The Official Leeds United Thread

[CustardOnChips]

Well that was awful.

Just looked like a complete lack of pace, energy and the ability to do the basics of defending. As soon as Llorente is fit I can see him replacing Cooper.

That said. World class Pogba turned up, and is very difficult to contain when he does.

[resolve10]

I was there to see us beat AC Milan in the Champions League in front of 40,000. I was also there to see us lose to Bury in the Johnsons Paint Trophy in front of 18,000. I was lucky enough to get a ticket in the East Stand Upper this Saturday for the Everton match, it's going to be some atmosphere with a full house.

Last season both sides are capable of beating anyone in the league on their day, so I wouldn't like to call it. If Phillips starts and is fit I think we've got enough to win.

[JNW1]

resolve10 said:

I was there to see us beat AC Milan in the Champions League in front of 40,000. I was also there to see us lose to Bury in the Johnsons Paint Trophy in front of 18,000. I was lucky enough to get a ticket in the East Stand Upper this Saturday for the Everton match, it's going to be some atmosphere with a full house.

Last season both sides are capable of beating anyone in the league on their day, so I wouldn't like to call it. If Phillips starts and is fit I think we've got enough to win.

I think we need to show a strong positive reaction after last weekend - yes Man Utd were good and played well but I felt we were under par and fell a long way short of the standard we set ourselves last season.

The absence of Phillips certainly left a void but being realistic he's almost certain to miss a few games due to injury and/or suspension and we really need to be able to cover that; however, I'm not convinced we've got the personnel to do it at the moment but equally I'm not sure we're going to sign anyone suitable in this transfer window either. There's a lot of rumours about us being close to landing O'Brien from Huddersfield and to be fair I don't know much about him; however, I'm not sure a player from a side struggling in the Championship is the sort of level we need and if the right people aren't available maybe we're better to just run with what we've got? To me there's no point spending money on players who aren't going to improve the squad...

[resolve10]

It's a really difficult position to play in our system, requires a lot physically but you also need to be able to pick a pass. We will be a weaker side when Phillips is unavailable to play, but we really need an established second choice for when he's missing so it's not just a free hit for the opposition.

Koch & Struijk have both tried and not had much success. I rate them both highly but not in Phillips' role.

A fit Adam Forshaw is probably our best bet at the moment. Biesla really likes him but 2 years is a long time to be out with various injuries. Big question marks over whether he can maintain the intensity and remain injury free over a season. I hope so as he's a good player and deserves a shot.

[Drezza]

Bamford's just signed a 5 year contract to 2026 which is a positive as Spurs have been sniffing around apparently. If we can sign Lewis O'Brien and Noa Lang that'd be a good window for us I think.

[JNW1]

Drezza said:

Bamford's just signed a 5 year contract to 2026 which is a positive as Spurs have been sniffing around apparently. If we can sign Lewis O'Brien and Noa Lang that'd be a good window for us I think.

Sounds like things are edging in the right direction with Noa Lang - apparently personal terms have been agreed and talks are progressing well with Club Brugge on agreeing a transfer fee. You'd think this would mean either Costa or Poveda leaving though; they're already behind Raphina and Harrison in the pecking order and another quality winger would surely mean their chances of 1st team football would become even less. Mind you, there are rumours Poveda's had a falling-out with Bielsa in which case he might be gone in this transfer window regardless...

The O'Brien one seems to have gone a bit quiet although it sounded like discussions with Huddersfield were on-going and the player was saying he wanted to join us. But in the meantime rumours about getting Josh Brownhill from Burnley have surfaced and Nahitan Nandes from Caliagri keeps getting a mention as well; personally I think the latter won't come to anything (shades of the Rodrigo de Paul saga last summer!) but Brownhill is proven in the Premier League and IMO wouldn't be the worst idea if he's available for sensible money - as we saw last weekend, we could do with strengthening our midfield!

[Drezza]

Yeah I can't quite work out what Bielsa's plans are for Noa Lang if we got him, would he play in front of Harrison or Raphinha? Seems like the fee would be about £20m which I think would be too much to warm the bench. CM would be a priority for me before signing a winger, it might be the case where they see good value in Noa Lang so are jumping on the deal regardless.

[resolve10]

Drezza said:

Yeah I can't quite work out what Bielsa's plans are for Noa Lang if we got him, would he play in front of Harrison or Raphinha? Seems like the fee would be about £20m which I think would be too much to warm the bench. CM would be a priority for me before signing a winger, it might be the case where they see good value in Noa Lang so are jumping on the deal regardless.

Bielsa does like to have options on the wings though. I think because Bamford is so vital to the way we play and usually plays the full 90 minutes, he sees the wingers as his best option to influence a game from the bench. I think Costa is a good player on his day, just hasn't shown it enough. Summerville is very well thought of in the u23's so I agree with you that adding another winger (taking us to 5 first team wingers!) over a central midfielder is a bit odd, but if the right player isn't available there's not a lot we can do.

I'd much rather we stick with the squad we have than sign players for the sake of it, but we do really need a Pablo Hernandez replacement.

[JNW1]

resolve10 said:

Drezza said:

Yeah I can't quite work out what Bielsa's plans are for Noa Lang if we got him, would he play in front of Harrison or Raphinha? Seems like the fee would be about £20m which I think would be too much to warm the bench. CM would be a priority for me before signing a winger, it might be the case where they see good value in Noa Lang so are jumping on the deal regardless.

Bielsa does like to have options on the wings though. I think because Bamford is so vital to the way we play and usually plays the full 90 minutes, he sees the wingers as his best option to influence a game from the bench. I think Costa is a good player on his day, just hasn't shown it enough. Summerville is very well thought of in the u23's so I agree with you that adding another winger (taking us to 5 first team wingers!) over a central midfielder is a bit odd, but if the right player isn't available there's not a lot we can do.

I'd much rather we stick with the squad we have than sign players for the sake of it, but we do really need a Pablo Hernandez replacement.

I suppose we have to just trust Bielsa and Orta but I agree, reinforcing the midfield would appear to be more important than buying another winger. And if any midfield strengthening was to happen by buying O'Brien - who still looks the most likely recruit in that area - I'd be nervous as to whether he'd be the quality we need in the Premier League; if he is it will look an inspired buy at less than £10m but is he actually better than the midfield players we've got on our books already?

[Killer2005]

resolve10 said:

Drezza said:

Yeah I can't quite work out what Bielsa's plans are for Noa Lang if we got him, would he play in front of Harrison or Raphinha? Seems like the fee would be about £20m which I think would be too much to warm the bench. CM would be a priority for me before signing a winger, it might be the case where they see good value in Noa Lang so are jumping on the deal regardless.

I'd much rather we stick with the squad we have than sign players for the sake of it, but we do really need a Pablo Hernandez replacement.

Would take Cunha but I don't think that was ever serious.

[Drezza]

Cunha would be nice, but believe Fabrizio Romano said he's joining Athletico Madrid? I think it'll just be O'Brien and that's it for this window.

Seen the Tweet below from a journalist I've never heard of that we've agreed personal terms for Lang, but apparently he's not very reliable so take it with a pinch of salt...

https://twitter.com/NicoSchira/status/142880661799...

Nicolò Schira
@NicoSchira

1. Leeds are really interested in the dutch winger Noa #Lang. Agreed personal terms for a contract until 2025 with option for another year. #LUFC are working to try to finalize the deal with #Brugge: no agreement yet, but talks on. #transfers

[Killer2005]

[JNW1]

Killer2005 said:

Yes, saw that earlier this morning as well. Hopefully Orta will pull something out of the bag before deadline day but I can see a scenario where we'll end-up running with what we've got...

[resolve10]

Strange game today. Atmosphere was absolutely bouncing as you'd expect after 18 months (and a promotion), but it went absolutely flat after half time. Everton got their second goal and then had a couple of chances to put us to bed, we did well to hold on and get a grip on the game again.

Everton were under a lot of pressure for large spells of the game but probably had the better chances. Bold move in modern football to play two strikers away from home but then strangely waste time at every opportunity during both periods when they were in the lead. I hate to see that so glad we could get at least a point out of it.

Last season I was casual about Raphinha and talk of him moving to a Champions League side but he's different gravy watching him live. Technique is ridiculous. Realistically we're not going to be challenging for Europe without a couple of first team additions so I worry we'll lose him next summer.

[JNW1]

resolve10 said:

Last season I was casual about Raphinha and talk of him moving to a Champions League side but he's different gravy watching him live. Technique is ridiculous. Realistically we're not going to be challenging for Europe without a couple of first team additions so I worry we'll lose him next summer.

I agree. If we don't improve on last season - which won't be easy without a couple of quality recruits - I don't see us keeping Raphina beyond next summer; IMO he's too good for a mid-table PL team....

[dxbtiger]

Also agreed, but would be ok with us cashing in, after another stellar season there would be big profit to be had.

Need to move heaven and earth to build a side around KP though...

[JNW1]

dxbtiger said:

Also agreed, but would be ok with us cashing in, after another stellar season there would be big profit to be had.

Need to move heaven and earth to build a side around KP though...

Problem is KP's also good enough to be playing Champions League football so if we stagnate and lose the likes of Raphina I could see someone like Phillips going as well. I suppose if we get big money for them - and reinvest it wisely so we at least maintain our PL status - it won't be the end of the world but realistically footballers have relatively short careers so if an opportunity comes to play at a higher level you can't really blame them for taking it...

Back to the game yesterday and I really hope Llorente is back to fitness soon so we can relegate Cooper to at least the bench. He's certainly improved significantly under Bielsa but for me he still isn't good enough for the PL; he let Calvert Lewin get goal side of him for Everton's penalty yesterday and how he could then claim with a straight face it wasn't a foul is beyond me - the only surprise was the referee missed it in real time!

[dxbtiger]

Yes, great Captain but fourth choice CB now.

Problem is Llorente and Koch keep breaking, combined they are still way short of how many games Ben White played, still wish we'd bought him, can't believe he's gone to that toilet of a football club.

[resolve10]

dxbtiger said:

Yes, great Captain but fourth choice CB now.

Problem is Llorente and Koch keep breaking, combined they are still way short of how many games Ben White played, still wish we'd bought him, can't believe he's gone to that toilet of a football club.

Ben White would also have solved the KP issue. He's the only player we've had under Bielsa who looks anywhere close to being able to cover his role. Real shame we didn't get him but Brighton did well, got a season out of him and made £20m more than we were offering in 2020 so can't argue.

[CustardOnChips]

dxbtiger said:

Yes, great Captain but fourth choice CB now.

I've said from the start if last season he's not good enough, and taken some abuse for saying so.
He's a liability if we're being honest about it.