Leeds United Discussion

[Coma+]

37 minutes ago, Lucas said:

What a bizarre final 24 hours of the window, only at Leeds.

Set the scene. It's well documented we've been wanting a striker, the fans haven't been happy to simply go with Rodrigo, an unreliable for fitness Bamford, and a still green round the ears Gelhardt as our options.

Tuesday's pre-match programme notes before Everton game, we've done our business, happy with the three striking options, described as two international established strikers (Bamford 1 cap v Andorra) and the hottest young striker in the division. Fanbase cant believe the way the club have spun it.

And just like that, Rodrigo dislocates shoulder v Everton, taken off.

Wednesday comes. Leeds ask Wolves about Hwang. Put forward a bid that Wolves reject, not happy with the payment structure and below their valuation.

Wednesday evening, Leeds agree to meet the fee PSV want for Cody Gakpo. A winger but can play up front, club feels he solves a problem. Fans excited for what they see as a high calibre signing.

Victor Orta flies out to Eindhoven to wrap up the deal and meet the player after his game Wednesday night and seal personal terms. All expected to go through. Private pane is booked back to Leeds for the morning for Orta, Gakpo, his agent and 5 family members.

To compliment that, Leeds agree to let Dan James go. Tottenham, Everton, Fulham all rumoured. James happy at Leeds, wants to stay but club intent to make space for Gakpo who plays wing and up front. James is talking to Fulham. Fans unhappy James is going and squad losing depth.

Thursday morning, deal collapses With Gakpo. Gakpo stays at PSV. Allegedly worried after a call by Van Gaal that his game time is imperitive before the World Cup and questions minutes at Leeds. PSV want to keep him and propose a higher contract. Orta comes back to Leeds alone.

Shambles. Club is now desperate knowing Rodrigo is out for 4 weeks.

Now here is the best story of the day.

Shortly before lunchtime, Leeds agree fee with Marseille for Bamba Dieng. Verbally agree personal terms and book a flight for him and his agent for late afternoon.

Club believes its done. Radrizzani tweets back to a disgruntled fan on the Gakpo deal that we will revisit that in January and for now welcome Dieng to the club. 

About 4:30, reports that Nice are making a hijack bid for Dieng. Transpires this is true and he misses his flight to travel to Nice. Leeds pull out of deal, furious.

Dieng agress to join Nice. Has medical, FAILS medical  Has to return to Marseille.

All the meanwhile, Dan James is at Fulham, agreed terms and having a medical. It's done. He is waiting on Leeds to green light tje deal but with no player incoming, Leeds fans expect deal to be cancelled.

Leeds frantically search for striker. Turn to Brereton-Diaz and make an offer. This is considered too short by Blackburn who Leeds feel are asking too much. No deal.

Leeds say Dan James to Fulham will definitely happen. Fans can't believe we've gone from wanting to sign a player to losing depth of the squad. Treatment of Dan James disgusting.

Coming up to 11pm, Leeds announce last min deal for Willy Gnonto, a young Italian winger/forward from Zurich. Jesse Marsch was asked about him two weeks ago to which he said we are interested but he will not be Premier League ready. So the club sign him. Amazing.

Dan James deal confirmed by Fulham.

Leeds, you've well and truely outdone yourselves.

There was a lot of discussion last night on Twitter about this.  In short, I think many fans are coming to the realization that it wasn't Bielsa's "tight squad restrictions" that kept Leeds from signing players during his tenure.  It was more likely the general ineptitude of the management team: Radz, Orta, Kinnear, etc.  Have to feel for Dan James.  Yanked around by Swansea on deadline day only for Leeds to do the same a couple seasons later.  This isn't the same club that was promoted from the Championship and that's just one of the reasons I've fallen out with English football in general. 

[Lucas]

57 minutes ago, Coma said:

There was a lot of discussion last night on Twitter about this.  In short, I think many fans are coming to the realization that it wasn't Bielsa's "tight squad restrictions" that kept Leeds from signing players during his tenure.  It was more likely the general ineptitude of the management team: Radz, Orta, Kinnear, etc.  Have to feel for Dan James.  Yanked around by Swansea on deadline day only for Leeds to do the same a couple seasons later.  This isn't the same club that was promoted from the Championship and that's just one of the reasons I've fallen out with English football in general. 

Bielsa was always the scapegoat, always, and the way they chucked him under the bus since his dismisall, disgusting. But that's another story.

Completely feel for Dan James in all this as you say. From having the photo holding up the shirt on the January deadline day 2019 just for Swansea to pull the plug so late to signing on the last day of the Summer window last season.

When you think during his time with us, he has had to play the majority of the time up front as we had no other options, his missus had a baby and he jetted straight onto a plane after birth just to make sure he could play for us, to now saying he was happy to stay and tje club basically forcing him out. 

I've been critical of Dan James for his end product and said I wouldn't mind if we sold him, however, I'm big enough to admit that maybe I've been too quick to judge him and he deserved another season in his preferred position. Considering we havent really strengthened that forward spot and we allowed a loan to a club we could potentially be competing with in league positions, I think its a poor deal from us and poor treatment for a bloke that's never let us down in effort, application and professionalism.

[Danny]

@Lucas

 

[Lucas]

55 minutes ago, Danny said:

@Lucas

 

Yeah mate, it's 100% true but we all called it pre season because it was so evident in all the friendlies. I've been banging the drum how unhappy I am about Marsch and his tactics for some time now, he's lucky he had the Liverpool and Bournemouth wins bail him out.

Our problem is with the full backs and when they push up. We are so easy to counter attack against that teams just play a simple ball over the top or through ball out wide into empty space for wingers/full backs to run onto and they are in a great position to pull the ball back or in some cases, have a shot.

It's bordering on embarassing because it happens so frequently, and makes us look so juvinile/naive in our defending.

Two classic examples in the last two league games we played.

Scored four but conceded three home to Bournemouth, all in similar fashion. Luckily we won, could have gone either way though.

Scored three but conceeded four away to Spurs, all similar from those areas, in a game we dominated and deserved to win.

That's not a sustainable way to progress in this league. 

[Honey Honey]

That video is mental 

So is the oppositions poor finishing 

[Danny]

@Lucas yeah teams are always going to concede similar types of goals rather than a variety of different goals, but that looks like youve taken it to the next level.

[Danny]

@Lucas you want JM gone or not? Gotta be honest he doesn’t seem to have one of the most attractive personalities that you might want in a coach.

Sometimes it seems like he still thinks he’s managing the best team in the league, rather than a team that have no right to demand success and instead have to slowly earn it

[Lucas]

4 hours ago, Danny said:

@Lucas you want JM gone or not? Gotta be honest he doesn’t seem to have one of the most attractive personalities that you might want in a coach.

Sometimes it seems like he still thinks he’s managing the best team in the league, rather than a team that have no right to demand success and instead have to slowly earn it

You should definitely check my rants in the FA Cup thread  But yes, I've wanted him gone for a while now, even before he scabbed that win at Liverpool.

Nothing changes, he can't adapt his tactics and we continue to ship weak as shit goals, nothing changes. West Ham and Cardiff have had 4 big attempts at our goal this week and scored all 4.

We have had enough chances to have beaten West Ham and we should have beaten Cardiff B. You can't expect to win games having to score 3 eachtime.

At the end of the day, if you build a team on a tactical system that relies on individual moments crom quality players to be successful then when you remove those quality individuals this is the inevitable outcome.

Bad system + average players = bad performance.

 

[Danny]

6 minutes ago, Lucas said:

You should definitely check my rants in the FA Cup thread  But yes, I've wanted him gone for a while now, even before he scabbed that win at Liverpool.

Nothing changes, he can't adapt his tactics and we continue to ship weak as shit goals, nothing changes. West Ham and Cardiff have had 4 big attempts at our goal this week and scored all 4.

We have had enough chances to have beaten West Ham and we should have beaten Cardiff B. You can't expect to win games having to score 3 eachtime.

At the end of the day, if you build a team on a tactical system that relies on individual moments crom quality players to be successful then when you remove those quality individuals this is the inevitable outcome.

Bad system + average players = bad performance.

 

I saw a video of him screaming about the players being scared on the touchline. Was highly embarrassing to watch

[Storts]

16 hours ago, Lucas said:

You should definitely check my rants in the FA Cup thread  But yes, I've wanted him gone for a while now, even before he scabbed that win at Liverpool.

Nothing changes, he can't adapt his tactics and we continue to ship weak as shit goals, nothing changes. West Ham and Cardiff have had 4 big attempts at our goal this week and scored all 4.

We have had enough chances to have beaten West Ham and we should have beaten Cardiff B. You can't expect to win games having to score 3 eachtime.

At the end of the day, if you build a team on a tactical system that relies on individual moments crom quality players to be successful then when you remove those quality individuals this is the inevitable outcome.

Bad system + average players = bad performance.

 

This sounds exactly like us with Conte and Mourinho to be quite honest. I have a lot of sympathy 

[Bandito Burrito]

On 10/01/2023 at 01:19, Lucas said:

You should definitely check my rants in the FA Cup thread  But yes, I've wanted him gone for a while now, even before he scabbed that win at Liverpool.

Nothing changes, he can't adapt his tactics and we continue to ship weak as shit goals, nothing changes. West Ham and Cardiff have had 4 big attempts at our goal this week and scored all 4.

We have had enough chances to have beaten West Ham and we should have beaten Cardiff B. You can't expect to win games having to score 3 eachtime.

At the end of the day, if you build a team on a tactical system that relies on individual moments crom quality players to be successful then when you remove those quality individuals this is the inevitable outcome.

Bad system + average players = bad performance.

 

they are 14th this season, not that bad.

[OrangeKhrush]

I was going down memory lane, and while I know Leeds fans may not be on great terms with him, Harry Kewell was a 2020s player for his time, since the premier league era I have him in my favourites to watch.   his Liverpool career didn't hit the heights of his Leeds days but Harry Kewell and Henry were human highlight reels.

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, OrangeKhrush said:

I was going down memory lane, and while I know Leeds fans may not be on great terms with him, Harry Kewell was a 2020s player for his time, since the premier league era I have him in my favourites to watch.   his Liverpool career didn't hit the heights of his Leeds days but Harry Kewell and Henry were human highlight reels.

There was a stage when I thought he could play for Barcelona. The technique on him was ridiculous. He had pace, an amazing left foot and scored some ridiculous goals. He was an integral part of O'Leary's Leeds.

He was amazing for us and there wasn't many in the league that could touch him in and around that '97-'02 period.

That Liverpool move absolutely ruined his career and the Galatasaray move erased his history with us. Shame.

[Rucksackfranzose]

According to an article in German media Fifa ruled Leeds have to pay Augustin compensation for a contract that never materialised. Apparentely a 24.5 pay out is ordered, which would be the full sum Augustin had earned if Leeds had signed him.

[Bluewolf]

11 hours ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

According to an article in German media Fifa ruled Leeds have to pay Augustin compensation for a contract that never materialised. Apparentely a 24.5 pay out is ordered, which would be the full sum Augustin had earned if Leeds had signed him.

Just reading the article myself... strange situation and Leeds are going to get royally stiffed for what amounts to 49 minutes worth of playing time.. 

Leeds lodge immediate appeal after being ordered by FIFA to pay £24.5m directly to flop (msn.com)

 

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

On 30/01/2023 at 14:12, Lucas said:

That Liverpool move absolutely ruined his career and the Galatasaray move erased his history with us. Shame.

It was so frustrating how he kept tearing his groin with us. It seemed like when he'd finally get back into form and fans would start thinking "holy shit we've got the good Harry Kewell back" he'd have a long lengthy spell on treatment table.

Just bad luck, really, to have his body keep failing him and to continually get the same sort of injury just means extra wear and tear - ultimately he'd never recover from it.

[Lucas]

Well, that's it. Championship all but sealed now. Fuck my life.

What hurts me today is that we've essentially we've put a poor Everton side in a position where they can afford to draw at home. Draw. Fuck me, pathetic.

I''ve known it for a long time this season, I've banged on about it and nothing has changed. There's always that faint hope given the poor standard of those you are competing with down there you may squeak out of it and we've had our chances but we are so inexplicably inept that we throw away lifeline after lifeline and finally, we've blown the last one we'll get and we've got what we truly deserve.

I'm going to put this in here because I want to be able to look back at this post in 12 months time and see what we have learnt and improved from this situation.

Firstly, after today, that's now 25pts Leeds have dropped from a winning position. No Premier League side has managed to achieve that before but now we have. Spineless. And no surprise it's happened twice in the last two weeks when we needed points the most.

As for the game today was an absolute stinker. Classic Leeds really. Had to win, go 1-0 up and then retreat and let West Ham back into it. We lost all momentum and never got the better of it again. West Ham sleepwalked through the game, raised a level when they needed to and had the quality to finish their chances. Easy peasy.

There are moments where we can count ourselves a bit unlucky. Losing Bamford, as shit as he is at finishing, ruined our shape and we never had that same focal point to hit. Rodrigo had to play on one leg because he was injured and no other option was deemed available, and two of West Ham's goals are those fine margain VAR calls that go against us. Both looked like they could be cancelled out but of course, they aren't.

But to be fair, we wouldn't have deserved that luck. For a side that had the opportunity to save themselves, they were far too flat and didn't look up for any kind of fight. No minerals in this team, because no one cares.

Let's be completely real though. It didn't come down to the West Ham game, Newcastle last week, or even the couple before that. This has been a relegation that we've flirted with for two seasons of arrogance, ineptidude and penny pinching when it truly counted. We relied on players that weren't good enough and bought worse replacements.

We've not learnt any lessons from surviving on the last day last season and the board have continued to make enough inexplicable decisions that have blown up in their face. 

Radrizzani said it was impossible for us to go down, we'd learn from it and go forward...Brilliant isn't it.

We have won 10 games since Marcelo Bielsa was sacked. Ten. My fucking god...

Relegation will be officially confirmed next week but we know it's as good as done. It really hurts seeing this great club build such a great foundation and pissing it all away in a couple seasons.

I, like many other Leeds fans, are so disengaged with these current players and the management that we won't miss any of them. From top to bottom. I'm looking forward to seeing them all fucked off.

Clear them all out. We have a very talented youth side and we have to put faith in them and build with those players next year.

I just hope its not another 17 years away because these fans do not deserve it one bit.

[Stan]

Ayling's post match interview seemed very telling. Looks like he's totally spent and from the sounds of it that's how the rest of the squad feel. Like they're resigned to relegation. 

[RandoEFC+]

14 hours ago, Lucas said:

As for the game today was an absolute stinker. Classic Leeds really. Had to win, go 1-0 up and then retreat and let West Ham back into it. We lost all momentum and never got the better of it again. West Ham sleepwalked through the game, raised a level when they needed to and had the quality to finish their chances. Easy peasy.

I missed the start of the game, saw Leeds had taken the lead and assumed the worst, that you'd go for the throat and end up winning comfortably. When I started watching, West Ham had started to dominate possession, played themselves into the game and Leeds had no response. This is why managers like Allardyce are done in modern football if they're unwilling to adapt and get out of the mindset of sitting on a 1-0 lead and just staying compact and organised for the rest of the game. Premier League teams are too good on the ball nowadays. Give up 60-70% of the ball and every team in the league has players who will hurt you. I ended up feeling that West Ham were favourites to go on and win after they equalised. If Leeds had kept up the intensity and made more of a concerted effort to make it 2-0 or even 3-0 before West Ham woke up (like Everton did at Brighton for instance) then it could have ended differently yesterday. 

I take absolutely no joy in it but I said it when Leeds sacked Gracia. Any team that's fucked it so badly that they have to change manager twice in a season frankly deserves to get relegated. That's not to say that Forest haven't got away with murder, signing 31 players for a 25 man squad, or Everton's board potentially getting away with murder failing to sign a forward in January. It's been an absolutely awful season from the bottom few clubs and I'll repeat again that at least 4 deserve to get relegated. One of them will just about get away with it on an embarrassing tally potentially as low as 33-34 points.

[Coma+]

16 hours ago, Lucas said:

I, like many other Leeds fans, are so disengaged with these current players and the management that we won't miss any of them. From top to bottom. I'm looking forward to seeing them all fucked off.

The only consolation in this is your above statement.

This may not sit well with you but I actually don't mind the idea of playing in the Championship now.  After 3 years in the Prem the squad has morphed into players who  could care less about this club and the squad completely unrecognizeable from those heroes that came up 3 years ago.  It's a shame that it had to come to that. 

Honestly, it's not like Leeds are ever going to win the league again anyway.  And this goes for the other 90 odd clubs in the Football League... how many of those will actually ever win a title in the top division?  I'd rather play in a league that's competitive, even if that means selling your best players every couple of years so that you can run your club sustainably.   

[Stan]

17 hours ago, Lucas said:

Relegation will be officially confirmed next week but we know it's as good as done. It really hurts seeing this great club build such a great foundation and pissing it all away in a couple seasons.

I, like many other Leeds fans, are so disengaged with these current players and the management that we won't miss any of them. From top to bottom. I'm looking forward to seeing them all fucked off.

Can relate to this so much  

Some of the players we've recruited are just absolute mercenaries. They're so disconnected to the fans or what it means to play for the club beyond the paycheck they get it. They're too comfortable with the facilities they're given and just happy to ride out any bad moments of a season knowing they could just jump ship and play somewhere else. 

[Dave]

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

On 21/05/2023 at 19:28, Lucas said:

Well, that's it. Championship all but sealed now. Fuck my life.

 

There is still a flicker of hope, buddy, so hang tight it's not over yet until the 'fat lady man (Big Sam) sings' 

I hated Leeds once upon a time as I got slashed in the back with a knife or razor by a Leeds supporter in my army days in Germany many moons ago (fighting), but over the years I have mellowed a lot and forgave.

I like Big Sam and I hope he can keep you up but if not I hope you can keep him or he wants to stay as I reckon he will bring you straight back up again from the Championship.

[CaaC (John)+]

Edit: Deleted, Leeds no longer in the EPL.

[Lucas]

14 hours ago, CaaC (John) said:

Edit: Deleted, Leeds no longer in the EPL.

Cheers mate.