Pascal Struijk

[Orange Box]

If he had kept his head down a bit lower he wouldnt have got smacked on it with the ball and wouldnt have had all that serious concussion s**t

Actually you’ve got that all wrong. Watch the replay of the incident and you’ll see he was trying to get out of the way of the ball but was so slow it smacked him on the bonce and wobbled his brain cell.

Okay so I made all that up but that doesn’t seem to bother some of our other posters. (Chuckles at his own sense of brilliance)

[GreennWhite]

Actually you’ve got that all wrong. Watch the replay of the incident and you’ll see he was trying to get out of the way of the ball but was so slow it smacked him on the bonce and wobbled his brain cell.

Okay so I made all that up but that doesn’t seem to bother some of our other posters. (Chuckles at his own sense of brilliance)

You are wasted on here, not just for your comedy either

[Orange Box]

You are wasted on here, not just for your comedy either

Wasted is usually a good adjective for me

[malcolmw]

If he had kept his head down a bit lower he wouldnt have got smacked on it with the ball and wouldnt have had all that serious concussion s**t

Well he's not perfect

[1964white]

Ipswich (a)

Good
6 defensive headers
2 defensive clearances
2 ball recoveries
2 decent passes
1 interceptions
1 tackle
1 block
1 run

Bad
1 poor pass
1 lost marker
1 dribbled past

Pascal actually wore the captain's armband for the final five minutes

7/10

[andrewjohnsmith]

Ipswich (a)

Good
6 defensive headers
2 defensive clearances
2 ball recoveries
2 decent passes
1 interceptions
1 tackle
1 block
1 run

Bad
1 poor pass
1 lost marker
1 dribbled past

Pascal actually wore the captain's armband for the final five minutes

7/10

Interesting on the armband. When Marsch gave him the armband against Cardiff in the cup I thought it was completely the wrong idea. Pascal may be a solid CB. But he's not vocal and doesn't seem like a leader.

But if Farke sees it too. Maybe Pascal is a a bit more vocal and we just don't notice it from a distance.

[1964white]

Sheff Wed (h)

Good
3 decent passes
2 defensive headers
2 defensive clearances
2 interceptions
1 tackle
1 ball recovery

Bad
4 poor passes
1 poor clearance
1 lost marker
1 poor cross

Steady

6/10

[1964white]

Millwall (a)

Good
8 defensive headers
3 tackles
3 ball recoveries
2 defensive clearances
1 decent passes
1 interceptions

Bad
1 poor defensive communication
1 poor headed pass back
1 header off target


Pascal & Joe developing an excellent CB partnership

8.5/10

[1964white]

Watford (h)

Good
8 ball recoveries
4 defensive headers
2 decent passes
2 interceptions
2 tackles
2 defensive clearances

Bad
1 poor pass


Pascal playing as a right-sided CB, strong at the back once again

8.5/10

[1964white]

Southampton (a)

Good
5 decent passes
4 defensive headers
4 tackles
3 interceptions
2 blocks
1 ball recovery
1 attacking header
1 run
1 defensive clearance
1 good defensive play
1 goal (spin & turn & scores)
1 shot on target

Bad
2 poor passes

Pascal, our only shining light, shone like a beacon. Shame the rest didn't keep a cool head.

8.5/10

[AcrossThePondAsh]

From Phil Hay's latest opus, "Pascal Struijk, Leeds United's Gateway":

"...going into Tuesday’s fixture, Struijk was far out in front in several metrics at Leeds, among players with enough minutes this season to make the analysis meaningful: first for touches per 90 minutes (92.4), first for completed passes per 90 (76.2), first for carries per 90 (62.9), first for passes received per 90 (62.9) and consistently amassing the most progressive distance, helping Leeds move up the pitch."

His defensive presence aside, this is further evidence of just how vital he is in the build-up phase. Said this in today's match thread, but worth noting again that with the exception of Ampadu, who I think had his first "off" game against Southampton, Pascal has been our most consistent player so far this season. Also, worth noting he was clearly MOTM vs. the Saints too, when everyone else was checkout.

Source: https://theathletic.com/4928457/2023/10 ... eds-farke/

[Finnatic]

From Phil Hay's latest opus, "Pascal Struijk, Leeds United's Gateway":

"...going into Tuesday’s fixture, Struijk was far out in front in several metrics at Leeds, among players with enough minutes this season to make the analysis meaningful: first for touches per 90 minutes (92.4), first for completed passes per 90 (76.2), first for carries per 90 (62.9), first for passes received per 90 (62.9) and consistently amassing the most progressive distance, helping Leeds move up the pitch."

His defensive presence aside, this is further evidence of just how vital he is in the build-up phase. Said this in today's match thread, but worth noting again that with the exception of Ampadu, who I think had his first "off" game against Southampton, Pascal has been our most consistent player so far this season. Also, worth noting he was clearly MOTM vs. the Saints too, when everyone else was checkout.

Source: https://theathletic.com/4928457/2023/10 ... eds-farke/

Farke is using him in a free position a bit like VVD at Liverpool.
Pascal is standing off a few yards either back or to the side of Rodon or Cooper.
They are doing the challenging against the attacker (most play with one main attacker nowadays) which leaves them open for potential mistakes as they are doing the dirty work and he intervenes when the attacker comes into his space.
He’s not blessed with pace so it’s an ideal position as he’s got a couple of yards on opponents.

That’s my take on the reason for the improvement in the stats you quoted .

[Kennyb41]

He's edging in front of LC now, still only Championship level though.

[1964white]

QPR (h)

Good
10 most defensive headers
4 defensive clearances
3 ball recoveries
2 excellent passes
2 decent passes
2 interceptions
1 block
1 attacking header

Bad
2 poor pass
1 missed scoring chance

Summary
Another excellent defensive display from Pascal, turned his PL nightmare around, his confidence shot after having to play as a left-back for much of last season.

9/10

[malcolmw]

Interesting on the armband. When Marsch gave him the armband against Cardiff in the cup I thought it was completely the wrong idea. Pascal may be a solid CB. But he's not vocal and doesn't seem like a leader.

But if Farke sees it too. Maybe Pascal is a a bit more vocal and we just don't notice it from a distance.

Marsh didn't know his arse from his elbow. He created such confusion with his ignorance it seeped out in the performance of quite a few players. A number of players have new life in them since DF has arrived - in particular Pascal - but also James and Meslier, even Ayling.

Agree that Pascal is the quiet type - but he has others around him who are quite vocal - such as Ampadu. I'd give Pascal the armband permanently now and have Coops and Luke mentor him a bit. This will put to bed the pressure to have to play either of those two in the starting 11.

[1964white]

Bristol City (h)

Good
10 most ball recoveries :gold;
5 defensive headers
5 most interceptions
5 2nd most defensive clearances
4 decent passes
3 tackles
1 block
1 run

Bad
2 poor passes


Summary
Captain's performance leading by example from Pascal, has struck up a great partnership with Joe Rodon, long may it continue. One of our top five players this season imo!

9/10

[1964white]

Norwich City (a)

Good
9 most decent passes
6 most defensive headers
3 tackles
2 defensive clearances
2 most interceptions
2 blocks
1 most ball recovery
1 run

Bad
2 lost possession

Summary
Pascal is experiencing his best form of his Leeds career, putting in another polished peformance.

9/10

[1964white]

Leicester City (a)

Good
10 most ball recoveries
3 joint-first blocks :gold
3 joint-second defensive clearances
3 most decent passes
2 most defensive headers
2 most interceptions
2 defended well
1 tackle
1 excellent pass
1 run

Bad
1 poor pass

Summary
Another massive display from Pascal, not as many numbers as Rodon, but equally efficient. What a pairing?

9/10

[Kennyb41]

Leicester City (a)

Good
10 most ball recoveries
3 joint-first blocks :gold
3 joint-second defensive clearances
3 most decent passes
2 most defensive headers
2 most interceptions
2 defended well
1 tackle
1 excellent pass
1 run

Bad
1 poor pass

Summary
Another massive display from Pascal, not as many numbers as Rodon, but equally efficient. What a pairing?

9/10

It's starting to look ok Sidney yes, but Leicester is the only true test up to now, and it went well, we need much more evidence against good sides to gauge how good they are yet, and atm it's a case of 'you can only beat what's put in front of you' and they're doing ok.

If Rodon was actually available to play v Soton and not carrying a knock, then it's DF's biggest fck up to date and a feckin hard lesson he learned in a very feckin costly way, coz it was a Blitzkrieg through the middle which backfired, if i remember correctly he was either keeping faith in his previous team or teaching Rodon a lesson for getting his 2nd yellow and sending off.

But yeah, in answer to your question, these two are young and hopefully forming an understanding of each other, i am a bit wary of a Ben White situation though, but there's nowt we can do about that coz we want the best from him anyway, like Bert, DF should know what he's worth if push comes to shove, I think we bid about £27m for White and Bert had done a lot of decent work on him and i feel desperately wanted him, but £56m ? That was surely out of our reach, shame dat.

It'll all come down to money Sidney me old boy, and how much DF likes/wants him.

[1964white]

Struijk will miss the Plymouth game. He's had a hernia issue and we decided to send him to London for assessment. We hope to have him back after the international break but it's hard to speak about the time frame.

That's a major blow!