The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Tue 16th Apr)

[Ellandback1]

Good Morning Everyone

Neil Redfearn believes that the fixture list is gives the Blades an advantage because they often play before Leeds.

Last week, the Blades faced Millwall at 3pm while Leeds took on Sheffield Wednesday at 5.30pm.

And this weekend Leeds will again be forced to go into their game knowing if their rivals have won or not.

He told BBC Radio Leeds: "I don't think it's fair, if I'm honest.

"Particularly for sides going for the same prize and it being such a big prize and what it means.

"Both sides should kick off at the same time.

"It is an advantage as if Sheffield United get a result it puts pressure on Leeds."

Thoughts?



Leeds United's Under-23s made it 11 games unbeaten as they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace yesterday.

The Professional Development League North champions guaranteed their spot in the end-of-season play-offs courtesy of goals from Ryan Edmondson and Mateusz Bogusz.

On Thursday, Palace (-5 GD ) play Watford in the PDL South, the winner of which will meet Leeds in the Semi final.

Development coach Danny Schofield said afterwards: "A draw was a fair result. We’re really excited for the semi-finals [league and cup] now, we want to win both of those and get to two finals."

Leeds will now turn their attention to next week's Premier League Cup semi-final clash with Newcastle United as they await to find out their PDL fate.

[liggy]

If they don't get a result it's a great incentive tho.
It'll be a nightmare for any team that finishes 3rd
Leeds are looking strong at the right time chill they'll do it

[1964white]

Strange that the EFL deploy matches to be played at the same time on the final day of the season so no advantage is gained but at no other time during the season. The majority of the promotion/play-off/relegation issues could be decided by that time.

I really don't get the thinking of modern-day football whatsoever nowadays

[Genghers]

Morning all!

When this round of fixtures was first announced I did think that Sheff had the advantage, but I suppose that's contextual. Now that we are ahead in the league the pressure is back on them for every game, as they know that if they don't get a result, they could potentially fall further behind.

I think that if we better their result on Friday I might start to properly believe...

The u23's have some serious momentum at the moment. I do think that they suffer a little when getting first-teamers ready though - 3 subs at half time yesterday (including Brown and Clarke) and they conceded twice after that.

Would be great to see them do a double at the same time as the first team going up!

[Ellandback1]

[SG90]

I completely agree with Redfearn. I said so myself, it's completely unfair. It should be 2 earlier kick offs each, not four in a row for one team. Unfortunately there's no way that the players won't know the score going into the match, so the only way we can put all the pressure on them is by winning every game.

[SG90]

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I do wish these people would shut up. Nothing's won yet, just let us focus on that first ffs, rather than trying to give the blunts every advantage possible.

[HarryofOz]

Hi EB et al

As I've said before, it is the other way around in my opinion. Leeds will go into each match knowing exactly what Sheffield United did and can play accordingly. We can even play for a draw if that is good enough. Otherwise the pressure would be on to go for a win every single time.

[gessa]

Hi EB et al

As I've said before, it is the other way around in my opinion. Leeds will go into each match knowing exactly what Sheffield United did and can play accordingly. We can even play for a draw if that is good enough. Otherwise the pressure would be on to go for a win every single time.

Totally agree H

[BGwhite]

Hi EB et al

As I've said before, it is the other way around in my opinion. Leeds will go into each match knowing exactly what Sheffield United did and can play accordingly. We can even play for a draw if that is good enough. Otherwise the pressure would be on to go for a win every single time.

I agree. Knowing what you need to do rather than thinking what you might need to do is definitely an advantage. Knowing you only need a draw to go up would be a great boost before any game although I really can't see Leeds playing any other way tbh.

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[HarryofOz]

I agree. Knowing what you need to do rather than thinking what you might need to do is definitely an advantage. Knowing you only need a draw to go up would be a great boost before any game although I really can't see Leeds playing any other way tbh.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

I don't know if we'd start a game playing for a draw. But if we were drawing late in the game, we might settle for the draw rather than risk a loss chasing the win.

[Irish Ian]

Good Morning Everyone

Neil Redfearn believes that the fixture list is gives the Blades an advantage because they often play before Leeds.

Last week, the Blades faced Millwall at 3pm while Leeds took on Sheffield Wednesday at 5.30pm.

And this weekend Leeds will again be forced to go into their game knowing if their rivals have won or not.

He told BBC Radio Leeds: "I don't think it's fair, if I'm honest.

"Particularly for sides going for the same prize and it being such a big prize and what it means.

"Both sides should kick off at the same time.

"It is an advantage as if Sheffield United get a result it puts pressure on Leeds."

Thoughts?



Leeds United's Under-23s made it 11 games unbeaten as they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace yesterday.

The Professional Development League North champions guaranteed their spot in the end-of-season play-offs courtesy of goals from Ryan Edmondson and Mateusz Bogusz.

On Thursday, Palace (-5 GD ) play Watford in the PDL South, the winner of which will meet Leeds in the Semi final.

Development coach Danny Schofield said afterwards: "A draw was a fair result. We’re really excited for the semi-finals [league and cup] now, we want to win both of those and get to two finals."

Leeds will now turn their attention to next week's Premier League Cup semi-final clash with Newcastle United as they await to find out their PDL fate.

Good Morning comrades

The fixture situation gives Leeds an advantage at the minute as the players will know what a worse case scenario looks like ahead of the game. That could change in a week.

thing is though that with Sky calling so many of the shots the only was for all the run in games to be played at the same time is for Sky to mess with the entire final week schedule. Hard to see that happening.

Nice to see the U23 doing well. I hope it isn't allowed to be a distraction to the main event...

Re those newspaper articles There is even one somewhere about Leeds needing new floodlights to comply with PL standards ......................... I will have plenty of time to read them over the summer all being well.

[mothbanquet]

Morning folks!

Neil Redfearn believes that the fixture list is gives the Blades an advantage because they often play before Leeds.

I find merits in the arguments that it's both a disadvantage for us and the Blades but let's be realistic, all theory aside the reality is both sets of players will be feeling the pressure regardless of who plays first. The season really is that close.

Our advantage is that Bielsa has our team playing an unshifting, uncompromising style that differs little week in, week out. From what I understand, Wilder has done a fair amount of chopping and changing and now is not the time for unfamiliarity. Change breeds anxiety, it invites mistakes, it inherently requires a period of time to adjust. The injuries and suspensions the Blunts are suffering now at this crucial juncture add to all of this.

Yes, the pressure may be on us to win if we play later, and conversely if the Blunts lose or draw that may even invite complacency which can be just as damaging. Still, we have the safety blanket of familiar routines and drills that have been bred into our players over the course of the season. They just need to keep doing what they're doing, what they have been doing all season long and promotion is theirs.

The Blunts don't have that and neither does Wilder. Much as I respect what he and their team have done so far, this is the time for cool heads and what little advantage they gain in playing first could be negated simply by not having the automatic rhythms of play we have. It's much more down to individual efforts, which in turn is more susceptible to the mental pressures that come with their situation.

TL;DR - Yes, playing after Sheffield might be a disadvantage but I don't think it's anything to be too concerned about.


Leeds United's Under-23s made it 11 games unbeaten as they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace yesterday.

What a front line we have in this U23 team. Edmonson, Kun, Clarke, Bogusz, they were an absolute dream to watch at times. It's a shame the defence went a bit tits-up in the second half but Corberan was clearly more interested in getting minutes under as many belts as possible than the final result which is fair enough. Come the semi-finals the game will be taken more seriously I imagine.


On a side note, while I'm pretty confident we'll beat Wigan given their away record and their quality as a whole, does anyone believe the Blunts will drop points against Forest considering the latter's poor form lately or will the Law of Sod come into effect and this will be the game they pick things up?

[weasel]

Neil Redfearn believes that the fixture list is gives the Blades an advantage because they often play before Leeds.


Okay let's look at the 3 possible scenarios for this weekend.

Sheff Utd play before us and win - we would go out to try to win the game but knowing that a point would still keep us in front. So no change in our mentality we would try to win but would likely be cautious if drawing.
Sheff Utd draw - we would go out to try to win the game but knowing that a point would still keep us 3 in front. So no change in our mentality we would try to win but would likely be less cautious if drawing as a point would still leave us just 3 in front and Sheff U would have the better goal difference - as such we may as well go for the win as if we lost we'd be 2 points in front instead of 3 so no huge difference.
Sheff Utd lose - we would go out to try to win the game but knowing that a point would put us further in front. So no change in our mentality we would try to win but would likely be cautious if drawing.

All scenarios it is an advantage to Leeds. The flip side would be us playing first and we'd be going out to win. Regardless of our result Sheff Utd would still have to go for the win as only a win (combined with us losing) would put them back in front of us. As such no change to their mentality if they played after us.

Leeds United's Under-23s made it 11 games unbeaten as they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace yesterday.

Someone's knocking at the door, somebody's ringing the bell. Hopefully some of these lads are good enough to take the step up to the first team.

[The Subhuman]

Hi EB et al

As I've said before, it is the other way around in my opinion. Leeds will go into each match knowing exactly what Sheffield United did and can play accordingly. We can even play for a draw if that is good enough. Otherwise the pressure would be on to go for a win every single time.

If SU were 3 points ahead it would be a disadvantage to us but SU go into games not knowing exactly what they need to do, we do. It helps us doesn't hinder us

[weasel]

Our advantage is that Bielsa has our team playing an unshifting, uncompromising style that differs little week in, week out. From what I understand, Wilder has done a fair amount of chopping and changing and now is not the time for unfamiliarity. Change breeds anxiety, it invites mistakes, it inherently requires a period of time to adjust. The injuries and suspensions the Blunts are suffering now at this crucial juncture add to all of this.

Consistency of team selection is vital and whilst some at times on here have been screaming for Bielsa to make changes it is crucial that players have the understanding around them. We have had so many changes forced upon us that we don't need to make more just for the sake of tinkering. Last match alone and we have Cooper injured int he warm up yet Berardi comes in and we keep a clean sheet. If Bielsa had gone with KP dropping into CB (and Forshaw coming in) then KP would have had the advantage of those games played earlier in the season when he was CB so that he had a better understanding at this crucial time.

It remains to be seen how Sheff Utd will cope with the injuries and suspensions but with Bielsa he just continually finds solutions so the injury to Cooper was just a minor pothole last week and not a huge speed bump.

[Dalton]

to think that say a 0-2 for Sheffield and 4-0 for us and we are up bar the shouting!
6 points clear plus GD