This Saturday sees the visit of some cheeky cockney types to our green and pleasant lands. The hordes of pearly queens will descend upon Elland Road full of beans after their last trip to the North – last night’s very creditable defeat of the Scum in their own back yard. I’ve no doubt they’ll be in good voice as they sing along to that Michael Jackson classic “I’m forever blowing Bubbles”, although why they have such affection for a monkey is beyond me.
As for The Mighty Whites, after a positive result against a different bunch of cheeky cockney types, we really don’t know who will be fit and on duty to counter the obvious threat Wet Spam will present. We believe Llorente might be back (but we don’t know if his legs will be working yet), we definitely expect no Ayling, Koch or Struijk at the back so at least a space on the bench for Cresswell again. On the wings the bucket god has much more of an interesting choice: Harrison or James, Rapha on the right or push him central and play Summerville again.
And what to do about the Centre Mid…..?
The hammers did the double over us last season, we had no answer to the aerial threat they posed from set pieces, but they’ve shown they have plenty to offer on the deck too, so this one will rely on us being able to get down the flanks and turn them round facing their own goal – we’ll need to retain possession much better than we have so far this season too. Once again we find ourselves in a position were we really can’t afford to lose – getting that first win is becoming a bit of a monkey on our own back……
So – the tale of the tape:
League Position last year
9th Leeds Pts 59 Gd 8
6th Wet Spam Pts 65 Gd 15
League Position this year
17th Leeds Pts 3 Gd -7
8th Wet Spam Pts 8 Gd 4
Squad valuation in the PL - Transfermarkt
12th Leeds £227.43M
11th Wet Spam £317.93M
Wage Bill – according to Spotrac.com
19th Leeds
8th Wet Spam
As with last week this sentence remains: not sure on the back of those stats why we’ve suddenly become European contenders, but it shows how much our manager and squad overachieved last year.
Wet Spam’s celebrity fans include:
Danny Dyer
Russell Brand
Ray Winstone
Alf Garnett
Matt Damon
Keira Knightley 😍
Peggy Mitchell
Phil Mitchell
Ricky!!!
Well ‘Ard the dog
Douglas “Awroit Mate!” Bader
Mouseman – admit it, you have a sneaky passion of long MDT’s 😊
Prediction for the weather: a pleasant 21 degrees C, clear skies and a welcoming gentle breeze in God’s Own Country.
Prediction for the match: The Mighty Whites 2 – 0 (James and Cresswell from a corner after he comes on for Llorente after 12 minutes).
- Or more likely the end of my MDT run 😣
Predicted Line-up:
Meslier
Shackleton, Llorente (for 12 minutes), Cooper, Firpo
Phillips
Rapha, Rodrigo, Dallas, James
Bamford
Once again - over to you lot, the unwashed masses, to stick your twopence in.
Lady Luck has not been kind on us. If we could only convert some of the chances we create, we would stuff teams!
Who knows a leprechaun I can turn too to provide some divine intervention?
Bogusz this weekend; get him back to Leeds as soon as possible (we need goals from midfield). MOT
A Twitter post showed Ralph limping when getting of the team bus at the hotel I think he was playing with the help of painkilling injection like Klitch was last quarter of last season
Imo firpo is not an alioski replacement he is a Douglas replacement a left back not a rampaging wing back
Didn't see the game but I did see Klich make a lungbursting run from his own half to set up Raphinha for the goal.... just play that for the kids to learn that the hard work brings rewards
Cresswell - Dominant CB performance. Excellent in the air. 30/40yard passing radar a bit off but may just nerves. Am sure he will improve.
Shackleton - Must be a first team pick at either No2 or No8. Offers more than Ayling and Dallas. Neat tidy player with pace and tenacity.
Firpo - Whatever anyone says, I can see him improving each game. Will take a few more games to learn MB's man for man system but you can see he has quality, certainly going forward
Summerville - Must be the first pick off the bench if a game needs changing. Roberts has had 80+ games for us and is yet to show he can make a difference
Rodrigo - Definitely a No9.
James - will need another 10+ games to get up to speed. Great work rate though
Phillips - Needs to decide if he is a No4 or a No8. As a number4 he is more effective and a superstar. As a No8 he is just decent but not really special.
Klitch - Has his 2nd bout of Covid affected his stamina?
Daniel, regarding Firpo I kind of agree with you, playing wise he's getting better but thus far he has not proved to be a good defender.
Look at the equalizer we conceded, Firpo's totally out of position.
The goal in itself was a lucky deflection (twice) for them, but the gap we left was huge.
At 1-1 with just minutes to go and us under the cosh a bit, we still had loads of our players so far forward. Keep it simply, stay organised and see out that game.
Whilst I'm not 100% convinced McCalmont or Boguesz are ready to become full time Premier League players yet, it simply didn't make any sense getting them out on loan when we're simply lacking body's in exactly that area.
James will come good for us, but another winger should not have been a priority.
Having said all of the above, if we had managed to draw that game (feel we deserved at least 1 point) we would have been talking differently about the performance. Rodrigo improving, Raphina excellent (not even 100% fit), Cresswell was very good and will get even better.
If Klich puts away that sitter this would have been very different!
Results will sooner or later follow the performance.
MOT
Daniel, regarding our midfield, and as a long-time fan of both McAlmont and Bogusz, I’m with you one houndred percent. Regarding Firpo, I just cannot see his progress, and I wish we had gone for a Charlie Taylor type (or, preferably, Charlie Taylor himself) instead.
Actually just before Raphinha went off Rodrigo did that last massive sequence of lung bursting runs both in defence and attack expecting that his name was going to be called and was spent from then on but was left on the park. During the game he had a few excellent layoffs which on another day been assist as they lead to good clean shooting chances.
Jenkins and Bates should be sharpening themselves up as there is a opportunity in the centre of the park for them. McCalmont and Boguez also could fit nicely in that central midfield role.
Cresswell was his normal self which is to say a Beast in the making.
Firpo had some good sections and think each game he seems 1% better on the last.
West hams first goal - defection off Cooper causing our keep to adjust only for the ball to deflect again off Firpo changing it direction again all within 1 second. Our keeper afterwards has a right go at central midfielder who allowed the original pass to go out wide...
We sort out he centre of the park and we will be winning again.
Can't and won't comment too much on todays game, but a lot of the issues we had today were abundantly clear in pre-season and in reality even long before that.
I know we've got plenty of players missing and all that, but for those with specs on it's was clear to see we had/have several weaknesses in the side/squad. Some of those looked rather easy to improve upon.
Did we adress any of them? Not really.
Did we get in a left full back who can really defend, don't get me wrong Firpo looks a good player, but defending?
Even in the Championship we had plenty of problems down the middle, did we simply disregard the fact that Klich used to run out of steam after a good 60 odd minutes (even in the Championship).
Last season, after a bright start he went missing for several games (looking very tired/leg weary).
Did we have someone our in midfield that could nip the game in the but ? Close up shop? Nah. Did we look to solve that issue/ problem? Nah.
Last season it became more and more clear that in terms of creativity we had to rely on our wingers, because we simply didn't a playmaker (in the Pablo mould) in the midfield. Did we try and rectify that issue? Nope!
Last worry I had was, what if Bamford loses his goal scoring touch or worse gets injured? Have we got any back-up? → thankfully it may well be that Gelhardt will help out.
Today once Raphina went off (hamstring), WH started to dominate and got us on the back foot. Don't want to point the finger at Roberts, because ultimately it's MB's decision, but when most Leeds fans know he's not the answer, why doesn't Bielsa?
Playing 11 vs 11 is hard enough as it is.
The pressure is on and I somewhat expect a very different window in January.
Still that's a very long way off, but we simply cannot afford to get drawn into a relegation battle. Last time I checked plenty were convinced there were at least 6, 7 or 8 teams worse than us. Odds seem to have changed somewhat.
Heard about another injury to Forshaw, feel really gutted for him.
But being realistic, this could well be it in terms of getting Premiership football for him.
I agree with what others have said re Cresswell and Shackleton - they aren't the problem. Klich is industrious but doesn't have the passing range needed for a number 10. Firpo needs time and games to adapt, there are signs of improvement there but he's not the finished article yet. And Rodrigo does a lot of good things but he just doesn't score. It's that lack of goal conversions that's costing us. And I don't know why James went off at half time, we weren't the same .
We will come good, it'll just take one result to lift us.
A bit unlucky not to get a point out of this game. Here’s my thoughts:
Cresswell is some player. Why not play him every game? Shackleton did really well, except for his mistimed effort for their 2nd goal, would play him in midfield, though. Firpo.… anyone else than me suddenly missing Alioski (says it all, doesn’t it…)? Klich, well, many good things, including his run and lay-off for the goal - but his shooting is so lacking power. Raphinha, played as the best winger in the league, and maybe he is. Meslier kept us in it today. Cooper did well enough, a real fighter. Dallas such a fighter, too, but like Cooper he’s somehow punching above his weight. James, he’s clearly eager to show his worth, but he’s not very comfortable with the ball, yet. Rodrigo is trying, and he did quite well and put in a shift. Phillips, without him we would have lost by more goals, such is his importance, but he did lose the ball in an uncharacteristic manner more than just a few times.
Alright i am going to say and you all can disagree but Kalvine Phillips has been poor to start this season. He leaves his man to attempt going for a ball which at best he is 5% chance to get to. His man get the ball and one touch passes through to a 2 on 1 fast break. If he does not commit then the ball does get played. Straight up he seems to play like he thinks he is all that. Gone is the player from the last two seasons.
Why was James subbed at the 1/2?
Why are we playing so many straight long ball?
This is what happens when you get a disaster like me to write the MDT 😫
Can't fault the effort against a better team, but starting be a long hard slog
C'mon Iceman - get us going, we need a run of epic proportions.
Ayling still out injured. Shackleton and Cresswell start.
Wouldn't be surprised is Shacks plays in midfield with Dallas at RB.
Very tuff debut for Cresswell against a strong, dynamic centerfoward.
Antonio's pace & mobility will provide a big test.
Would take a draw from this one.
Last season we got 0 pts from six, whilst we deserved at least 2 draws.
Now is the time to get something back?
And that's the confirmed team with Shacks at RB, Cresswell as CB, Dallas in midfield, Klich as the number 10, and Raphinha out wide.
Dallas is better in midfield, so I'd pick the same team but swap Dallas and Shackleton positionsm . Summerville to cover it Raphinha isn't fit.
Getting excited about today’s game. We haven’t played well so far, this season. But, Bielsa has always managed to change things around when the rest of us thought it looked rather uninspired. So, even though West Ham are strong, today could be the day where things finally work out. And, as an example, this line-up doesn’t look bad:
Meslier
Ayling-Cooper-Creswell-Dallas
Phillips
Raphinha-Shackleton-Klich-James
Rodrigo
Shackleton deserves a place. So does Gelhardt, but he’ll be on the bench. Harrison, if available, could play instead of either Raphinha (if he‘s still injured) or James. Firpo hasn’t convinced many, but as an investment maybe he’ll keep his place, gradually adapting to the British game. Dallas could then take Klich’s place (or right back, in case Ayling is still out).
Cracking MDT once again Soopa, Can't see us winning 2-1 to the eastenders
The players that step in will have a hunger. We will win this one.