20 Aug 2021 01:06:17
Maybe glass half empty post but reading posts below, think majority on here are disappointed and frustrated with window.
Beilsa saying probably no more to come in, is that a bluff to Huddersfield to take our offer, yet to be seen and can see this one happening.
My frustration comes from the struggles of lower division football and to finally get back into the big league, did fantastic last season but feel not improving squad is wrong.
IMO you have to strengthen/ invest to progress and seems we only invested in under 23's. We lost beradi, Pablo, alioski and only new player is Firpo.
I understand that splashing lots of millions doesn't always work but with Beilsa, we have a world class coach who potentially could take us top 4?
This will be his last season (IMO) as don't think we'll achieve Europe, so may have missed a trick. Maybe if we got and hoping we can still get Europe place, he may give it a crack.
Think it only would've taken 4 incomings to
make us that top side, my wishes were, cover for DMF, creative flair playing MF, quality forward and LB.
Happy with what I saw of Firpo, looks good and I was one who didn't rate alioski there.
I'm still not convinced on bamford, misses too many and now has little competition.
I think spending around 50-60 mil on 4 players wouldn't have broke the bank as had money from 69ers, plus rewards of premiership status and TV.
Firpo- 12mil
Reed/ youkushlu - ? 8mil
Pereria- 15mil
Striker- 25 mil. ( someone like Danny ings)
Ok time to top up that glass, 1- hope bamford can become even better and get 20+, 2- toes crossed hoping Rodrigo improves, 3- Firpo/ Jack make great team on left.
4-Lorente gets strong and plays every game, 5- Ailling to shoot more, 6- unleash new under 23 talent and finally 7- Roberts and costa improve, (sorry that's glass overflowing scenario)
Good luck for first home game with fans back, make some noise. Pity can't be there but will be watching from Melbourne
MOT.
20 Aug 2021 04:13:24
good post Mshuter you have for me become one of the better posters on here
agree with the 4 positions Radz and Co may well regret not doing so by end of season
are Leeds (slightly) cash strapped, looks so, or is just Radz tightening spending on transfers
i disagree with you on
1) Alioski : he will be a big loss for reasons I have previously stated
2) much as I love Bielsa, respect, admire, extremely grateful for his fine achievements with Leeds, you have gone hyperbolic mshuter with the ' world class ' tag : he repeats his mistakes again and again to be so for starters.
20 Aug 2021 06:07:16
You have pretty much echoed how I feel there Mshuter. In terms of Bielsa, however, his aim when he arrived was to get Leeds into Europe and unless something seriously annoys him I can see him sticking with us until he achieves his aim.
I don't think Costa will improve, but I do believe Roberts can get better and this is a big year for him.
20 Aug 2021 08:40:16
Mercifully MB is our coach and not us fans, self lauded pundits and anyone who likes to have a dig at him.
I bore myself repeating the same line that MB has got the club this far and I fully expect and believe he will improve on our previous season ending position, using the players he wants, in the positions he wants without bringing in 5 or 6 new players.
All this guff like Bermo used to go on about incessantly that MB keeps on repeating the same mistakes yet look where we ended the season!
We are not an elite club with oil sheikh or oligarch owner but we do have a fully committed and very ambitious owner who genuinely wants success for Lufc we also have a Master football obsessed coach who has elevated this club from the pit of despair when so many couldn’t.
I will not be a surprised how certain fans attitudes will change if we beat Everton on the weekend.
The evidence is in the text you are writing, glass half empty! You don’t want to pour negativity on the club, but the truth is you are!
20 Aug 2021 09:23:04
Thanks gents, too much with the World class, ok very good coach.
Alf, I do hope he stays for a few more years but not sure, this may be his last team, so maybe.
20 Aug 2021 09:36:43
I agree with Alf that Marcelo is currently minded to stay beyond the end of this season. He clearly likes ‘projects’, and it while getting us back into the Prem was part of the challenge he saw here, he will want to take us further, getting us back to where we were before our spectacular fall.
The fact that he was house hunting earlier this year would also seem to suggest a longer-term view. The same goes forhis deep involvement in the u23s - apparently each of those signed for them this year and last have been approved by Bielsa on the basis that he believes they will be ready to make an impact playing Bielsaball in the Prem with the first team within two seasons. He clearly believes Gelhardt, Greenwood, Summerville and Drameh will be ready to be full members of the first team by the end of this season - so next season would be their first full season. Of this year’s intake, Bate may be fast-tracked, but Miller and McGurk would likely be a season later. Being so focused on coaching and player development, all things being equal, Bielsa would seem likely to want to be involved in the full journey of at least the first intake.
20 Aug 2021 10:22:06
How excited are we Cluey, you named 7 who are kicking the door down to be included in the first team. I agree with each and every one with outside shouts for even two or three more. My worry is that for some reason or another they will not make it through. I go back a few years to the recent crop of young guns that we lauded over and ask whatever happened to them. Their places have been usurped in the U23s and there returns from loans have not seen them added to the first team squad. Rather they have been overtaken by the current crop. I hope and pray that the exciting lads we have now kick on and fulfil their potential; with Leeds.
20 Aug 2021 11:50:17
Leo - as said previously, the previous crop were brought in, or were being developed with a view to being able to compete with Championship. Clearly some of those may not have been able to get up to Prem standard, or not within the required timescale. Those will have been moved on, or may shortly do so.
Others will have been judged as possibly able to progress to Prem level. For the new intake to become ready for Prem level Bielsaball they will need to play very regularly with the u23s, to get used to the patterns of play, intensity etc and ensure their fitness levels are developed at an appropriate rate and level, and possibly get first team minutes off the bench. Keeping the likes of Davis, McCalmont, Bogusz, and possibly Huggins, Gotts etc here too would reduce everyone’s game time, which is not in the best interest of the new or old crop, or indeed the Club. Also the old crop will be understandably bored of playing u23 games and desperate to get some kind of first team experience. Loaning the old crop out gives both they and the new crop the opportunity to play a full season of games.
So there are various very good reasons why some of the old crop have been, or will be sent out on loan. Bielsa said at his presser yesterday that he sees the lads on loan each week, so is still taking a keen interest in their development. He also said that they would look again next preseason at whether there were opportunities to bring them into the group here. Presumably a decision will be taken at that time, which will have been crystallising throughout this season, as to whether they have progressed sufficiently to remain on our books, either within the first team squad here or on a further loan at a higher level than this season. I presume those players will be asked for their perspective too. Some might, like Casey this year, want to have greater certainty on their future and move elsewhere on a permanent basis to become an established first team squad member. Of course, it is possible that some of the old crop will be judged not to have made sufficient progress this season whilst on loan, and be helped to find a new club.
So to summarise, some of the old crop were judged unable to step up to Prem levels and moved on, and the others have not been usurped by the new crop, but rather are being put on a different but parallel development pathway, which is appropriate both for them and for the Club.
20 Aug 2021 13:12:08
Opti/ pess, think we will have to disagree on this one. I am aware I’m not the coach and very happy that we have Bielsa at the helm, he has been amazing for us.
The board have to take massive credit for bringing him to us and applaud them for it.
This is a banter site and your opinion is that they know best, so leave it to them, it’s not like my views going to change anything and I agree.
We are all just talking here and don’t think my negativity will affect the team. IMO, it may turn out to be silly, but I feel we would be even better with a few recruits, you
obviously think it’s not needed and think we will be better than last season, be happy to be proven wrong.
Really hope we beat toffees and I think we will, home crowd and team will have been upset by last result.
Unfortunately if no more incomings, I think it’s a bad call.
Clueless, didn’t think about bielsa now looking to buy a house in Leeds, great point and maybe he’s onboard with a 5 year plan.
20 Aug 2021 14:23:19
Dear Fans,
I am new to the website, and since Bielsa arrived at Leeds, I follow Leeds as my own team :) Great post. Let me help you by telling you how our dear Bielsa thinks, and they might understand much of their decision and the club decision, from a Bielsa point of view.
The first thing you should know is that much of what Bielsa says in a press conference is false, simply because being honest would mean breaking his own "codes of conduct"
Regarding Bielsa policy for buying players over 23 is: if a new player enters the squad, he must be significantly better than the one in his position. He doesn't buy substitutes. What can happen, as it happened with Rodrigo, is that Bamford, despite the fact that they believed him inferior to Rodrigo, won the position, and became the player that he is today, leaving Rodrigo as a substitute or as 10 in the absence of a natural one.
Although many of the Leeds players are the same as those who played the championship, the truth is that their performance increased so much, that to find a better player from the midfield positions to up, they would have to pay at least more than 30/ 40 million for each player. Perhaps the exceptional case is that of Kent, who by 15/ 20 million, can remove the position from Harrison. And that is why this purchase of it is evaluated.
I feel that for Leeds today to fight for to 6 positions, they should replace: (1) Harrison, (1) they need a natural 10 instead of Rodrigo or Robert, (2) and two more players, for Klich and Phillips position, as good as them, or better, to fight for position or cover them without losing the level when they are injured or perform poorly. That is 4 more players, (and let Bamford, Robert, and Rodrigo, fight only for the 9 jersey) . Bringing in those positions 4 weight players will not cost less than 120/ 150 million. In defense I understand that he is well covered.
On the other hand, instead of making this disbursement, I understand that the investment is being made in promising young people who in 2 or 3 years can compete for those positions in the starting team, and on the other hand, they plan to spend a lot of money on the new stadium, that will give Leeds more incomes in the future and the possibility of having more purchasing power.
And I don't think it's Bielsa's last season, far from it, regardless of any outcome. He would not even have problems managing the team if after a bad campaign they return to the championship, he will only stop working if:
- The club does not follow his instructions (yes, he is the boss)
- If the club does not want to renew its contract (because the club do not want to follow his demands)
-Or if the fans and journalism become so unbearable that his work ceases to be pleasant for him (which today I understand happens quite the opposite, in fact, for the love he receives from the fans, he believe that it is his obligation to stay and do his best)
If you want to know how good your coach is, there are some mathematical ways to find out:
- A good way to evaluate the performance of a coach is to add up the total cost of the squad when he start and divide it by the number of points he got, and so you can see how many millions of pounds you cost each point that the head coach got. And then tell me how many millions it costs Pep or Klopp for each point they achieve, and then how many millions it cost Bielsa to achieve each point (Yes, he was the coach who got each point at the lowest price of squad contracts in the entire premier league)
Or just see how the players revalued since he started to work in the championship, and how practically the level of each of the players improved and compared that with the revaluations or improvement of teams with "world-class managers"
I think there are many ungrateful people around, who forget that if it weren't for him (and the effort of the players and the club's management to follow him, which is very difficult) they would still be in the championship.
Therefore, I understand that they decided to keep the same team (Beradi and Pablo weren’t very present in last year team, and Alioski out, and Firpo in) and maintain the same objective from last year (to be above the middle of the table) But in my opinion, this year the team don't have the same passion and push of playing the Premier after 16 years and on the other hand, apparently, he is trying new things, that can cost him lots of points.
(Biela is trying to cease to mark man to man, meaning see players running all over the pitch persecuting rivals, which leaves a lot to the judgment of the player and beyond what he is trying and will try, he also feels that his players are not up to this kind of defense, for lack of "street smart, astute, crafty, sly, wily" (in Argentina the word is viveza") I can understand between the lines from his words, that that is his feeling, but again, he will never ever, admit that in a clear and direct way)
Of course, all of this from my humble point of view.
Abrazos!
20 Aug 2021 14:28:46
Might be to do with investment.
I mean seriously why would he want to live in leeds other than save uber cost.
Last count I had 7 mill places I’d rather die
Anyway.
Moving on.
Koch is not a proven replacement for coops or struik.
The line up v useless Everton bar injuries will be
Goalie.
Ayling Coop. Struik. Flirp.
Phil
Klich Dallas
Harrison. Raph
Bam. Simple.
20 Aug 2021 16:00:33
After reading you saga Mab I have to say it was incitefull and I am in agreement with just about all of it.
The one area so far not adequately addressed (for many of us) is the Centre Mid man. Hopefully this O'Brien will fit the bill but initially he is a slight dissappointment on some of the names originally bandied about. I am also slightly dissappointed that in the U23s we do not have a CM who we are all raving about such as we are with Somerville, Geldhart etc.
Maybe it's early days and one will jump out at us during the 21/ 22 season but that is an area that appears to need attending to.
20 Aug 2021 16:01:18
Good post MABC, welcome.
20 Aug 2021 19:07:08
Mshuter, exactly to your point, this is a banter site and what would it be if we didn’t oppose our differing opinions. It’s obvious that I am a very staunch fan of the current regime but i do have my own opinions on matters.
Of course your opposing opinions aren’t going to change anything, I just like to readdress certain comments which are against or question our leadership, which I believe is the best we’ve had in many years.
But feel free to prove me wrong 😉
ALAW.
20 Aug 2021 21:31:06
Cracking post MABC, a post of great quality. 🙌.
21 Aug 2021 10:44:54
interesting post MABC
particularly your analysis on the criteria for Bielsa remaining.