Leeds v Birmingham - Team/Reports/Ratings....

nickjett · Post by **nickjett** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:36 pm

faaip wrote:Didn't see the game but the result perked me up on return from the hospital. 5-3-2 seems the obvious formation for the players we have. Hope it continues to work and I've said before the players at this club aren't as bad as the fans would have us believe.

Though it does help having technically gifted players like Byram, Mowatt and Mccormack playing well!Felt they could really carve openings. Austin was Awesome! well desrved motm!

Gandalf · Post by **Gandalf** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:46 pm

Very enjoyable. Sam Byram is absolutely key to that formation, and he played very well today. The defence, as a result, was very compact and organised. I also like the midfield of Murphy, Austin and Mowatt (with the width of Samby and Warnock).

Nice to see that 64's rollicking of Lees, Austin and McCormack paid off

.

As for MOM - Everybody played well, but Rudi was absolutely awesome.

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:50 pm

faaip wrote:Didn't see the game but the result perked me up on return from the hospital. 5-3-2 seems the obvious formation for the players we have. Hope it continues to work and I've said before the players at this club aren't as bad as the fans would have us believe.

You missed a cracker pal. The best performance from a Leeds team in a long long while

Ronan · Post by **Ronan** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:28 pm

After watching that game.....i'm on cloud nine.....that was fabulous....sitting here with a HUGE stiffy !! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:39 pm

Ronan wrote:After watching that game.....i'm on cloud nine.....that was fabulous....sitting here with a HUGE stiffy !! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Gino!

Ronan · Post by **Ronan** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:45 pm

Guildford White wrote:

Gino!

...i'm open to offers....quick....before it goes down to 8 inches !!

Emsley · Post by **Emsley** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:48 pm

you'll never guess who thought kick off was at three o clock?
yup.

relying on some good match reports and hopefully goals uploaded.
I nearly went today as well.

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:55 pm

Emsley wrote:you'll never guess who thought kick off was at three o clock?
yup.

relying on some good match reports and hopefully goals uploaded.
I nearly went today as well.

You would have felt bloody stupid if you arrived there for a 3 o'clock kick off!

markolufc · Post by **markolufc** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:33 pm

In response to weasels post about players needing other players of a certain type around them in order to shine

As soon as I saw the line up today I had a hunch that it was going to work very well. It's clear what McDermott's intention was. He had Sam Byram back and Alex Mowatt comfortable in the first team, two players who are exceptional crossers of the ball, something we have been lacking this season - quality in the delivery. It's no surprise Matt Smith got a starting berth with that in mind.

And low and behold, all game we were pinging balls into the box. Not just any balls like we've been doing so far this season, but quality ones. Smith reaped the rewards with 3 quickfire attempts on goal that resulted in his second of the day. In reality all three attempts should have been goals, but if you consider the game would have played very differently if the second or first had gone in, I'm just glad he buried the third one and was allowed to keep it. The first was NOT offside.

eastyorkshirewhite · Post by **eastyorkshirewhite** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 7:00 pm

A welcome 3pts for United against a poor birmingham side having said this this game could have been high scoring from both sides.McDermott shuffled his pack and it paid off.

Kenny 7 Made a couple of really good saves
Byram 8 A welcome return
Lees 7 Solid and made a good goal line clearence
Pearce 8 A really compact game
Wooton 7 Won most things in the air
Warnock 7 made some good runs and a couple of crunching tackles
Austin 9 Powerhouse performance made some mistakes but did well to recover them
Murphy 7 Started really well but faded
Mowatt 6 This game passed him by
Smith 8 A lot better and his 2nd goal waas a great header
McCormack 8 Scored from his hardest chance but laid on two great crosses for two of the goals

Sub
Brown 2 Just about got on the pitch.

Dr.Leeds · Post by **Dr.Leeds** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 7:08 pm

Well what a wonderful showing that was. The result didn't flatter us at all and we had several chances to score even more.

Paddy 7 Had very little to do. I only remember him having to make a single save, though that one was a cracker.

Lees 8

Wootton 8

Pearce 8

It seems rather unfair to single out any of our three centre backs today. Defended as a unit. Marked as a unit.

Byram 8.5 Oh how we have missed Sam. Peltier has been fine this season but Sam, now he is looking fit, is such an important player. Brilliant at both ends wing back is surely his perfect position.

Warnock 8 Our most solid defensive left back for a number of years is now showing himself coming forward.

Murphy 8 His best showing since his debut. Put his foot in, covered ground and passed well.

Mowatt 8 Alex has taken his first team chance by the throat. Little quiet with a few poor passes in the first half, gifting Brum one of their few first half chances with a poor clearance. Came into his own in the second. Sublime first touch cross for Smith's second.

Austin 9 and MOTM. Playing a more advanced central role Rudy was everywhere defending from the front. Great in an attacking role too. His long passing, often fairly criticised on here, was very good today, often finding McCormack in space. Involved in three of the four goals, best of all, pinging a huge pass up to Ross on the left and somehow covering the length of the field to get on the end of the cross with a diving header for our second.

McCormack 9 Off the ball running superb today. Always looking for space. Never stopped working. Cool finish for his goal. A better finish from an early one-on-one would have made him MOTM.

Smith 9 Game plan suited him much better today. Has lacked in confidence so far so could this be the game that really kicks off Matt's Leeds career. Beautifully wrong footed the keeper for his first from a rebound. Cracking finish ruled out for offside. Bought a cracking save out of the keeper with a lovely header before finally getting his well deserved second.

Overall a brilliant team performance. The perfect answer to our recent poor form. McDermott has used the international break well.

paddy parrott · Post by **paddy parrott** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 7:47 pm

Well said Dr. you summed it up perfectly and thank you might you have been at the game?

Dr.Leeds · Post by **Dr.Leeds** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 7:57 pm

paddy parrott wrote:Well said Dr. you summed it up perfectly and thank you might you have been at the game?

I was. I thought you were brilliant by the way.

Twiggster · Post by **Twiggster** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:05 pm

Very brief highlights HERE...Catch 'em quick before the link gets removed.

markolufc · Post by **markolufc** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:09 pm

The most important thing for me is that Birmingham are struggling and are shite, but for once we stepped up to the plate and put them to the sword. Very important to be able to do this against teams on low confidence. You can only play what's in front of you, and limping over the line against struggling teams isn't good enough.

Could not be happier with today's game, brilliant performance from all, from start to finish. More young players, including Austin who is only 25 and coming into his prime, showing us they are the way forward for this football club. Outstanding from Ross. First chance I've had to see Mowatt this season and he was superb. Murphy looked good and made some very good touches. Some really good skill shown to keep composed under pressure and make sure the ball stayed in our possession on several occasions throughout today's game, including some keepy up to move it from one foot to the other to get the ball out of his feet to another white shirt while under pressure from 2 Birmingham players.

I can't fault any of them today. Championship football at its best

weasel · Post by **weasel** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:39 pm

Well said Marko. What Leeds are at the moment is a hybrid between Warnock's run all day hoofball signings, youth products & players already at the club and McD's signings. It is going to take time for the team to gel and B Mc has had try to produce a formation to suit what he has had available instead of being able to adopt the formation he had at Reading. I'm not at all surprised by the tinkering as more options become available (i.e. Mowatt coming through and Byram returning). I think today we perhaps saw a formation and style that is a lot closer to what B Mc wants us to be and showed why he bought the players he did (3 of them started).

I was impressed with the confidence in the team. It would have been very easy for heads to go down after McCormick missed the easy chance early on but the kept going and fully justified the 4 goals they got.

Emsley · Post by **Emsley** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:49 pm

thought Austin was 28?

Twiggster · Post by **Twiggster** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:51 pm

Watching on streaming, it was great to see The Chief at the game today

I'm sure his presence will have inspired the younger players on the pitch, who probably idolised him as young fans.
Southgate was also in the stands, checking out young players for ingirlund youth team....

Just a few comments from me, with the benefit of replays - Smith's goal was NOT offside. His hand was, but not his feet. Smith had a dream first start - should have been a hat trick, but for that tw@t linesman.
Talking of hands, the ref missed a deffo handball in front of his face buy a brum player who was already on a yellow.
However Burns' hand on Ross' shoulder was never a penalty.
Ross - Was everywhere in 1st half and obviously relished being in a striker role. But his first attempt on goal was abysmal.

One touch around the keeper would have been in the net. However, he floated in that keeper mistake open goal superbly!

Someone obviously had a word with Mowatt at ½ time, as he wasn't in the game for the first 45 mins. Then - he seemed to burst into life and a joy to watch. His 1st time flick on for Smith's goal was nowt short of a Johnny Giles piece of greatness! :mrgreen:
Murphy was surprisingly solid and his interchanges with Warnock were great to see. Warnock also very solid, for once.
Samby - well, so great to see him back

He scared their left flank to bits.

We still had some scary moments tho. Pearce (who fluffed a simple header to score in 1st ½) and Wootton lost their man too many times when defending and Kenny still scares me to death every time there is a cross into our box. Was well beaten a few times, rooted to the spot, but luckily Burke shot wide and the post saved him from that wicked free kick and where was he when Lees superbly cleared off the line? Saying that tho, his reaction save from Zigic was wonderful

Rodi MOTM - no shadow of a doubt. A captain's performance today. I hope Meeta saw the game?

A great game for the Leeds fans to watch today - dare we hope?

yorkshiremackem · Post by **yorkshiremackem** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:16 pm

just back from he game. sitting in billy's bar I told a few fans we should play with wing backs and smith up top. then when the team was out I thought we are gonna get about 6. great team performance for my 1st game of the season.

Twiggster · Post by **Twiggster** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:22 pm

yorkshiremackem wrote:just back from he game. sitting in billy's bar I told a few fans we should play with wing backs and smith up top. then when the team was out I thought we are gonna get about 6. great team performance for my 1st game of the season.

I saw a tweet this eve - "one of those games you were disappointed we only won 4-0"!!!

Glad you enjoyed yissen, Wayne!