Leeds Utd v Preston North End Match Thread

[rab_rant]

Let us imagine for a moment that there is a pair of old fashioned scales...
you know the ones with two separate pans, and into one is placed all the rage,
anguish, pain, confusion, and disappointment. All the pop-eyed frothing at the
mouth, the boos, the hisses, the torrent of expletives, the vilification of players,
the denouncing of the manager, the curses thrown at the owner for lack of vision
and the unwillingness to finance new players for the team. The venting of the
spleen on social media, the sniping from former players pretending to be pundits,
the spurious headlines in NewsNow designed to ferment trouble and to sow doubt.
How heavy the weight on that side of the scale... a veritable morass of negativity

And on the opposite side of the scale... well it is almost empty. There is no counter
balance. A few specks of truth here and there, and a light dusting of hope. But they say
that belief is one of the heaviest things to pick up, and if only a few grains of belief
could be added then the balance might swing to a more positive direction.

Let us further imagine that this imaginary scale and balance holds pride of place
in the dressing room at ER and the players before each training session, and before
and after every game, are all asked to look at the scales to see which side was
being weighed down the most. (If you have ever done technical analysis of trends on
the stockmarket and you observe a downward trend on the graph then a panic sets
in, for you fear you are going to loose all your money) Could we conceive that the
weights we perceive in the balance could actually influence the players performance?

There is an old Chinese symbol called Taijitu more commonly know as the yin and yang symbol.
and the white area is said to be where order, logic, and reason exist, whereas the dark side
is associated with chaos, irrational thought, and belligerence, and we find ourselves inhabiting
one of these two camps, the yin or the yang... the dark side of the scales, or the light side.

Too many people have gone over to the dark side... but the call is to come out of the darkness
and into the light... or at least place yourself on that fine line between the yin and the yang.

We are all weighed in the balance and found wanting.

[paddy parrott]

Indeed rab. Just touching on your earlier point of view about the holes and the pegs.
We see Beisla deliver on this week after week and the imagination and faith he puts across to his teams. Ideas that are clearly evolving that other managers would never get across .even if they did they'd flounder .

[Chilli D]

At least you've admitted that Chilli.

I've gone into more detail & I'm criticised for saying it was poor

I said 'probably' because I've only seen the televised games 64 so I can only go by those.
The first half was awful, there's no getting away from that fact but we did at least build up a head of steam in the second half and on another day could have nicked it. Preston were out on their feet by the end of the game such was the effort they had put in.
But its another game chalked off and the gap remains 8 points.
On to Birmingham.....

[pembswhite]

Totally agree especially with Ayling, he is utter crap . You can see his brain cell in overdrive when he collects the ball then it's turnaround wait for a tickle in the back drop to the floor and hope for the foul. He's far too slow and was much better when he was on the bench .

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He’d be even better in the stands - spot on with your assessment BG - never rated him - just a niggly shouty ponytailed arsehole - be glad when he’s somewhere else.

[dezzy]

He’d be even better in the stands - spot on with your assessment BG - never rated him - just a niggly shouty ponytailed arsehole - be glad when he’s somewhere else.

Yet last year people were saying he was vital to us. Professional sport is about fine margins, the balance between a player playing well or poor is tiny. Ayling has put in many great performances, I think we’d find it impossible to find a player in our squad who hasn’t been called crap, a crock useless etc and a few week later they’re vital to the cause. A bit of balance wouldn’t go amiss with some.
We have a squad of players who are giving everything they have and it’s been going very well for us, the capitulation of last season is still haunting us. I hope the players can keep their heads and not listen to outside noises, positive or negative, just focus on themsleves.

[Mick Jones shoulder]

Piss poor when Monk was in charge, nothing has changed where Ayling is concerned. Others have improved I might add.

[eastyorkshirewhite]

Quite a few months ago i took the decision to stop making comments on this forum.I have still read it though and still find the negativity is still there i know we all have our own opinions but i find some of them downright silly we are still in a good position surely knowing the players read these sites the need toget behind them is important.

[DavidH]

Is it just coincidence that all of the top six teams are showing underwhelming form? Perhaps there is something in the assertion that the games at Christmas and Easter will take alot out of teams, both physically and mentally. Perhaps it's too much relaxation over the holiday period, or maybe losing that driving lack of focus for a short while. To quote a certain Commercial Union advert from the 70s(?) Let's not turn a drama into a crisis. Yes, we played poorly yesterday, especially in the first half. Our passing early on was not the quality we have come to expect, and it was all too much kick and rush without Pablo. But that does not mean we have seen the last of the fluent football we have clearly become accustomed to. Stand back and ask yourself if, at the beginning of the season, you would have been happy with an eight point gap back to third, at the halfway stage of the season. All the teams below us will be assessing the situation and wishing they were in our shoes.

[weasel]

A bit of balance wouldn’t go amiss with some.

Nothing else needs to be said!

[kingmakerbull]

The issue here is not that players had an off day or it happens once in a while. The issue is that this lot of players (minus Pablo) without Bielsa will be floundering in the mid-table. As Xavi (Barcelona great) and Guardiola say it "The most important difference between a mediocre footballer and a good one is their ability to think quickly and adapt to the situation". For example, last season against Atletico Madrid, Barcelona were pressed on the top of the pitch the same way as PNE pressed LUFC yesterday at the start of the game. So, what did Barcelona do? They dropped the forwards down to their own half and Ter-Stegen started kicking to them on the wings. Yesterday, Kiko inspite of the pressing kept passing it to Kalvin and he lost the balls a few times in dangerous areas. And Cooper without any outlet gave the ball away. As far as Ayling was concerned, the less said the better. He punts the ball up the wings and it is always won by PNE. Kiko is a good keeper but others should also need to adapt as the situation demands. These lads are incapable of it and that is what hurts the team the most. Bielsa has got a bunch of mediocre footballers play well as a team. Individually they lack the ability to think (apart from Pablo as the stats show. Without him the win % is 31 and with him it is 63%). So the owners need to buy someone who can slow down, play simple yet precise passes (not a 50-50 ball) and keep moving. And that is the most important thing.

[rab_rant]

Everybody complaining about Ayling and his passing. Who did I see controlling a rather awkward cross from Harrison... who then passed it to Dallas for him to score the equaliser. Why it was Bill the bun... good on you son. Redemption for yourself and the team.

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[1964white]

Yet last year people were saying he was vital to us. Professional sport is about fine margins, the balance between a player playing well or poor is tiny. Ayling has put in many great performances, I think we’d find it impossible to find a player in our squad who hasn’t been called crap, a crock useless etc and a few week later they’re vital to the cause. A bit of balance wouldn’t go amiss with some.
We have a squad of players who are giving everything they have and it’s been going very well for us, the capitulation of last season is still haunting us. I hope the players can keep their heads and not listen to outside noises, positive or negative, just focus on themsleves.

I actually like Ayling dezzy, but he had a stinker yesterday imo!

[1964white]

Quite a few months ago i took the decision to stop making comments on this forum.I have still read it though and still find the negativity is still there i know we all have our own opinions but i find some of them downright silly we are still in a good position surely knowing the players read these sites the need toget behind them is important.

Welcome back EY

Surely forum members are allowed to say whether players had a great, good, average or poor game?

What's the point of discussion if everybody's opinion is seen through rose-tinted spectacles?

[1964white]

Is it just coincidence that all of the top six teams are showing underwhelming form? Perhaps there is something in the assertion that the games at Christmas and Easter will take alot out of teams, both physically and mentally. Perhaps it's too much relaxation over the holiday period, or maybe losing that driving lack of focus for a short while. To quote a certain Commercial Union advert from the 70s(?) Let's not turn a drama into a crisis. Yes, we played poorly yesterday, especially in the first half. Our passing early on was not the quality we have come to expect, and it was all too much kick and rush without Pablo. But that does not mean we have seen the last of the fluent football we have clearly become accustomed to. Stand back and ask yourself if, at the beginning of the season, you would have been happy with an eight point gap back to third, at the halfway stage of the season. All the teams below us will be assessing the situation and wishing they were in our shoes.

Well I never said in my match report "that's the last we've seen of fluent football", you reiterated our fans thoughts that we played poorly, passing was off & the loss of Pablo is key in your previous sentence.

I highlighted our positives, sadly the negatives outweighed the positives which has only happened a few times this season

[eastyorkshirewhite]

Welcome back EY

Surely forum members are allowed to say whether players had a great, good, average or poor game?

What's the point of discussion if everybody's opinion is seen through rose-tinted spectacles?

I agree about comenting on players performances but i dont understand why all of a suddeen people are pulling the players down we are seeing some of the best football we have seen in a long while the team are 2nd in the division maybe we have hit a bit of a blip but i bet most other teams fans wish they were in our position.Well thats it i will now go back to just reading the messages once again.

[1964white]

I agree about comenting on players performances but i dont understand why all of a suddeen people are pulling the players down we are seeing some of the best football we have seen in a long while the team are 2nd in the division maybe we have hit a bit of a blip but i bet most other teams fans wish they were in our position.Well thats it i will now go back to just reading the messages once again.

I actually think we are a better side than last season & yes our football has been a joy to watch for much of the season. Agree it's nice having a eight points cushion than being in the chasing pack

[Mick Jones shoulder]

Everybody complaining about Ayling and his passing. Who did I see controlling a rather awkward cross from Harrison... who then passed it to Dallas for him to score the equaliser. Why it was Bill the bun... good on you son. Redemption for yourself and the team.

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One swallow doesn't make a summer apparently

[The Subhuman]

I agree about comenting on players performances but i dont understand why all of a suddeen people are pulling the players down we are seeing some of the best football we have seen in a long while the team are 2nd in the division maybe we have hit a bit of a blip but i bet most other teams fans wish they were in our position.Well thats it i will now go back to just reading the messages once again.

I think we have a very good first team squad, and a lot of very good youngsters coming through. Some would already be established under a different manager. I don't think we need to add in Jan, NEED being the operative word, if we can find value players better than we already have that would be great too.

I'm very happy i general with the job MB is doing, I think Rads and Orta have been outstanding considering Rads hadn't owned a football club before..Starting with Leeds is a massive learning curve.

[YorkshireSquare]

I agree about comenting on players performances but i dont understand why all of a suddeen people are pulling the players down we are seeing some of the best football we have seen in a long while the team are 2nd in the division maybe we have hit a bit of a blip but i bet most other teams fans wish they were in our position.Well thats it i will now go back to just reading the messages once again.

I'm seeing a fairly balanced view on here to be honest. Don't think full on panic has set in on here like it has other places.

[dezzy]

I actually like Ayling dezzy, but he had a stinker yesterday imo!

Ya, I recall you praising him many times and he was poor yesterday, but the negative reaction his is getting in places and is over the top. Cooper getting it too, people go a bit over the top at times