Leeds Utd v Brighton Match Thread - Casilla starts in net as Meslier missing for Leeds

[SG90]

You're right, survival is more than sufficient for us.

The inadequacies of this squad have been fully exposed over the last three matches.

I still think the biggest factor that's killing us at home is that ploughed field.

Looking at the others in the lower half of the table, we have enough to at least survive.

I'll still predict we'll finish 10th

Our last home game was December 27th. Why did we do nothing to the pitch in that time?

[YorkshireSquare]

I recall him saying he and Orta were amazed at how the media snowballed our interest and allowed it to shield our pursuit of Cuisance - maybe I’m dreaming.

I think De Paul was always a Radrizzani pipe dream.

[White Riot]

Same with Almada as well.

Apart from the CBs that we got, our biggest other two priorities in the summer should have been a number 10 and a LB, but we got neither, and it has shown all season long.

Rodrigo's a striker shoved in to number 10 and why we got yet another winger ahead of the above priorities I don't know?

[YorkshireSquare]

Our last home game was December 27th. Why did we do nothing to the pitch in that time?

Do what? We've not had enough time to put a new one in. Was last fully reconstructed 25 years ago with the playing surface last replaced in 2013. They have worked on it a lot but the weather here over the past week and a half probably set them back quite a bit.

[dezzy]

Do what? We've not had enough time to put a new one in. Was last fully reconstructed 25 years ago with the playing surface last replaced in 2013. They have worked on it a lot but the weather here over the past week and a half probably set them back quite a bit.

Agree, the pitch wasn’t in a state for lack of effort from the ground staff. Crazy it hasn’t been replaced in 8 years

[Carrick Dave]

It wasn't burnout or tiredness. I think it's pretty obvious we need 2 games a week, or at least one game a week to maintain the level.

I don’t subscribe to the burnout theory and know where you’re coming from regarding quick turnarounds leading to better performances, but there appeared to be signs of fatigue today for whatever reason.

Some of Pablo’s balls were going astray because teammates - I’m thinking of Klich, Dallas, Harrison here - seemed a half second slow in reading his intention, and they’re usually on his wavelength. Even the commentator commented on tired attempts to get on the end of his passes.

Hopefully it’s a one-off.

[White Riot]

Our last home game was December 27th. Why did we do nothing to the pitch in that time?

I think it's a long-standing issue with the pitch SG that they seem unable to fix.

With the uncertainty of when the season would re-start last summer they were unable to re-lay the pitch, and then we were straight into this season.

From what I heard it takes 10-12 weeks to re-lay a pitch and bed it in, so we haven't had sufficient time to do the job that needed to be done.

Having said all that, the pitch today carved up like a Xmas turkey and really compromises our style of play. So something needs to be done to improve it.

In the current situation I'd be delighted to play all of our matches away from ER, it's handicapping our play and affecting performances and results.

Not saying that's the only reason, but it is a huge factor.

[Chilli D]

Fulham's pitch looks miles better than ours.

[White Riot]

Fulham's pitch looks miles better than ours.

So did Crawley's

[dezzy]

If Meslier was out due to covid, would that have meant the training ground was closed so we couldn’t train for part of the week? We looked off and far from sharp today, lots of wrong options and stray passes. We never really got going. Really disappointed after that result, but fair play to Brighton to play like that with so many players missing, big opportunity missed

[hector]

I too was in the services, royal navy for me....and yes i was involved in battles, but our skill was in using radar and knowing how to defend the ship and use the guns, not trying to run marathans in 2 hours

Bit of a difference between a Jolly Jack sitting on his arse watching a screen, to running around and trying to dodge rounds flying at you...

A very good friend of mine was an RO on the Herpes during the Falklands and he told me.....

But you cannot over train in fitness.
In fact as has been said on here, a break in the fitness and/or match playing (ie too much time off) removes the edge of the fitness, and I think that is what we are experiencing here.

[1964white]

Tyler Roberts has done okay. Better than Rodrigo anyway

Best performance from Roberts in a long time

[1964white]

Embarrassed ourselves for what? The players haven't benefited from a break, they look worse.

We never do!

Every season our coaches carry out the same procedure.

Rest players
Go out of the cup
Players return lethargic
Lose momentum
We lose our next game or totally under-perform
Confidence is low as we go on a poor run

Why do our managers never learn?

Winning breeds confidence

Now our squad have another semi-holiday for ten days

[Velotrax]

You cannot replicate match fitness, no matter how hard you train

[1964white]

Brighton had 1 win in 10 before today and a ton of injuries.

We lack creativity we lack Prem quality and our system is far less useful at helping hide our lack of quality.

Brighton fully deserved the win and i am concerned.

We arent safe yet and today was dismal.

Even with a a ton of injuries I doubt Brighton played half their team out of their natural positions.

Fed up with all the meddling about, our players are not good enough to be totally effective out of their comfort zone

[1964white]

It may be a radical idea, but can we just sign players and actually play them in their natural positions?

[Velotrax]

Even with a a ton of injuries I doubt Brighton played half their team out of their natural positions.

Fed up with all the meddling about, our players are not good enough to be totally effective out of their comfort zone

Yep, you are right Leon, and who is to blame for that??

[1964white]

Problem is when you've got no creativity, you need players who can create something out of nothing and we took off Rodrigo and Raphinha.

Whom were both woeful

[1964white]

Is it January by any chance?

It is mate, we'll be busy working on signing a player for our star-studded U23's team

[1964white]

Why dont we sign players who suit the system? Isnt that Orta's job?

Costa didnt suit the system.

Llorente is a right cb when we need a left cb to replace Cooper

Rodders is a false 9 which we dont play being shoehorned into a 8/10 position which is the role we needed to sign a player for anyway.

Was excited about Rodrigo but he is definitely the wrong player, if it was a De Paul or a Rodrigoit had to be De Paul.

Why didnt we sign any full backs?

Why didnt we replace Forshaw?

Lack of forward thinking, that's why CJay