Marching On Together

Good Morning. It's Tuesday 28th January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...


Stalemate at Turf Moor

Leeds stretched their lead at the top of the Championship to two points (and a far superior goal difference), despite a less than thrilling goalless draw at Turf Moor last night. The significance of the fixture, combined with favourable weekend outcomes meant a goalless draw was not only predictable, but almost seemed pre determined. Neither side was willing to commit numbers going forward, supported by the stats showing one solitary 89th minute effort on target (from Dan James) all night.

Between them, they are unbeaten in 26 games (eleven for Leeds and sixteen for the Clarets). With nine goalless draws this season thus far, it's easy to identify Burnley's frailties, but their defensive qualities cannot be ignored! They have conceded just nine league goals this season, 53 less than Plymouth Argyle.





Are Leeds any better than Burnley and Sheffield Utd?

In the end both sides went home happy last night. Leeds moved another point clear of Sheffield Utd, and likewise Burnley stay in the chasing pack. Looking at last nights stats, Leeds shaded the demographics, but over the two games, was there really that much to choose between the two sides? With twenty clean sheets, and only two losses this season, Burnley know where their one weakness lies, and are looking to bing in a top marksman between now and February 3rd.

Despite the Blades slipping up against Hull, they remain evens bets for a top two finish. They have spent heavily this month, and Chris Wilder is going for broke! Tom Cannon, Ben Brereton Diaz and Hamza Choudhury add both depth and quality to their side, but just like any new recruits, will need a settling in period before firing on all cylinders. Jonjoe Kenny and Tom Lawrence are also apparently on their way to Bramall Lane!





Piroe's form a cause for concern

Leeds may be the division's top goalscorers with 53, but if Joel Piroe plays any worse, Daniel Farke may be forced to wheel out Patrick Bamford to the pitch in a wheelchair! Despite a decent performance (and goal) against Hull City earlier this month, the 25yo's form has dropped considerably. The lack of impact from Mateo Joseph, with no worthwhile contributions across 19 appearances, further heighens the situation. This leaves the creative burden squarely on the shoulders of Manor Solomon and Dan James.

For Leeds to maintain their promotion push, they need more consistent output from both their number nine and ten. Piroe needs to rediscover his scoring touch and contribute to build up play or Farke will need to come up with a new plan. Over the past five seasons, leading goalscorers in the Championship have contributed between 26 and 43 goals; conservatively, I think we'd be delighted if Piroe got to 20.

Really good point against a promotion rival that extended our lead at the top of the table and by returning to Yorkshire with our goal difference undamaged that's still worth an extra point over everyone in the division.

On Piroe we know his level and it's definitely not in the PL so hopefully we can move him on in the summer if we're promoted.

Piroe had two decent half chances in the first half which required a first time shot from about ten yards. One each occasion he took a touch and lost possession - not the approach we need from a striker.

Not making excuses for the team but you have to make allowances for the impact of the conditions on the game, wind can make results unpredictable and I guess the managers tried to negate that by playing a bit more defensively.

We need a number 9 in the next few days and not some nobody from a league in the back of beyond - has to be someone who can get in the team now.

If anyone who had never watched a championship game until last night, watched that, they would never watch another game again it was that bad.
However, it was a point gained against a promotion rival, extending our lead to basically 3 points with the goal difference.
Sheff U and Sunderland both dropped points at home to teams near the bottom.
As long as we beat Cardiff, last night will soon be forgotten.

Piroe's form is a bit of a concern it has to be said and with Joseph not doing enough to merit a start we are having to rely on others to get the goals which thankfully they have been doing.

As the home team the obligation was on Burnley to look for a win but their set up was almost entirely defensive and they failed to get a shot on target all night. Yes they succeeded in foiling the Leeds attack but just like the Blunts their approach demonstrated that they know which team is superior even if some Leeds fans appear to want to believe otherwise. The choice to play Byram showed too much respect to them as the greater attacking output from Firpo could have mirrored Bogles contribution on the right and would have aided Solomon and tested the famed Burnley security blanket a bit more. At this stage there is a strong case unless a really good striker is signed in the next six days that Bamford should once fit be given a run of starts to see what happens . It worked in the early months of 2024 and if it had the same effect now it wouldn't matter if he got injured in late March or April because by then we would be securely in a top two group clear of the rest if not out on our own. And if that doesn't start a debate or lead to another order for me to leave it will be a whole new world out there.

predictions predications predictions. Make them at your peril.

ruttermania wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 10:14 am As the home team the obligation was on Burnley to look for a win but their set up was almost entirely defensive and they failed to get a shot on target all night. Yes they succeeded in foiling the Leeds attack but just like the Blunts their approach demonstrated that they know which team is superior even if some Leeds fans appear to want to believe otherwise. The choice to play Byram showed too much respect to them as the greater attacking output from Firpo could have mirrored Bogles contribution on the right and would have aided Solomon and tested the famed Burnley security blanket a bit more. At this stage there is a strong case unless a really good striker is signed in the next six days that Bamford should once fit be given a run of starts to see what happens . It worked in the early months of 2024 and if it had the same effect now it wouldn't matter if he got injured in late March or April because by then we would be securely in a top two group clear of the rest if not out on our own. And if that doesn't start a debate or lead to another order for me to leave it will be a whole new world out there.

I heard that Bamford had a relapse and was out for another two weeks. In any event, if picked, he would probably probably injure himself again in the warm up.

A game there to be won but a point is better than non, burnley we're only interested in stopping united scoring,no intentions of committing to open play imagine watching that dross each week.
To.say we had 9 men [Aaronsen and Piroe] and they had 12 with the.ref I thought we did well.
The.fella next to me has been disabled for 30 yrs with no feeli.g below the waist bit on 55 minutes even he got up and walked away.
Back to winning ways next game hopefully.
Won't comment on transfers as it's pretty futile ...again

mentalcase wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:01 pm A game there to be won but a point is better than non, burnley we're only interested in stopping united scoring,no intentions of committing to open play imagine watching that dross each week.
To.say we had 9 men [Aaronsen and Piroe] and they had 12 with the.ref I thought we did well.
The.fella next to me has been disabled for 30 yrs with no feeli.g below the waist bit on 55 minutes even he got up and walked away.
Back to winning ways next game hopefully.
Won't comment on transfers as it's pretty futile ...again

Sorry but have to disagree on Aaronson as thought he did perfectly fine last night, especially as his 2 midfield team mates weren't interested in playing any risky forward passes and very much kept it back or square. Personally I gave Brenden a steady 7 which just about snuck him into the Top 6 for MOTM but only just as there weren't many actual stand out performances last night beyond maybe Rodon and Bogle.

Jammy 07 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:17 pm Sorry but have to disagree on Aaronson as thought he did perfectly fine last night, especially as his 2 midfield team mates weren't interested in playing any risky forward passes and very much kept it back or square. Personally I gave Brenden a steady 7 which just about snuck him into the Top 6 for MOTM but only just as there weren't many actual stand out performances last night beyond maybe Rodon and Bogle.

No problem Jammy,all.about opinions, him a nd piroe were awful IMHO, Aaronson has no composure whatsoever and over hits his passes too often, he'll do in this league, just aswell really as it appears we can't get any better

Too many recent clean sheets from Illan, let's see who we can pick on next. Defenders ticking over nicely, midfield solid, wingers doing a great job, Joel yes we haven't put the boot into him for some time, what can we say about his dry spell, lack of pace, poor positional sence. Surely there is something in there that we can criticise him for, his whispy moustache, that he doesn't use pride approved rainbow laces... he must be far right that's it. Let's get him for that.

I really hate missing games live, but if ever I had to miss one I suppose this was the one to miss.

One shot on goal from either team all game and it came in the 89th minute.

Brutal.

At least our fans only had to travel a little over an hour. Thank goodness the game wasn't at Plymouth.

Much of the criticism of Aaronson seems to be along the lines of "he's good enough for this league but he won't make it in the EPL."

Fair enough, I suppose, but even if we stipulate that Aaronson isn't EPL material, we aren't in the EPL. If and when we get there we can turn our attention to getting EPL quality players. But let's not put the cart ahead of the horse.

The consensus of opinion on these pages seems to be that we can/should upgrade in goal, at the nine and at the ten. That raises a couple of questions for me.

1) Who is out there in this window who represents a significant upgrade over Aaronson, Piroe, and Meslier, who would be interested in coming to Leeds at this juncture? Such a player would have to be not only better, but of a nature that he could get acclimated quickly enough to make a difference in the seventeen games that are left.

2) Who among our squad right now is good enough to play in the EPL and isn't on loan? And not just good enough to play, but good enough to avoid meeting the same fate as Southampton?

Interested in your thoughts.

John in Louisiana wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 3:34 pm Much of the criticism of Aaronson seems to be along the lines of "he's good enough for this league but he won't make it in the EPL."

Fair enough, I suppose, but even if we stipulate that Aaronson isn't EPL material, we aren't in the EPL. If and when we get there we can turn our attention to getting EPL quality players. But let's not put the cart ahead of the horse.

The consensus of opinion on these pages seems to be that we can/should upgrade in goal, at the nine and at the ten. That raises a couple of questions for me.

1) Who is out there in this window who represents a significant upgrade over Aaronson, Piroe, and Meslier, who would be interested in coming to Leeds at this juncture? Such a player would have to be not only better, but of a nature that he could get acclimated quickly enough to make a difference in the seventeen games that are left.

2) Who among our squad right now is good enough to play in the EPL and isn't on loan? And not just good enough to play, but good enough to avoid meeting the same fate as Southampton?

Interested in your thoughts.

Well, that would take a team/squad. But within that team/squad with the right additions

Bogle
Ampadu
Rodon
Struijk
Tanaka
Joseph
Piroe
Ramazani
James
Gnonto
Aaronson (as an 8)
Gray
Chambers
Gelhardt

I'd be ok with in our 25 man squad

Piroe
Joseph
Gelhardt
Are a million miles away from being PL players,there's a few others that are marginal too
If we get promoted and don't invest big time in the right players we'll get battered every week just like the 3 teams that got promoted last season,the gap between the PL and the championship is ginormous.

I thankfully couldn't watch last night's bore draw...anyway with regard to the question are we any better than Burnley or Sheff U......imo there isn't much between all three...each squad brings different threats / weaknesses to the battle and I think it may go to the wire as to who gets the autos but Sheff U fans must be encouraged by the forward thinking of their owners in trying to shore up their squad for the battle ahead whereas our obvious lack of a proper striker seems to be of no concern to our owners

Tyzy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 5:51 pm Piroe
Joseph
Gelhardt
Are a million miles away from being PL players,there's a few others that are marginal too
If we get promoted and don't invest big time in the right players we'll get battered every week just like the 3 teams that got promoted last season,the gap between the PL and the championship is ginormous.

Totally agree with you, Tyzy.

1964white wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 6:26 pm Totally agree with you, Tyzy.

One of your favourite pre match topics during our chats

Barlow Boy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 6:47 pm One of your favourite pre match topics during our chats

We have a few, Kev.