Leeds (A) 18/04: Build-Up & Match Thread

[Bertiewolf]

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The man with the brown envelopes!! (Allegedly)

 

[PuntsWolf]

I’m giving him a complete pass on his rematch comments. All managers pretty much deal in banalities, and who can blame them.

You give Edwards a massively easy ride though. I don’t know why, given he gets it everywhere else. It’s not his words, it’s the filth he’s serving up on the pitch, coupled with his (perhaps unfortunate) self satisfied demeanour afterwards. I see no style of play improvement at all TBH, we only have a ‘style’ in as much as any collection of professionals produce some form of style by definition. And it’s a false dichotomy to say he’s playing to get results - he’s simply not going to get the results to go past Burnley because he’s turning out rank displays that see us get thumped at West Ham. Amongst a massive catalogue of other awful displays he is responsible for. He’s literally shown nothing that suggests he’s going to bring the system or players that will bring either joy or results. Why defend him? Is he still doing us a favour? For crying out loud.

I don’t give him an easy ride. I just find the comments against him to be utter nonsense most the time.

We’ve been largely competitive in games since around Xmas. This is an improvement. We were competitive against West Ham until Mane’s rick (and bizarre decision not to foul him when he caught up) and then it fell apart.

The stats say since Xmas “he’s getting results”.

I don’t know whether he will bring joy or a system to this team, evidence pre wolves suggests he won’t. But there isn’t really any evidence to glean on that from this team to add weight either way, simple as that.

 

[NicholasG1973]

Rob Edwards is not the man we needed at the time, he’s not the man we need now and he’s definitely not the man we need next season.

If there’s a better option in the summer, I’d wave him goodbye in an instant.

He smacks of the mediocrity that sweeps through our football club and the large acceptance of the fan base of the utter shit show we have witnessed this season.

It is incredible that this unique bunch of failures have not have a rougher ride from fans that are usually super quick to voice dissatisfaction.

I think a large number of us have given up, or that’s how it feels.

 

[prawnking]

I don’t agree with this though. In the first half we were the better side (admittedly low
Bar). We pressed high, won the ball high, played in their half, got the ball into the final third, got the “#10s” on the ball, bur sadly with these players it doesn’t lead to anything.

But what can we learn? Most of them shouldn’t and/or won’t be here. The team (and rob) will be better off scrapping a few results rather than trying to play some totally unsuitable way and getting smashed every week. People would be queuing up to hammer him more than they already are.

The turnover of players in the middle and attacking third of the pitch is going to be huge. There’s only AA you can be confident will likely be starting next year.

That’s not going to happen though when we’ve got a relealistic chance of passing Burnley and that’s worth £3m. Fans wouldn’t accept that either. As above, nothing to achieve when the players wont be here next year and we don’t have the players to implement any style either.

Rather than the squad being some aberration that Rob has to suffer through to get to his fabled Championship dream squad, which will then apparently magically reveal all of his great, hidden managerial qualities, I think they're actually quite well suited to each other.

Both are unsuitable for anything other than massive struggle in this league

 

[Mel Evo]

I don’t give him an easy ride. I just find the comments against him to be utter nonsense most the time.

We’ve been largely competitive in games since around Xmas. This is an improvement. We were competitive against West Ham until Mane’s rick (and bizarre decision not to foul him when he caught up) and then it fell apart.

The stats say since Xmas “he’s getting results”.

I don’t know whether he will bring joy or a system to this team, evidence pre wolves suggests he won’t. But there isn’t really any evidence to glean on that from this team to add weight either way, simple as that.

Well I genuinely hope you’re right and there’s something I just don’t see with my own eyes.

 

[SSB]

It is incredible that this unique bunch of failures have not have a rougher ride from fans that are usually super quick to voice dissatisfaction.

I think a large number of us have given up, or that’s how it feels.

You’d think fans wouldn’t be too happy if the manager went off to the boxing the night before a game. Charity event or not.

 

[Tony Towner]

As it would appear Palace enjoyed their time in Florence I think we'll be down Monday night at the latest. At that point I'd be playing players you know will be here next season in the positions you have identified for them. Can't build an 11 like that, but for the sake of argument if he sees Mane as a 10, Rodrigo as a wide forward, Toti and Mosquera as first choice centre halves in a 4 etc then give them a few games there.

 

[Lycan]

I don’t agree with this though. In the first half we were the better side (admittedly low
Bar). We pressed high, won the ball high, played in their half, got the ball into the final third, got the “#10s” on the ball, bur sadly with these players it doesn’t lead to anything.

But what can we learn? Most of them shouldn’t and/or won’t be here. The team (and rob) will be better off scrapping a few results rather than trying to play some totally unsuitable way and getting smashed every week. People would be queuing up to hammer him more than they already are.

The turnover of players in the middle and attacking third of the pitch is going to be huge. There’s only AA you can be confident will likely be starting next year.

That’s not going to happen though when we’ve got a relealistic chance of passing Burnley and that’s worth £3m. Fans wouldn’t accept that either. As above, nothing to achieve when the players wont be here next year and we don’t have the players to implement any style either.

Unfortunately I don't think the turnover of players is going to be quite as high as we all want it to be. We're still going to be watching too many of Tchatchoua, Bellegarde, Hwang, Tolu, Doherty, Bueno etc next year.

I think given how bad it's been this season the fans would accept anything as long as it's communicated well. If they had made a big thing of this month off, maybe gone on a warm weather training camp or even just leaked to press that they were drilling the players in double sessions and treating it like a mini pre season with the view of changing our style ahead of next season we could've accepted a game like WHU.

Don't treat us like idiots. We know we're going down. Own it and try to build something because next season is huge.

As for Edwards, well he shouldn't be here anyway and we should be looking to move him on. I've said it before but if you gave all 24 Championship clubs next season a clean slate and a brief to 'be a PL club in August 27' then precisely 0 out of 24 clubs would hire Edwards. The same goes for Matt Jackson as well. We should be looking to appoint someone serious in that position.

We won't though. The 'August 27' line is almost certainly waffle and unfortunately they probably are more interested in the £3M we'd get for finishing above Burnley than using these last 6 games to actually build something sustainable. The same type of short term thinking that's got us into this mess in the first place.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Well I genuinely hope you’re right and there’s something I just don’t see with my own eyes.

I’m not saying I’ve seen anything? I’m just stating facts?

I doubt he’s going to get us promoted next year, I agree with you, but his style or attacking performance with this group of players simply doesn’t move the needle on my thoughts on that

 

[Del Woppio]

Cheers mate,

Unfortunately I don't think the turnover of players is going to be quite as high as we all want it to be. We're still going to be watching too many of Tchatchoua, Bellegarde, Hwang, Tolu, Doherty, Bueno etc next year.

I think given how bad it's been this season the fans would accept anything as long as it's communicated well. If they had made a big thing of this month off, maybe gone on a warm weather training camp or even just leaked to press that they were drilling the players in double sessions and treating it like a mini pre season with the view of changing our style ahead of next season we could've accepted a game like WHU.

Don't treat us like idiots. We know we're going down. Own it and try to build something because next season is huge.

As for Edwards, well he shouldn't be here anyway and we should be looking to move him on. I've said it before but if you gave all 24 Championship clubs next season a clean slate and a brief to 'be a PL club in August 27' then precisely 0 out of 24 clubs would hire Edwards. The same goes for Matt Jackson as well. We should be looking to appoint someone serious in that position.

We won't though. The 'August 27' line is almost certainly waffle and unfortunately they probably are more interested in the £3M we'd get for finishing above Burnley than using these last 6 games to actually build something sustainable. The same type of short term thinking that's got us into this mess in the first place.

Spot on analysis and a thoroughly depressing but accurate read of where we're at and where we're going

 

[Tony Towner]

I think the desire to go back up is genuine, I've never subscribed to the view that many did about that post from The Accountant. I've always thought it was arrogance and incompetence rather than a lack of interest and still do.

Unfortunately I still don't think the competence exists at least at all football levels to deliver it though. If we enter pre season with either the likes of J Gomes and Andre still on the books tying up the money needed to remake the squad or are told the market is slow because of the World Cup we'll know lessons haven't been learnt

 

[Lycan]

I think the desire to go back up is genuine, I've never subscribed to the view that many did about that post from The Accountant. I've always thought it was arrogance and incompetence rather than a lack of interest and still do.

Unfortunately I still don't think the competence exists at least at all football levels to deliver it though. If we enter pre season with either the likes of J Gomes and Andre still on the books tying up the money needed to remake the squad or are told the market is slow because of the World Cup we'll know lessons haven't been learnt

I think both things can be true.

They can reign back their ambitions from pre-covid levels (remember they were waffling about making us as big as Man City at one point, not that anyone ever believed them) and still be incompetent idiots.

 

[Templeton Peck]

I've said it before but if you gave all 24 Championship clubs next season a clean slate and a brief to 'be a PL club in August 27' then precisely 0 out of 24 clubs would hire Edwards.

Don't agree with this at all - got Luton promoted and had Middlesbrough top 2 when he left. He's not Pep but he ain't Saunders either.

 

[Tony Towner]

I think both things can be true.

They can reign back their ambitions from pre-covid levels (remember they were waffling about making us as big as Man City at one point, not that anyone ever believed them) and still be incompetent idiots.

Reigning back their ambitions isn’t really up for debate, but he/she was saying they weren't bothered what league we were in and when we eventually go down would asset strip as far as possible and run us essentially like a team in administration. I don't believe that's the intent.

 

[Templeton Peck]

Reigning back their ambitions isn’t really up for debate, but he/she was saying they weren't bothered what league we were in and when we eventually go down would asset strip as far as possible and run us essentially like a team in administration. I don't believe that's the intent.

I've come to that view. I think they want to be where the money is. If they can have us finishing 17th every year I think they'd take it.

 

[Lycan]

Reigning back their ambitions isn’t really up for debate, but he/she was saying they weren't bothered what league we were in and when we eventually go down would asset strip as far as possible and run us essentially like a team in administration. I don't believe that's the intent.

Not initially maybe but if they fuck it up in the first few seasons they won't continue to invest to get us back up.

 

[sycophantia]

I don’t give him an easy ride. I just find the comments against him to be utter nonsense most the time.

We’ve been largely competitive in games since around Xmas. This is an improvement. We were competitive against West Ham until Mane’s rick (and bizarre decision not to foul him when he caught up) and then it fell apart.

The stats say since Xmas “he’s getting results”.

I don’t know whether he will bring joy or a system to this team, evidence pre wolves suggests he won’t. But there isn’t really any evidence to glean on that from this team to add weight either way, simple as that.

There's no doubt we have been more competitive under Edwards and the results against Villa and Liverpool were great fun but really the only game we looked anything like the better team was the West Ham win, who were appalling at the time. Even allowing for the dog shit squad we've managed to assemble for mad amount of money, we haven't really dominated any of the also terrible teams.
I don't hate Edwards but for me he just hasn't got the ability to have us even competitive at the top of next seasons Championship.

 

[Tony Towner]

Not initially maybe but if they fuck it up in the first few seasons they won't continue to invest to get us back up.

That's my concern. I think Shi I's relegation is a technicality was his ham fisted way of saying he thinks coming back would be an inevitability. There's a danger Shi II's 1 year only comment comes from a similar place. Teams that bounce straight back don’t normally need the squad overhaul we do. I worry it'll be a lot harder than Fosun think and we are relying on those further down like Edwards and Jackson to be listened to in a way that people in their positions haven't been in the past. That's before even addressing whether they themselves are up to the job.

 

[PuntsWolf]

There's no doubt we have been more competitive under Edwards and the results against Villa and Liverpool were great fun but really the only game we looked anything like the better team was the West Ham win, who were appalling at the time. Even allowing for the dog shit squad we've managed to assemble for mad amount of money, we haven't really dominated any of the also terrible teams.
I don't hate Edwards but for me he just hasn't got the ability to have us even competitive at the top of next seasons Championship.

We haven’t played any of the also terrible teams. The only one comparable is Burnley, and then possibly Spurs because of just how much of a shit show they are.

Leeds, West Ham, Forest. These are all significantly better teams than us. It really is blowing my mind how people can accept that these players are really bad but then not understand why they play really bad?

 

[prawnking]

So if it's all down to players then why bother with managers?