 90% of the time.
I'd like to see it tried but maybe someone should tell Marcelo first
I think the 4-1-4-1 looks more likely but with a couple of curve balls.
Coops may not get back in and Struijk may take the jersey
Roberts may have pennance to do? May be picked out of necessity though....
Hardly any teams play 2 up top anymore. The Blunts do and obviously don't play to their strengths with TWO shotshy strikers instead of ONE!! 🤣
We tend to play a back 3 against this formation with the 2 wing/full backs dropping back into a 5 when we are defending....
Even with a couple of players out this following team and formation will have far too much for the Blunts....
This can be a 3-3-3-1, 5-1-3-1 or even a 4 at the back with Koch moving forward and the full backs dropping in. Kalvin can be pushed on a little if this was to happen just to fk up the opposition for 10mins every so often....
Meslier
Llorente Koch Strujik
Ayling Kalvin Dallas
Raphinha Rodrigo Harrison
Hattrick
Nope no injuries I now about
come on Leeds
Cannot wait til Saturday when the real football is back! No more pointless games v 3rd rate nations who would struggle in L1/L2. Just what is the point?
Well I had an hour to spare so wadded through that and was impressed it was amusing and insightful
we all know this is the only game the blunts will win
i will be watching from behind the sofa
1-1 hopefully
Good luck to all..
3-0 to us. Raf,(2) and Paddy
Shef are $hit and deservedly are down. And particularly dislike McBurnie for his role in trying to sabotagie Dan James move a couple of seasons ago.
I've seen a photo of you Bull and can't believe you're married.... you must be loaded!?
Is your wife /husband Russian or Thai?
Bull, I will have been married 33 years this year! We are good Catholic boys!
BTW, I m sure the Prem League started in 1993 which was 28 years ago!
Wow - these MDT's have come on a lot!
😂@ Lord Snoddy
For the record i got married on a Friday long before PL or even championship football was played on that Day
23 years married holy sh!t€.... but it must be true time flies when your having fun
Fab stuff mate.
Surely it’s time to chance an U23 or two? Love to see Greenwood or Gelhart given a go.
Heckingbottom will be back in full Leeds hating mode for this one.
Cracking MDT Bull, you have however gone down in my estimation, YOU GOT MARRIED DURING THE FOOTBALL SEASON, totally inconsiderate to your guests, next time do it in July.
4-0
Bamford x 4
A worthy MDT to start off our new forum.... good luck on a prolonged run Bull and if you're still penning the MDT after we've played the 3 big teams, then I'll do a forfeit of your choice!
Would love us to play the likes of Drameh, Cresswell, Jimmy Somerville, Geldhart, Greenwood and Poveda but I'm sure Bielsa will play the normal team rather than chuck them in now.... hopefully we could pick up a win v Blunts and take a point against all the big boys.
I'm going for a very positive 4-0 win with a Hattrick Bamford hat trick and a refreshed Klich notching....