Bob in Spain wrote:

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Oakland2002 wrote:

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Always thought the keeper was the weakest link whether it was Sprake or Harvey fortunately they didnt have much to do as the oppositions centre forward usually got his legs cut off at the knees 40 yds out.

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Sprake was famous for his blunders.  I thought Harvey was the better keeper.

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 Agreed!

Still buzzing after last night's win and with the bottom three dropping more points over the weekend, I think we may already have enough points to stay up. But the best stat to have come out of last nights game relates to the squad.

Three seasons ago we finished bottom half of the Championship. That is when Marcelo Bielsa took over and his first game in charge was Stoke City at home in 2018. Of last night's starting 11, eight of our players were in the squad against Stoke on that day. This is what he does. He improves players. The three that weren't in the squad that day were Meslier, Struijk (who are both youngsters at 20 & 21 respectively) and our only real "purchased" player on show, the jewel in our crown, Raphinha.

We aren't going to win the PL with these players, that is clear, but he has turned "journeymen" Championship players into solid Premier League players.

We are now top half, with a game in hand over the teams immediately below us, and I couldn't more proud.

It's a great achievement and I'm pleased because you play good football and look to win games all the time.

However on Bielsa it's no different to what Houghton did at Brighton. He took over when we were 17th in Championship. When we got to the Prem he kept Dunk, Duffy, Stephens, Propper, Murray, March, Knockaert, Bong, Hemed etc.

Mind you not sure we ever got to 10th!!

Just wish Burnley and Newcastle would go down...all they do is defend.

A good read

www.skysports.com/football/news/11715/12209243/marcelo-bielsa-exclusive-interview-leeds-united-manager-on-playing-style-debate-and-burnout-accusations

RIP Granny Val

Edit

For those who are unaware, Granny Val is the grandmother of Kalvin Phillips.  She played a starring role in the "Take us Home" documentary, and if rumours are true, when Villa came calling with 30m after we didn't get promoted 18 months ago, it was Granny Val who convinced Kalvin to stay one more season at Leeds.

https://twitter.com/primevideosport/status/1358853429364408323

 

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Thursday 18th of February 2021 03:56:32 PM

Still disappointed by last night's result, but this has cheered me up.

"Marcelo Bielsa has been involved in talks about the next transfer window and people close to him say he is more and more invested in the 'long game' at Leeds."

This is from Phil Hay, who is a reliable journalist with The Athletic and has good inside knowledge of the Leeds set up.

Oakland2002 wrote:

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I really hope he stays in PL for longer I am intrigued by the level to which he can take his philosophy. Graham Potter is evolving a similar pattern of play based on optimising what he can afford utilising statistical analysis to refine the application of a high tempo pressing game, indeed he has had success with much worse sides.

Fridays result no accident but that pattern will occur more often once teams start sitting with a low block, take away the space in which to attack, utilising patterns of swift transition because there will be less. Pushing on into the top 8 requires very technical players with instinctive first touch and the capacity to beat defenders when they are set and banked.

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I do love this new terminology that people use these days - and I'm not specifically talking about you, Oakland, but your choice of phrase just happens to be one that everyone is using these days. So let me translate.

"Low Block" = "Parking the bus" LOL.

As for Leeds, we definitely need more creativity in the middle of the park and that will hopefully come from new signings in the summer transfer window. Our most creative player unfortunately now lacks the physicality that is required by Marcelo's man for man system.  I'm talking about Pablo Hernendez, of course, who has the sort of technical ability you talk about but his presence leaves us vulnerable to players running through the midfield. He will probably return to his home town club of Castellon (he is also the club owner) in the summer.

Hopefully we will also get some of our new signings from this season actually playing.  Saw an interesting stat about them today. The 4 marquee signings we made are Koch (CB), Llorente (CB), Rodrigo (CM/CF), Raphinha (Winger).

How many minutes have we managed to get them on the park together ?

All four playing together = 0 minutes

Any three of four playing together = 67 minutes

Indeed our two new centre backs, who I think are probably our best pairing and who were bought to solve the issue of the departing Ben White have yet to be on the pitch together.

But we will be fine this year. Survival is still the primary aim and despite some LUFC fans on Twitter panicking because Fulham beat a terrible Sheffield Utd last night, I think we only need 2 more wins from 14 games to guarantee that survival. If we can't manage that, then we deserve to go down anyway.