58 - Asking Rutter to come on and save the club when they're 2-0 down with 30 or so to go, when he hasn't been trusted or given a chance for weeks, is pretty wild isn't it?Aaronson for Struijk, Firpo for Wober, Rutter for McKennie (booed as he comes off).0-2— Graham Smyth (@GrahamSmyth) May 28, 2023 Boo'd as he comes off just to add insult to clear indifference. Good riddance to the Leeds fanbase for using him as a scapegoat.
Add in the friend talking negatively about the club and McKennie not exactly refuting what was said and you have a pretty good case for being booed off the field today.
"dogshit" is really hard to quantify when the entire team is ass. Wes did not play well, but he didn't play noticeably worse than anyone else. Again, holding down a starting spot as a loanee for 4 different managers means that "dogshit" was significantly better than the other midfielders on the roster...
I think the biggest criticism you can give Wes on the field is that he never looked truly invested in the club's success, and I think that's fair.
Boo’ing him doesn’t equate to using him as a scapegoat. And Wes should take a long look in the mirror and possibly boo himself. And stop eating pizza with Nutella on top. As a Juve level player that loan was horrendous. I’m not interested is excuses either. Wes, it’s the club. Puli, it’s the club. Gio, it’s the club. Musah, it’s the club. There’s a pattern!
The loan was structured in a manner that led him to believe he would be worse off of Leeds stayed up. But I’d like to think he was professional in his approach and did his best. The problem is that you never really know when he is giving his best. He’s a wildly inconsistent performer. I think Juventus will not exactly be thrilled for him to return.
it’s not too hard to quantify. Yes he was on a bad team. Did he make that team improve… at all? No. No production, passing got worse than he was doing at Juve this year, huge moments where he switched off and it cost Leeds. Was never in it, as others have said. Yeah he’s not as bad as most of the team, but this was a total waste of time and he only lowered his value. Again I’m a huge fan of his, and having 3 managers didn’t help, but he didn’t help either.
Club seasons are far more demanding than international play. Long, grueling seasons far away from home with bumps, bruises, and depressing weather. I look forward to the day that our domestic league is a viable option for our top national team players.
Who had Spurs and Chelsea out of Europe, with Aston Villa and Brighton in? That bet might have earned a penny or two at the beginning of the season.
Are you suggesting a culture of petulant entitlement and unearned praise produces bad soccer players?
BLUF after starting reasonably well, Wes' form tailed off alarmingly in the spring and never recovered. Long throws are nice, but tactical nous is essential. Aaronson looked increasingly lightweight as the season wore on and struggled to make an impact. Tyler Adams was the only Yank to make a positive impression, with some Leeds fans believing that they'd have eked out another 3-4 points and stayed up if he'd stayed fit.
A midfielder looked worse after moving from a club that played in Europe this season and had World Cup winners on it, and that is his fault? If only Leeds had been able to pair Weston with Rabiot and Locatelli... I don't disagree that this move was bad for him, and I don't disagree that it was a half-season wasted, but I do disagree that Weston deserves any more condemnation from Leeds supporters than anyone else on the team. The fact that Leeds supporters were/are applauding Marc Roca's efforts while calling Weston the worst player in white in a long time is indicative that Wes represented something bigger than his own performances...
What I’m saying is YA has a terrible habit of blaming clubs for our underperforming players. Observe similar level performances from players of other nationalities and they’re simply “not good enough”.
If our top national team players have a difficult time playing away from home in sometimes depressing weather, then they are soft and our national team will never be among the top tier.
If I’m not mistaken no other Leeds player had their boy go on Twitter space and essentially trash the club. Wes didn’t get nearly the heat he does now prior to that. Closest thing to Brek Shea flipping off the supporters that we’ve seen since.
If I was a Leeds fan and we transferred in a midfielder from Juventus who played regularly and started pretty regularly as well with this output, I would be pissed too. I wouldn't care if his performances were as bad or good as the rest of the team, I would expect him with that experience to raise the level of those around him or at least show that he was levels above the rest. I don't think that showed more than a couple occasions and hence the problem with their supporters and I don't fault them for that. For the record, I think he is better than what he showed at Leeds and after Jesse was gone followed by TA, I think his heart was no longer interested in that relegation fight.
Potential next seasons thread (assuming Aaronson and or adams) are there, "Aaronson/Adams @ B-elland Road"?
Sure, but sometimes a spade is a spade. Point to a good decision Leeds United made this season... *maybe* firing Marsch, but they even managed to bungle that by waiting until after the window had closed and did it without having a succession plan, so they had to play 3 mid-season matches with a caretaker. This is a situation where you can actually blame some of it on the club, because the club was bad.