Marching On Together

Leeds Utd v West Bromwich Albion

Tuesday 1st October 2019 19.45 | Elland Road


Without a victory in September, was being exerted on Marcelo Bielsa to make changes to the Leeds starting eleven for the visit of West Bromwich Albion.

The social media boo boys have identified Alioski and Harrison as two of the main culprits partly responsible for their recent decline in form. Whilst nobody can question Alioski's efforts, there are certainly frailties in his defensive duties. Harrison on the other hand gets into great position, but his crossdes are very much hit and miss. But Marcelo Bielsa has decided to stick with the same side that started against Charlton on Saturday.

Adam Forshaw aggravated the hip injury that previously sidelined him for a month and is will join Pablo Hernandez on the physio's table. Luke Ayling and Tyler Roberts are still coming back from injury and make both it to the bench. With Hernandez still on the treatment table, Costa will be expected to provide the creativity but Bielsa has the option to bring Jack Clarke into the fray if required. Eddie Nketiah is yet to start! He certainly didn't have the impact on Saturday that any of us would have wanted; maybe he's a little dejected at the lack of playing time?





Slaven Bilic is unlikely to make many changes to his unbeaten West Brom side. Youngster Grady Diangana was preferred against QPR but the more experienced Filip Krovinovic may be recalled. Ahmed Hegazi and Kieran Gibbs are closing in on returns from ankle injuries and fellow Baggies defender Conor Townsend is said to be making progress following a nerve problem in his back.

Honors were shared last season with West Brom the first team to give us a shock, the 4-1 defeat in November was a bit of a reality check but Leeds responded well with seven straight victories and a 4-0 reversal in the return fixture. Contenders for automatic promotion they hit inconsistent form just like Leeds and despite a change in manager could only manage the play-offs where they were beaten by West Midlands rivals Aston Villa. New boss Slaven Bilic will look to see West Brom challenge again this year and the bookies have them third favourites.


Leeds Starting XI
Casilla, Dallas, White, Cooper, Alioski, Phillips, Shackleton, Klich, Costa, Harrison, Bamford

Subs: Miazek, Ayling, Berardi, Douglas, Roberts, Clarke, Nketiah

I have a chat with a QPR fan whilst doing our grocery shop every Sunday morning. A lovely Londoner living up north, he's in a wheelchair bless him always friendly with a smile on his face. He follows the hoops home & away and his words to me after he watched QPR v West Brom were :

"If West Brom play like they did against us they'll probably beat Leeds"

He reckons the baggies are the strongest & best team he's seen this season.

1964white wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:02 am I have a chat with a QPR fan whilst doing our grocery shop every Sunday morning. A lovely Londoner living up north, he's in a wheelchair bless him always friendly with a smile on his face. He follows the hoops home & away and his words to me after he watched QPR v West Brom were :

"If West Brom play like they did against us they'll probably beat Leeds"

He reckons the baggies are the strongest & best team he's seen this season.

QPR will make most teams look good !
i think we'll beat west brom .

Eddie and Tyler need to start for me. Now that Pablo has been confirmed as missing the game again, and Forshaw too. Tyler for Shack. Eddie for Costa, who should revert to the bench. Lets give it a go with both Bamford and Eddie starting .

I don't see how any of the goals we've conceded have been due to Alioski's 'defensive frailties' Can anyone point to a specific example of where he was at fault? Nor have I seen anything from Douglas to suggest that he would be an improvement. Again, can anyone give examples of what he offers?

I don't think Harrison is specifically the problem either. We were making errors all over the pitch at Charlton, including Phillips and White.

Dallas is undroppable for me at the moment; consistently one of our better players, and brings determination and fight to the team. I would only want to see Ayling in at RB if Dallas was going to perform equally well on the left. If that was the case, could we put Alio right wing and Costa inside with Klich? A lot of our creativity last season came from the interplay between Pablo and Klich - is that something which could be replicated with Costa?

I'd start with Nketiah, and swap to Bamford around the hour mark.

Think we will need to be at our best defensively so the only change from Saturday I see is Eddie for Bamford.

SaraM wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:39 pm I don't see how any of the goals we've conceded have been due to Alioski's 'defensive frailties' Can anyone point to a specific example of where he was at fault? Nor have I seen anything from Douglas to suggest that he would be an improvement. Again, can anyone give examples of what he offers?

Poor defensively v Bristol City when the robins scored late on Sara

Alioski & Douglas nowhere to be seen when Derby broke down the left with Phillips been drawn out of the middle in attempt to cover both going AWOL.

Every opposition manager concentrates their efforts down the flank because they know we are vulnerable in that area

Ayling back in at RB when fit with Dallas on the left for me

Irish Ian wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:59 pm Think we will need to be at our best defensively so the only change from Saturday I see is Eddie for Bamford.

We'll spend more time defending if Bamford doesn't play Ian

Gurj wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:31 pm Eddie and Tyler need to start for me. Now that Pablo has been confirmed as missing the game again, and Forshaw too. Tyler for Shack. Eddie for Costa, who should revert to the bench. Lets give it a go with both Bamford and Eddie starting .

So Forshaw is injured again, he spends more time in the treatment room than on the pitch

It was this time last season Pablo missed 8 games & as a consequence we gained only 10 points in his absence

I worry that WBA are ideal to exploit the lack of phyiscal presence in our squad, we havent got one.

How are Cooper or White going to cope shoulder to shoulder with 6ft3 Charlie Austin (class player imo) or 6ft3 battering ram Zohore?

Or do our midfielders have the strength and balls to stop 6ft1 Matt Philips when he goes striding through the middle as he did vs QPR?

Or what will we do at set pieces when the real height and muscle of the WBA side 6ft4 Ajayi and 6ft5 Bartley arrive? Aside from pulling their shirts as presumably Cooper will do vs Austin anyway what will we do?

Then aside from that another weakness we have is pace, our players never look comfortable when players run at them.

Matt Philips will, they have a young lad on loan from West Ham, Diangana, bag of tricks and pace and another who really impressed me when ive seen him, Perreira on loan from a club in Portugal.

West Brom have everything we struggle with, pace on the break, power and height at set pieces and they are unbeaten.

We need to be much better at home then we have been for months.

We absolutely are capable of beating them but we will need to be at our best all over the pitch.

1964white wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:16 pm Poor defensively v Bristol City when the scored late on Sara

Alioski & Douglas nowhere to be seen when Derby broke down the left with Phillips been drawn out of the middle in attempt to cover

I find myself repeating what I told you last week - ALIOSKI WASN'T ON THE PITCH WHEN BRISTOL SCORED. He came on as a sub in the 79th minute seemingly as a consequence of Bristol scoring.

He also wasn't on the pitch when Swansea scored.

weasel wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:35 pm I find myself repeating what I told you last week - ALIOSKI WASN'T ON THE PITCH WHEN BRISTOL SCORED.

Well that is why he was nowhere to be seen then

1964white wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:19 pm We'll spend more time defending if Bamford doesn't play Ian

I agree, but WBA will be more likely to come at us whether he plays or not. Even if we press high, win the ball back and dominate possession all I can see is more of the unimaginative play of the last month.

Maybe a more open game will suit the likes of Eddie with his extra pace.

What I meant was that I couldn't see any other changes to the lineup, someone somewhere suggested Roberts for Shacks. That would imo leave us too open defensively.

weasel wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:35 pm I find myself repeating what I told you last week - ALIOSKI WASN'T ON THE PITCH WHEN BRISTOL SCORED. He came on as a sub in the 79th minute seemingly as a consequence of Bristol scoring.

He also wasn't on the pitch when Swansea scored.

Apologies my mistake he wasn't on the pitch but we nearly conceded a 2nd goal when a Bristol forward ran past him with ease

I am now "hoping" for a goal rather than expecting one. Confidence has slipped sadly. Does anyone know if the game is on lutv or is it a link job?

Dalton wrote:I am now "hoping" for a goal rather than expecting one. Confidence has slipped sadly. Does anyone know if the game is on lutv or is it a link job?

Same here...there is zero expectancy every time they go forward and I fully expect them to concede from free kicks , corners etc. I read a report about the Charlton game saying it is almost boring watching Leeds because they have no end product to which I totally concur. I think I suffer from " resignation syndrome".... I'm resigned to supporting a team that plays everyone off the pitch but always struggles to find the back if the net.

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I hate catastrophising like this especially after 9 games but at the moment it is how i feel. I am expecting either to hang on for a nil nil draw or a loss tonight. We have been worked out. Say what you like about the stats around possession and shots or expected goals proving we haven't as it dosnt mean anything, goals are all that count and we dont score enough. Opposition teams know the best chance to beat us is to let us have possession and sit deep because we are so wasteful of the chances we make and cant break down a well organised defence.

Teams are getting lucky with their goals against us but their game plan relies on putting away the limited chance they have , most teams are happy to take a point off us and anything more is a bonus.

Unfortunately the second half of last season and beginning of this one supports the notion that Bielsa can't fix it and im not sure where that leaves us really. I am doubtful with this squad anyone else would do much better. what he needs to do is start using all his stats to analyse his own players rather than just the oppositions. For example Surely he can see Harrison is not effective , 3 assists in 39 games last season, 0 in 9 this year, how is he justifying his place?

Hopefully i feel better after the game tonight and we start scoring again.

5 goals 3 assists last season to be exact coming from a sub standard football league, he brings very good touch passing, quality defensive work, and the ability to find soft spots in defences..high IQ footballer imo who's still learning how to play in English football. I like him a lot as a footballer and I think he's highly liked and rated by those in the know too..

He'd be the sixth name on my team sheet after Cooper, White, Klich, Phillips and Hernandez.