Leicester v Leeds - Team/Reports/Ratings

[MeeTa]

I just thought it was a boring game, with us looking like we didnt want or have the ability to create something offensively. Defense did alright, did'nt get tested to much. And leicester was crap as well. Decent point against the worst team to play, foking hate leicester. Overall quality of the game it self was just rubbish

[gessa]

4 points against 2 teams strongly fancied for the top 6 places, we must be happy with that.

[theleedsmango]

4 points against 2 teams strongly fancied for the top 6 places, we must be happy with that.

I agree it was a good win against a strong team, but you can't look at it with this mentality. Otherwise half the league is fancied for top 6 - QPR, Wigan, Watford, Reading, Bolton, Blackburn, Leicester, Brighton, Forest are all strong contenders.

Still, nabbing a point when you aren't playing well is infinitely better than grabbing none, conceding numerous goals and wrecking the confidence of the team.

What else must Poleon do to gain a start? We need someone like him who will actually run at defences rather than hold the ball up. I'm not a tactical genius but surely it's better to start with someone like that who panics the defenders and tires them out, then bring on a Hunt/Varney whose workrate will continue to test the defence...rather than the other way around.

Austin is a decent shout at captain, you can see the other players respect (fear) him and he's got a good attitude on the pitch. I heard that when approached by McDermott to be captain he asked for time to think about it as he was aware of the responsibility it entailed. Knowing how big the role is is the first step of being a good captain.

If we don't have Byram, we are screwed in defence. We need to have threats from all over the pitch, at the moment we have a very flat back 4, with only Warnock offering any sort of threat going forward. If one of the CBs or Peltier get injured, we are in trouble. Mad to think the LB position is covered so well with Warnock, Drury, White and Pugh all able in that position, yet we've no one in the rest of defence.

[Twiggster]

MaccyD said post game " Rodi came in with his Sky MOTM award and said this is for all of you! "

[gessa]

I agree it was a good win against a strong team, but you can't look at it with this mentality. Otherwise half the league is fancied for top 6 - QPR, Wigan, Watford, Reading, Bolton, Blackburn, Leicester, Brighton, Forest are all strong contenders.

Still, nabbing a point when you aren't playing well is infinitely better than grabbing none, conceding numerous goals and wrecking the confidence of the team.

What else must Poleon do to gain a start? We need someone like him who will actually run at defences rather than hold the ball up. I'm not a tactical genius but surely it's better to start with someone like that who panics the defenders and tires them out, then bring on a Hunt/Varney whose workrate will continue to test the defence...rather than the other way around.

Austin is a decent shout at captain, you can see the other players respect (fear) him and he's got a good attitude on the pitch. I heard that when approached by McDermott to be captain he asked for time to think about it as he was aware of the responsibility it entailed. Knowing how big the role is is the first step of being a good captain.

If we don't have Byram, we are screwed in defence. We need to have threats from all over the pitch, at the moment we have a very flat back 4, with only Warnock offering any sort of threat going forward. If one of the CBs or Peltier get injured, we are in trouble. Mad to think the LB position is covered so well with Warnock, Drury, White and Pugh all able in that position, yet we've no one in the rest of defence.

At this stage of the season points are far more important than performance, admittedly there is only so long you can get away with it.but with us being 4 players away from having a realistic chance of a top 6 finish, we may have to rely on it happening more often than not if we are to make it, today's performance was all about getting a point and with that in mind I think that may be the reason Poleon did not start, most managers in that situation would go with the experienced players and if there is to be a switch then bring the pacey player on, when their defenders are a little more tired. I do hope Poleon gets a chance next week.

[white.riot]

MaccyD said post game " Rodi came in with his Sky MOTM award and said this is for all of you! "

Teetotal?

[Twiggster]

Teetotal?

WTF you on about?

[white.riot]

WTF you on about?

Champagne.


Let's hope it's 'shots' next week. None on the bar today.

[HarryofOz]

A good point away but a terrible match played at a terrible standard.

[Kyle_5351]

You can see the structure and style Brian wants to play. It does break down a bit when Pearce/Lees hoof the ball for no apparent reason. I can understand them clearing it under pressure, but half of the time they are just belting it when they could start again.

At least we are starting to play the ball around a bit more. I do feel our defence and midfield are not working together properly at the moment. Multiple times the ball would be played across the back four, only for one of the fullbacks to stop mid-run because no one was offering/making a run. We definitely need to get Murphy on the ball more. He seems to pick the correct pass or play someone into space when he has the ball. However, he doesn't seem to get a lot of it. I would say he needs to come and get the ball and command the defence into giving him possession more.

Apart from that, it something to build on. Clean sheet and a point away against a strong team. We weren't great, but not terrible ether.

[leedsmad]

You can see the structure and style Brian wants to play. It does break down a bit when Pearce/Lees hoof the ball for no apparent reason. I can understand them clearing it under pressure, but half of the time they are just belting it when they could start again.

At least we are starting to play the ball around a bit more. I do feel our defence and midfield are not working together properly at the moment. Multiple times the ball would be played across the back four, only for one of the fullbacks to stop mid-run because no one was offering/making a run. We definitely need to get Murphy on the ball more. He seems to pick the correct pass or play someone into space when he has the ball. However, he doesn't seem to get a lot of it. I would say he needs to come and get the ball and command the defence into giving him possession more.

Apart from that, it something to build on. Clean sheet and a point away against a strong team. We weren't great, but not terrible ether.

Yeah I agree , the hoof balls are still there from some of the fullbacks , I feel we are 2 quality wingers short and a quality centre back commanding his area.
It was quite a boring game , but our defence was up for the challenge , in preseason if someone offered me 4 points with the 1st 2 teams we have played against (Brighton , Foxes ) would of taken it in a heart beat.
If owners give BM that little more investment think we will be a Playoff team for sure .

[jack_gc]

How many clean sheets did we have in 23 away games last season? I think I saw somewhere that we only had 1 (away to blackburn) and some of the worst away form in the division.

So far this season we have had one away game and one clean sheet. Looks like an improvement to me.

[1964white]

Not the greatest of games, probably more absorbing watching it from the stands

McDermott has a game plan & plays a style to suit the limitations of our current squad, not pretty but effective result-wise
A draw v the money-spending Foxes is no mean feat as provened when they had the resourses of Wood, Knockaert & Dyer to bring on the field of play in an final effort to breakdown our defence. Yes we got lucky when Wood hit the post but we also went close late on when Smith brought out a decent save from Schmeichel late on.....apart from that Kenny only had to produce one save which you'd expect Paddy to make anyway. Funny enough Poleon & Smith caused more problems for the Leicester defence than our first eleven forwards.

Pleased to say Austin made a big difference in the middle of the park on his seasonal return

I've given all our defenders a rating of 7 as we did managed to keep a clean sheet....you can't argue with that !

Kenny 7
Peltier 7
Lees 7
Pearce 7
Warnock 7
Green 6
Murphy 6
Austin 8 MOTM
McCormack 6
Varney 6
Hunt 5

Subs :

Poleon 7
Smith 7

Referee 7

Leeds fans 10

Foxes fans 1....drummer boy was an assist for our fans as we sang songs to his one man band as their fans had a 90 minutes snooze

[mav]

Referee 7

for one dodgy back heal?




TBH I think if we played Byram and White at full backs this system would work very well, but with one out of favour and the other perhaps out for a while it seems odd, not that I can see another way of playing effectively with what we have.

[MaccaMJ]

for one dodgy back heal?

Yeah, to be fair I'd give the Ref an 8 for that alone. I managed to get a cracking stream of the game here in China, which is no easy feat with the great firewall of China let me tell you. Having said that it was great to see the new blood in action and I'm embarrassed to say I found a good third of the players unrecognisable. Most people said the game was boring but I think it was a case of two teams cancelling each other out. It seemed difficult for both teams to create anything but half chances but we did look for the most part quite solid at the back. I think I'm in the moral majority when I say that alone is a sign of optimism for the season ahead.

[eastyorkshirewhite]

A game which wont have done sky,s ratings anygood at all .It never got going at all with neither team having much fire power.But a point is not a bad result.We will have to show more enterprise if we want to gain anything this season.

Kenny 5 not much to do
Peltier 6 better than last weekend
Lees 6 does not look comfortable at all yet
Pearce 7 some good headers
Warnock 6 solid
Green 6 Tried hard
Austin 8 led his team well
Murphy 5 struggled at times
Hunt 5 made little impact
McCormack 5 not one of his better games
Varney 5 again made no impact

Subs
Tonge 3 not enough time
Poleon 4 Tried
Smith 4 Still unsure

[abundegas]

Happy with a point and encouraging to see more players looking comfortable with the ball in midfield. Masterstroke to make Austin captain - seemed to really keep him disciplined, whilst maintaining aggression.

Kenny - 6, nothing much to do, maybe a bit flappy on crosses
Peltier - 7 defending, 5 going forwards (or not)
Pearce - 5, seemed very vulnerable when run at (got early yellow and then near end let their sub get shot away that hit post)
Lees - 7.5, solid
Warnock - 7
Austin - 8, steady, added great strength to defence, picked out some nice passes
Murphy - 6.5, game seemed to pass him by a bit, but nice to see how comfortable he looks on the ball
Green - 7, hardworking, some good attacking play
McCormack - 7.5, covered a lot of ground, from CDM to the wings, always keen to get on the ball and take people on, bit lacking in end product today but always looks a threat
Varney/Hunt - 6.5, continue to be fairly nondescript and indistinguishable to me, though Varney had bright first 15 mins

Poleon - 7, would like to see him starting games, defenders seems scared of his pace
Smith - 6, won lots of headers to no great effect

whoever started "if you're banging on a drum you're a ****" - 10

tw*t who threw flare that missed ball boy by inches - season long ban

[1964white]

[quote="abundegas"]

whoever started "if you're banging on a drum you're a ****" - 10

Wasn't me

tw*t who threw flare that missed ball boy by inches - season long ban

What a prat...looked like the flare hit the young ballboy from where i was standing, fortunately the kid was alright....some of the idiots around me thought it was funny

[NewZealandLuFc]

Good point away to a team that scores goals for fun to come away with a clean sheet is impressive, Poleon's flair and smith coming on troubled them late on but we never really looked like scoring but they din't, so in all was an even game, nice to see the lads pass the ball about a bit.

[hibbi86]

Poleon - 7, would like to see him starting games, defenders seems scared of his pace
Smith - 6, won lots of headers to no great effect

Smith a 6 abit harsh, since he came close to scoring twice with 2 of his headers,

first cleared by Whitbread from under the bar
second low save my schmiceal near post