they were always going to get shellacked by ManU ..... start the search and interview now and DVR the ManU game carefully for the new gaffer to carefully analyze. It puts ALL Leeds players on notice that there performance against ManU will be an indicator of their ability (including Sinisterra and Bamford and Harrison - all of whom were crap yesterday) to play for LUFC. I am glad they did NOT wait.
It's a loan that only sticks if they stay up. I'd image his salary is pretty comparable to Italy, if not more. Don't know about the tax rates but he's certainly making bank in the EPL. If he helps them stay up he stays, if they go down, he leaves and is headed to another top level club. Plus he gets to play with good friends and in a country that speaks his mother language. It seems pretty obvious all around.
Recording a game. Bold strategy! I was kind of joking. As the handwriting seemed to be on the wall, it is probably better to tear the bandaid off now. The ManU games could not be line-up at a worse time for them anyway, although if they do manage to somehow pull an Everton-Arsenal one of the games, it could be the bounce they need. Otherwise, it will be the regular slog of having to beat the teams in their neighborhood, and snatch a point or two against the top half.
maybe Jesse should have seen how much homework Bielsa did (24/7) on every single opponent and his and opposition players. It is pretty simple - their GD needs to turn the right direction and quickly. Otherwise they are headed down.
What’s most upsetting to me is that the Premier League never responded to my urgent request, that the standings be re-ordered to reflect expected goals/results, not actual goals/results.
There's an irony to writing these two sentences back to back. When Bielsa was fired around this same time last year, Leeds had a -34 GD, 2nd worst in the league by a big margin. Right now Leeds have -8 GD, 13th best in the league (and 2 goals worse than 11th place Aston Villa).
I was talking quality not form. Weston will likely face similar ups and downs and Harrison has seen more than his share this season. Giving Brenden the long leash was a mistake, but not remotely close to what got him fired.
Nor is being on this current Leeds team at all. Let's put Wes aside, he just started and he will get minutes, I believe. But fact remains, BA has played poorly, and there is no metric or stat you can pull that gives any solid argument he should be starting right now (If you are in fact joining the argument that Aaronson is playing better and needs to start, good luck with that). Even the most ardent Aaronson supporters on here have agreed he should sit for awhile until he gets rolling again, maybe be an impact sub.
This is a sign of a team that is really not that far off from getting points. Unfortunately, it doesn't necessarily mean they will get better under a new coach. I will be interested to see how the new coach lines them up. I would make use of Adams' ability to play a single 6 and go with a 4-3-3 or a 4-1-4-1. I like the twist a 4-1-4-1 presents and think it could fit the players they have. Unfortunately, losing Rodrigo to injury was a terrible blow as he was the only guy on the team that knew how to score on a consistent basis. Not sure who is going to step up at striker? Bamford was so bad yesterday... just soooooo bad.
Bielsa may have done a lot of homework, but he seemed to often turn in the wrong assignments. The reality is doing well in the Prem without a boatload of money is very hard, and it takes luck as well as skill to pull it off. I think Jesse is a bit naive, but I also think he came up short on the flop a few times. It happens. He was 3 or 4 points away from being fine if unexceptional, but those 3 or 4 points did not come. Just hoping Leeds can stay up now. I still think they will, but they need to start scoring a bit more to go with what seems to be a bit more defensive discipline.
I got no great opinion on whether he should start or not, tbh, mostly because I don't really know what Leeds is trying to do offensively and don't know what Rutter will bring. I think had Aaronson been fit this weekend I would have thought long and hard about bringing him on in the 2nd half, however, as Leeds was getting nothing interesting happening close to the goal. The best they were managing in run of play was Gnonto outrunning guys. BA might have helped in tighter space.
I worry that moving from 2 defensive mids to 1 defensive mid is just going to expose their inadequate backline even more. Put me in the camp that assumed Mckennie was going to play in the no.10 spot and not the 6/8 hybrid. Not saying Roca has been good, just that I thought Wes' skillset didn't lend itself to his position.
That's fair. We'll have to agree to disagree. There are several guys I'd started over BA when all are healthy. None if any I'd start over Wes. Having Brendan in the lineup weekly when he was in a slump didn't help Marsch keep his job. The larger picture is: benching BA seemed the obvious move to everyone but Jesse and wasn't isolated decision. There were many other unforced errors that showed questionable judgement. If the club were winning they'd be seen as quirks or worthwhile gambles...not in their current situation.
Tyler has stated that Jesse has some decent tactical acumen. It’s centered around working against the ball, though. Brenden fits that better than anyone they had, prior to Wes, and there’s no guarantee Wes is good enough in tight spaces to be effective in the middle of the park in the EPL. He’s always tended to drift wide. Injuries to Sinnisterra, Summerville and Bamford made it tougher to move Harrison or Rodrigo into the space Aaronson played. There weren’t good options to replace them if he did it. He tried Harrison yesterday. No joy. I think Rodrigo would have been fantastic there, but then nobody scores. Taking Brenden out for Klich or Greenwood or Forshaw or ? isn’t all that obvious when you have a guy that’s ++ to what you want to do. At the end of the day, if Brenden never showed up at Leeds nothing changes. There’s just a different focus for some on where Marsch went wrong. From my perspective it was thinking he needed zero offense from his fullbacks.
You can safely assume His Majesty's government will relieve Wes of half his earnings. There is a saying, or used to be, that playing in the EPL is " All the flash for half the cash".
can't help but feel based on eye test, and stats that he had a bit of a bad luck. BUT, once you've had bad luck long enough.. it stops being luck and starts being something more controllable IMO. Still, even this last game ugh they had the better of the entire game and should have at least gotten a draw. Have said that enough times this season.
what are you talking about? Marsch’s GD is two times better than Bielsa’s was at this point last season. Am I misunderstanding what you’re saying?
It feels the same way to me, all the way down being -4 on VAR overturns…and we know VAR only corrects a very small number of calls, all of which impact the game to varying degrees.
Even the foul against Struijk that led to the free kick off which Nottingham scored should’ve been whistled for offside first. But not reviewable since it didn’t technically “immediately” precede the goal, even though it literally did immediately precede the goal. He had awful luck, but as you said, eventually you have to make your own luck. Bamford, Harrison, Cooper, Ayling are all celebrating today that’s for sure. They achieved their goal- Jesse out.
I definitely don't think Jesse could've changed their fortunes in a month (with resurgent MUFC on deck twice) but Wober, Rutter and McKennie really could kick start a turnaround given more time I'm fine with his sacking though cause they can't fire enough of the players to make an immediate shift in fortune. So the gaffer gets axed instead
Jesse had to know the writing was on the wall yesterday. That Forrest team was so bad, it really was a termination-worthy offense to lose all 3 points there.
This...the defense has been improved from what it was last year, but goal scoring seems to have gone down the toilet. Almost like whack-a-mole. Will be interesting to see if the new manager(s) can finally, finally, finally get both the defense and offense going in the right direction AT THE SAME TIME! p.s. weird Chris Armas - who Marsch brought in - still remains?! Maybe they think Armas has some insight into how to play ManU since he was an assistant coach there too...?