the stats so far say that Leeds don't necessarily need more goals - they need to yield fewer goals the second half of the season to get the GD to not get relegated. At least that is what history and the statistics would indicate. but ... this is going to be a fun squad to watch the rest of this season.
They're on pace for a -14 goal difference. The last team to be relegated with that GD or better was Blackburn in 1999. It would be helpful if they improved on that GD, but they don't need to in order to stay up, historically-speaking.
Leeds have a bit of a mixed month coming up, with Forrest and Everton away bookending back to back ManU. Wes will go right into the fire, but Away at Everton will be a big game for Leeds, as will home v Southampton. If they can win those two and sneak point(s) from Forrest, they could be feeling ok. In league its: Forrest (A) Manu (H) Manu (A) Everton (A) Soton (H) Chelsea (A) Brighton (H) Woves (A) Arse (A) Palace (h) Pool (h) FFC (A) Lester (H) B'mouth (A) Citeh (A) NUFC (h) WHam (A) Spurs (H) Hopefully Leeds is safely out of the woods before City away.
So far they have given up 33 goals in 19 games .... 66 goals given up in all 38 puts them squarely in the worry category - but you are right if the GD stays on ratio (from - 7 to -14) then they should be ok. This is why I watch what the Wes add does in terms of helping the squad NOT concede goals. Would like them to concede fewer than 55 to really reduce the fear factor for relegation .... if they can limit goals given to 50 to 55 and only score 40 they should be ok. Keep in mind in the last 5 games - they have scored 4 and given up 7 - minus 3 in 5 games ... scale that out and it is -23 ..... 2 to West Ham and 2 to Villa is not acceptable .... maybe with Wes he will be the right add to lock down the D (box to box?) and help get some goals off of headers and a nice long assist here and there.
Gonna have to adjust your priors on Villa. Since Emery took over, they've scored multiple goals against Brighton, Tottenham, and Manchester United, and have taken 16 of 21 points. They're good now. Worth noting that Leeds didn't allow a shot on target in their last league match.
A Wes Yorkshire Lad: Mckennie at Leeds. I'm proud to see no one has made a Yorkshire Pudding joke, because that would be mean.
This next 10 days is actually pretty brutal for Leeds: With NottsF on Sun 2/5, ManU on Wed 2/8, and again at home on Sun 2/12 and then Everton 6 days later, you obviously go out with your best team v. Forrest, but then do you platoon for the midweek ManU away game or rest most of your A team for the Sun home game, and then they get 6 days rest for Everton... Be interesting what Jesse does.
Leeds fans have already reached a verdict on Marsch, but if they stay up I doubt it matters. They have put him in a Ted Lasso/naive American box and he won’t get out unless or until he has Leeds in the top half of the table. He gets zero credit in their eyes for any of these new players being brought in. Instead, they remove any excuse for not finishing in the top half.
I am simply looking at the table and state that giving up 2 to a squad a few rungs above Leeds in the ladder is not acceptable ... yes Emery has done extremely well. Leeds must tighten down their D while scoring enough goals to get the 3.
Prob went to Twitter, searched “marsch,” and then clicked latest. His summary is what most posts say though that doesn’t mean they’re representative of all Leeds fans they do represent Leeds fans on Twitter
Shouldn’t give a toss what the fans think if they stay up. Clearly, the ownership is backing the manager.
Not sure which of the 4 threads to post this in - and I sure as heck am way to lazy to post it in all 4, so, since Wes was top of forum, he wins: https://theathletic.com/4141371/202...potential-resale-value-and-first-team-impact/
Let’s see. Yesterday I saw a well established Leeds podcast in which he (him, not his performance) was adjudged “not good enough” and a tweet in which Harrison was congratulated for “not letting that glorified PE teacher push you out.” I actually check in on three Leeds podcasts and none are really backing him at this point. You’ll have to take my word on these characterizations (or not, which is fine) because I do t feel like searching for the sources.
Almost certain to happen. If he's not available this weekend, its for soccer reasons, not bureaucracy.
The Jack Harrison thing is pretty funny since Jesse (and injuries) has given him a very long leash. Hopefully it pays off in the back-to-back games with Man United. Seems they might have the depth now to put the high defensive pressure tactics to good use and Harrison has been pretty good recently.