Leeds v Brighton: Team/Reports/Ratings

[Cozy]

Cellino gave BMcD five games to show him he was the man for the job at the end of last season - he lost one of the five games with a squad of players that were referred to as 's**t' and still sacked the manager.... Based on a 20% loss rate and coming off the back of yet another turbulent period off the pitch.

Cellino appoints a Vaux Conf head coach, signs a bunch of players and we've lost 2 out of four 'competitive' matches... 50% loss rate... Against a background of a more financially stable club which is now seemingly 'going places'..

Granted things take time... But it'll be interesting to see how quickly Cellino acts should results not start coming through on the pitch having already set the bar so high when his takeover was completed at the end of last season.

[Twiggster]

cockaday OUT - NOW!

[rab_rant]

Stockdale wearing a purple strip... need I say more

[ldsutd]

I couldn't post last night as when i got back from the game my laptop was updating
The first half was a shocker, i know i am going to upset you but i don't rate smith. He's slow and only wins 60% of headers and for a very BIG guy he get's knocked about a lot and is for ever on the floor.
The second half was a lot better minus Smith lol. Still not much regarding a final ball but atleast we hurried them more and started to pass a bit. Can anyone tell me which position Bianchi was playing? Then can you tell him because he was all over the place. Early days yet but the honeymoon period is slowly running out.

[hibbi86]

Cellino gave BMcD five games to show him he was the man for the job at the end of last season - he lost one of the five games with a squad of players that were referred to as 's**t' and still sacked the manager.... Based on a 20% loss rate and coming off the back of yet another turbulent period off the pitch.

Cellino appoints a Vaux Conf head coach, signs a bunch of players and we've lost 2 out of four 'competitive' matches... 50% loss rate... Against a background of a more financially stable club which is now seemingly 'going places'..

Granted things take time... But it'll be interesting to see how quickly Cellino acts should results not start coming through on the pitch having already set the bar so high when his takeover was completed at the end of last season.

I dont think Cellinio sacked BMD based on his Loss Ratio over the last 5 games, i believe it was more due to the fact he didnt think they could have a working relationship to drive this team forward. Its highly likely cellinio went to BMD right im the boss i will source the players its your job to train them get them working on the pitch and bring in the results and BMD has turned round and said F*** That.
This is why we have seen a reltively unknown coach take charge easy to mould you can get what you want from cellinio's perspective out of him.

Its too early to hit the panic button but we cant have too many more lacklusture performances like Yesterday and Millwall.

[Gurj]

I couldnt understand some of the praise for certain players on Saturday, Bianchi was one of those......not seen anything from the games we have played so far to suggest he is any better than the shambolic midfielders we already had.

[Genghers]

Hyppia is managing a crap squad with little or no managerial experience.
Fukaday is the guy with the managerial honours and HEY! he won a few games with Forest Green...once...
Totally OWNED by Hyppia tonight...

Get that shaven ape out of my club NOW, Cellino. You know that P45 document doesn't have to wait for the Italian Bank Holiday to be approved.
Once a managerial failure - forerever so, in this twat's case.

Brighton may have lost players, but they are by no means a s**t team! Although he has little managerial experience, Hyppia has inherited a team which has been playing fluid, passing based football for years now (the type we're aiming for, hopefully) and that knowledge of the system showed.

[Genghers]

We were poor, really lacked any kind of shape. The midfield seemed to be rotating constantly, with Murphy playing deepest a lot of times which is surely Tonge or Austin's natural role?

First half was very much back to hoofball, aiming for Smith to get some knock-downs. Plenty of fouls against him, but even when he did win them, there was rarely anyone around him to pick up the ball. If we're going to play Smith, we need to cross the ball into the box, not go route one, with him 10 yards outside the box...

Warnock and Byram looked scared to get forward, and I don't think Warnock made a single forward pass! Every time he got it he'd stop, look around and invariably pass it back to Cooper, even when Ajose was screaming for it down the wing.

Second half we were better from the off, but I still think Smith should have stayed on and Tonge come off. If you're introducing a bit of width, your target man is who you want to see in the box, not Billy Sharp. Tonge looked knackered throughout the first half, often telling Byram not to take throw-ins quickly... He's also not quick enough to cover the amount of space he was (I guess) being asked to.

One of our big problems is running with the ball. We seem okay at passing it from stationary (albeit sideways and backwards), but so often players picked it up and just stopped. Cooper probably covered more ground than anyone else with the ball last night !

I thought Austin had an alright game, some of his passing was excellent (a couple of switches to Byram stand out) and also managed to dummy past two players at one point. Same old mistakes in his game, but at least he was a bit more positive.
Ajose also looked keen when he came on. Lack of a final ball, but when he picked it up his first thought was to run down the line and take players on, which is refreshing to see!

Cook was quite tidy when he came on, but I really don't understand why he was asked to play the holding role when he was full of energy and old man Tonge was puffing and blowing. He looked scared to get over the halfway line! Did a good job though, and I'd much rather see him start on Saturday over Tonge. Crowd booed a free kick he took towards the end of the game, no way to give a 17-year old confidence! He also put in the only cross of note, which won us a corner in extra time (had Smith or Sharp been on, I suspect they would have got on the end of it).

Brighton are one of the softest teams in the league, clearly, and I've no idea how we only had 5 minutes injury time in the second half after their players were on the floor for longer than that! We were penalised for every 50-50, and the ref brandished a few very harsh yellows our way, but failed to give Mackail-Smith a yellow for hacking down (read, booting in the shin) Warnock near the end. In fact, they only received one yellow, despite elbows flying in when jumping for the ball, and players being pulled down when jostling (which Byram was booked for...)

Got to question Hock's tactics and substitutions tonight. He reckons we can play with width and have four in central mid, but based on last night, we clearly can't! Our 'passing game' shown up by a team who have been doing it regularly for seasons. Hope to see a couple of the old guard out of the squad against Watford.

[Genghers]

Oh, and Poleon is s**t.

[1964white]

Playing an outdated 4-4-2 v a vibrant passing Brighton team to accommodate Smith upfront totally set us on the back foot in the first half as we couldn't get hold of the ball, it was like playing 10 v 11, when we managed to attain the ball we gave it away needlessly. Ajose came on to even things up in midfield, he gave us more movement, we pressed & closed the Seagulls players down much better in the second period. We lacked invention & pace to hurt the Brighton defence.
Still scratching my head why Hock took off our new striker & likeliest goalscorer with 15 minutes of play left. Very poor individual performances apart from Austin (2nd half only). Brighton are a better team than their first two defeats suggest !

Ratings up later

[ldsutd]

Oh, and Poleon is s**t.

I'm glad someone else thinks so. The lad next to me was shouting get smith off and put poleon on. I said are you having a laugh he's s**t too.

[Gandalf]

Stockdale wearing a purple strip... need I say more

Their first goalscorer was also wearing the No. 17 shirt

[eastyorkshirewhite]

Playing an outdated 4-4-2 v a vibrant passing Brighton team to accommodate Smith upfront totally set us on the back foot in the first half as we couldn't get hold of the ball, it was like playing 10 v 11, when we managed to attain the ball we gave it away needlessly. Ajose came on to even things up in midfield, he gave us more movement, we pressed & closed the Seagulls players down much better in the second period. We lacked invention & pace to hurt the Brighton defence.
Still scratching my head why Hock took off our new striker & likeliest goalscorer with 15 minutes of play left. Very poor individual performances apart from Austin (2nd half only). Brighton are a better team than their first two defeats suggest !

Ratings up later

Was it as bad as people are saying or are they going over the top a bit?

[Genghers]

Was it as bad as people are saying or are they going over the top a bit?

Only as over the top as people get when we win...

[mav]

starting to think to be a std issue Leeds fan you need to be Bi-Polar.............

[theleedsmango]

Second half we were better from the off, but I still think Smith should have stayed on and Tonge come off. If you're introducing a bit of width, your target man is who you want to see in the box, not Billy Sharp. Tonge looked knackered throughout the first half, often telling Byram not to take throw-ins quickly... He's also not quick enough to cover the amount of space he was (I guess) being asked to.

One of our big problems is running with the ball. We seem okay at passing it from stationary (albeit sideways and backwards), but so often players picked it up and just stopped. Cooper probably covered more ground than anyone else with the ball last night !

A friend at the game mentioned we missed Doukara, would you agree? He said Tonge/Austin/Bianchi/Murphy were all a bit confused as to which roll they were meant to be playing (given that they are all center mids.) Doukara plays wider and takes people on.

[Genghers]

A friend at the game mentioned we missed Doukara, would you agree? He said Tonge/Austin/Bianchi/Murphy were all a bit confused as to which roll they were meant to be playing (given that they are all center mids.) Doukara plays wider and takes people on.

On Saturday Ajose and Doukara both provided width and, critically, covered back. Last night Byram and Warnock were exposed and Brighton seemed to have a man in space on the wing every time they went forward...

The midfield was a mess for us, no organisation whatsoever. Perhaps we were trying a more fluid formation to try to confuse them, but too many times they were all bunched together, leaving one or two Brighton players in space. At one point the ball was played to a man in the middle of the four, but with no one marking him. Before he was subbed, Murphy was often covering left back and to be honest, I couldn't have told you what formation we were playing at that point.

I think if we're going to persist with the narrow diamond in midfield, we need Austin (or Cook) to sit in front of the back two, allowing him to drop back into a three when the full-backs get forward. We had way too much space between the midfielders and defenders, so that when they broke against us it became man for man almost.

Bianchi looks to be a good footballer, he was certainly the most composed of our midfield four, and I think he'll improve with better players around him (though we said that about Murphy and he seems to have gone backwards, based on last night's display).

I don't think Tonge is cut out for this level any more. Would much sooner see Cook starting as the holding player and allowing Rudy further forward. Despite being young, he seems pretty composed on the ball and he's certainly a lot quicker than old man Tonge!

[theleedsmango]

Nice one. Always seems like an experienced man's position, defensive midfielder, but as you said Cook seems to be intelligent enough to do it. In the friendly I was at, he came on and immediately started talking to those around them. Don't know how senior players would reach taking commands from Cook, but it seems we need it and in that position he can see what's in front of him, when the full backs are making runs etc.

Seems like we are being linked with another central midfielder (Adryan) and another striker (Antenucci?) instead of the wingers we need. My fear is we're signing players but still not a structure in place for them to fit in to. Since Snodgrass/Gradel we've been linked with a number of wide men (Agard, Burke, GMS etc) and for what ever reason, despite it appearing they are within our price range, we haven't went for them. Those whose services we have acquired (Kebe, Stewart, Aryibi) have failed. That's 3 different regimes (Bates/GFH/Cellino) with three different managers (Warnock/McDermott/Hock) and we keep making the same errors - signing players in positions we have covered. We can play a narrow diamond, I'm fine with that, but it won't always work and we need options. Doukara provides a good option, but we still need another quality winger or two.

[1964white]

I couldnt understand some of the praise for certain players on Saturday, Bianchi was one of those......not seen anything from the games we have played so far to suggest he is any better than the shambolic midfielders we already had.

With all due respect Gurj i can't understand your comment on Bianchi who you haven't seen play apart from the Boro' game on telly, okay he had a poor game last night but prior to the Seagulls he had done very well in three of his four games i've witnessed, remember Bianchi is only settling into championship football at Leeds. I'm more concerned about Murphy & Byram's form, i hold the same opinion on Austin as i always have done even though he shone in the 2nd half v Brighton

[1964white]

Cook was quite tidy when he came on, but I really don't understand why he was asked to play the holding role when he was full of energy and old man Tonge was puffing and blowing. He looked scared to get over the halfway line! Did a good job though, and I'd much rather see him start on Saturday over Tonge. Crowd booed a free kick he took towards the end of the game, no way to give a 17-year old confidence! He also put in the only cross of note, which won us a corner in extra time (had Smith or Sharp been on, I suspect they would have got on the end of it).

Agree with everything you say in your post Genghers

Would love to see more of young Cook but after our fans reaction towards a lad who is a future star imo i'm unsure whether it is worth throwing him into the nasty cauldron of some of our impatient fans