Leeds Banter Archive December 21 2013

21 Dec 2013 20:46:00
Went to the game today and I must say that our midfielders were shocking. In recent weeks we have played well as a team and deserved to be in the position we are in but today was just a wasted journey. Austin is not a leader nor a captain, yes he gets stuck in but his awareness and capabilities on the ball are not upto the standards of any quality centre midfielder in this league. Barnsley were first to every ball today and had much more desire and I guess they are our bogey team so in conclusion just a day to forget. I'd take 4 points from our next 2 games all day long and I'm sure any realist would. Not guna be too down as our form upto now has been good and the formation works really well for us a team so fingers crossed playoffs 2014 here we come.

Bit drastic mate.

A point from a bad performance is good. Don't go slagging off players for one bad performance.

And we move up one place!

21 Dec 2013 23:24:44
I think an odd bad performance is acceptable especially when we keep a clean sheet and move up a place. Austin has been and is one of our best players who had an off day. Let's keep this in perspective.

22 Dec 2013 00:38:13
I'm not slagging any players off for one bad performance but it's a player as a whole, he clearly isn't a technically gifted footballer or a leader.

22 Dec 2013 00:50:51
Keep this in perspective scoops? Are you real? Firstly we was lucky to get a point, we played bottom of the league at home in front of 31,000 and the best player on the pitch was a 31 year old central midfielder who's spent most of his career in non-league football and our captain makes him look like a world beater.

22 Dec 2013 07:43:33
Austin is more of a bully player. Exactly the type of player we need in the midfield . He needs to shoot less maybe from 20 yards out at most . 1 thing he needs to do is practice his short passing which I think he has too heavy a touch . He's good at long passing though. For me Austin just needs to concentrate on clearing up in front of defence and have mowatt furthest midfielder forward .for me I would give zaliukas the captain dutys but that might have to wait until the new season . Wouldn't want to upset anyone.

22 Dec 2013 08:57:33
The difference of opinion here is about glass half full and glass half empty. In my opinion this was a useful point, a good clean sheet and an extra place gained in the table. We would have lost this game last year. It was not about playing bottom of the league, it was about a local derby when the form book always goes out of the window, it was about new manager syndrome, bogey team syndrome call it whatever. Obviously we should have won but these games happen and I think there are positives to be drawn from it. We could easily have scored 4 or 5 and on another day we probably would but we just need to accept it and move on and not overreact in the same way we shouldn't overreact if we beat Blackpool 5-0.

21 Dec 2013 18:55:29
What has Zaliukas done to our defence, now I know Barnsley had chances, but every team will get chances against everyone, the fact we haven't conceded again is testament to how much of a big signing Zaliukas has become, need to tie him up on a longer deal now, he's earns it in my opinion.

That's not to take anything away from the rest of the team, in particular Pearce and Kenny who have shown their worth recently, Lees is still young but will learn greatly and improve from the experience of the others.

As for our attacking prowess, I do feel despite McCormacks recent goal scoring exploits that we do need a goal scoring midfielder and another natural goal scorer up top, Smith does well as a team player but his finishing needs to improve a great deal, this could be costly come the end of the season, that said, he has still been a good addition to the squad this season.

I think our signings in January need to be for the final third, preferably a goal scoring striker and a goal scoring midfielder, that aside a very positive start to the season, long may it continue.

Merry Christmas to you all.

MOT

SussexLeeds

{Ed013's Note - Merry Christmas Sussex and I agree, he has been a great signing}

Excellent post, couldn't agree more.
Valley White.

22 Dec 2013 09:57:14
I was going to say exactly that!

Our defence looks much better and Zaliukas is the catalyst for this, but credit to the others that have responded which is great to see.

The addition of another quality striker and an attack minded midfielder will take the pressure off everything having to go through McCormack up front.

The icing on the cake would be midfield general to have the same effect in midfield as Zaliukas has had in defence

One other point it is nice to see the financial owners of the club engaging with the real owners of the club "the fans"

Great original post!
Fingers crossed

21 Dec 2013 17:07:36
Shame we couldn't win for such a great crowd but up one to fifth and another clean sheet almost feels like a win!

21 Dec 2013 14:12:38
My hatred of Cardiff since 1991 is topped only by my hatred of Galataserey but it has to be said Vincent Tan! you do not belong in football. Malky Mackay is an excellent young manager and will go on to bigger and better things.