Ricardo's report v Leeds

[ricardo 8,042]

It was wet and blustery first thing this morning here in the City but just as I was bemoaning the possibility of a wet ride up to CR, the clouds magically parted and by the time of kick off it was bright and sunny. I glanced at the team news before cycling offf and I know I often make the Tombola machine joke, this time it really did look like he'd pulled the numbers out of a hat. What is he trying to acheive? i have no idea.

We have been looking for a bit more effort and intensity and we certainly got that in the early moments as City began brightly and a strong run from Kabak earned the games first corner. We know what we get from Leeds and they didn't disappoint with plenty physicality and Rashica was quickly dumped when he tried to break clear.

The first moment of danger for the home defence came when James looked through on goal only to be driven a bit wide by Tim Krul and when the shot eventually came in Grant Hanley was positioned nicely to clear from near the line.

Most of the action was in midfield but McLean got Rashica away on the City right and though his cross was cleared it fell nicely for Pukki, whose shot curled a couple of feet the wrong side of the post. From here on the home side began to assert a period of dominance but found it difficult to create clear cut chances. Mid way through the half it seemed that Aarons might get an opening when the ball fell nicely for him as he cut in from the left but Leeds defenders were on him before he could get a shot away. Then more sustained pressure ended when Normann volleyed a shot a yard wide of Meslier's right post and just before the break the Leeds keeper had to turn away a strong 20 yarder from Rashica.

It was generally fairly encouraging stuff with plenty of effort and little coming back from the visitors apart from a couple of balls over the top which had to be stoutly defended to prevent Raphina from getting clear. Opportunities are few and far between in this league and it was frustrating to see two free kicks wasted by atrocious deliveries from Keiran Dowell but all in all I was somewhat encouraged by the first half performance.

What we needed was to somehow get a lead and the crowd involved but sadly it wasn't to be as Leeds produced the first bit of real quality in an otherwise pedestrian contest. As soon as Raphina got inside the defender we were in trouble and despite two or three attempts at tackles or blocks, his footwork was just too good as he made space for himself to wrong foot Krul with a low shot into the corner.

After that disappointment City came back strongly and quickly earned a corner on the left. The delivery was spot on and Omobamidele was first to rise and plant an unstopable header off the underside of the bar. That was much better and now with the crowd in full voice I was expecting City to take up the running but once again it wasn't to be. Kabak lost control as he tried to weave past an opponent and the loose ball was picked up by Rodrigo who slammed a 25 yarder goalwards. From my position above and to the right, I expected Krul to at least parry it but the ball appeared to swerve through his arms to give the visitors another lead. Having played in goal I don't like to criticise keepers too much but it did seem like a mistake to me.

It was massively disappointing and from here Leeds never looked like giving it away. Time wasting and niggling fouls broke up play as City became more and more desperate. Tzolis, Placheta and Idah were thrown on in a desperate attempt to salvage something but it never looked remotely possible. Leeds are certainly nothing special but they had the one bit of real quality when it counted while City huffed and puffed and never really looked like pulling a rabbit out of the hat.

MoM for me, probably Max Aarons who at least showed some flashes of quality, Normann decent, but doesn't have enough quality around him. The rest bags of endeavour but you need more than that in this league. To be brutally honest this team will be relegated because it just isn't good enough and no amount of effort makes up for quality.

 

[Uncle Fred 526]

All that money spent and we have a team worse than last season

[ron obvious 1,711]

What did you think of our early penalty shout ricardo? It looked like handball to me.

[Don’t be Krul 452]

Completely honest and spot on assessment Ricardo, thought MOM between Aarons and Normann. Would have been the latter but he tired badly towards the end

[hogesar 10,775]

Good report Ricardo and pretty much echoes my thoughts. In lower Barclay I too thought Krul should have saved the second goal but I haven't seen it back.

[Aggy 944]

Agreed the side just isn’t good enough and we’ll go down, but at least today I thought we looked like a proper team. Too often in the first few games (and last week) we looked like a Sunday league side - not organised, not drilled, no real plan.

I thought the performance was alright today. Their second goal is a one off error (goes through/under him). Krul saves it 99 times out of 100. Pukki had an early chance, Normann had an effort just wide, McClean had a free header from a corner.  - I don’t think Leeds fans would have complained too much if we’d won it 2-1.

Play like today and at least we won’t go down as the worst prem side ever - something which has seemed a very real possibility at times.

Normann looks a cut above anything else we’ve got. He and Raphinha today the only two players with much quality today I thought.

 

[Penelope Catchpole 34]

10 minutes ago, ricardo said:

I know I often make the Tombola machine joke, this time it really did look like he'd pulled the numbers out of a hat. What is he trying to acheive? i have no idea.

We have been looking for a bit more effort and intensity and we certainly got that in the early moments as City began brightly…

 

Maybe the effort and intensity what he was trying to achieve, though today was a lot of huffing and puffing and the intensity notably dropped after Leeds scored their second.

Without Buendia, we look lost in the opposition half.

I thought Ricky van Wolfswinkel was a low point for our scouting system, but Sargent looks like he might break that record.

 

[First Wazzock 1,014]

It's like watching Groundhog Day. Making the same mistakes over and over again

[ricardo 8,042]

3 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

What did you think of our early penalty shout ricardo? It looked like handball to me.

It happened down my end and very quickly so really it was down to VAR.

[AJ 1,359]

15 minutes ago, Uncle Fred said:

All that money spent and we have a team worse than last season

Absolutely this, for me the biggest frustration is we are playing far worse. 

 

11 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

What did you think of our early penalty shout ricardo? It looked like handball to me.

I've seen people doing the YMCA with their hands lower than Dan James, should absolutely have been a penalty

[Monty13 2,738]

8 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Good report Ricardo and pretty much echoes my thoughts. In lower Barclay I too thought Krul should have saved the second goal but I haven't seen it back.

Yea he should have, it was a quick strike but basically went under him.

10 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

What did you think of our early penalty shout ricardo? It looked like handball to me.

It definitely hit his arm/hand but didn’t look deliberate. Think it would have been harsh and was maybe just outside.

[ricardo 8,042]

There were a few boo's at the end but I didn't boo myself. I felt they gave 100% and that's all you can ask for. The fact that they aren't good enough is what it is. You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

[Mr Tea 140]

10 minutes ago, Penelope Catchpole said:

Maybe the effort and intensity what he was trying to achieve, though today was a lot of huffing and puffing and the intensity notably dropped after Leeds scored their second.

Without Buendia, we look lost in the opposition half.

I thought Ricky van Wolfswinkel was a low point for our scouting system, but Sargent looks like he might break that record.

 

Sargent.

I don’t know what the scouts can see over us but flipping heck …..

RvW looks twice the player Sargent is .

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,261]

4 minutes ago, ricardo said:

There were a few boo's at the end but I didn't boo myself. I felt they gave 100% and that's all you can ask for. The fact that they aren't good enough is what it is. You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Leeds worked harder than us, won almost all second balls and constantly won possession whenever the ball was loose, they got back quicker than us and broke forward quicker than us and in more numbers. If we gave 100% what percentage did they give then? 

I don't think we're a very hard working side at all, which as a low quality side you need to be at the very minimum. and if we are giving it our all then there's something very wrong with our organization, positioning and gameplan without the ball and when we transition from defense to attack and vice versa..Either way it's a coaching issue and it needs to be fixed one way or another. If we can't make up the quality gap we have to be better organised and work harder than the opposition. 

 

I'm not having a go at you btw, but the notion that this team works hard really bugs me because I don't see it, particularly when things get tough. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Christoph Stiepermann

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

31 minutes ago, ricardo said:

There were a few boo's at the end but I didn't boo myself. I felt they gave 100% and that's all you can ask for. The fact that they aren't good enough is what it is. You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Mr Taylor didn't appear to want to help us much in the first half. First awful tackle from them should have brought an early booking and more control over the attitude. Think it was a good shout for a penalty and under the current rules his arm was in the wrong place. But unfortunately, it is true that when your are down, the blows reign down on you even more.

Definitely was Tim's fault for the second. Whichever angle you look at, he should have got it. Yet another body blow whe nyou are in pain.

Considering that Espirito got a chorus of "you don't know what you're doing" to a team five points of the CL, then I think our lot got off lightly with a few boos. Stoic our lot.

[ricardo 8,042]

46 minutes ago, Aggy said:

 

I thought the performance was alright today. Their second goal is a one off error (goes through/under him). Krul saves it 99 times out of 100. Pukki had an early chance, Normann had an effort just wide, McClean had a free header from a corner.  - I don’t think Leeds fans would have complained too much if we’d won it 2-1.

 

 

Yes, there was very little between them, in fact I was expecting Leeds to be better. They have one spark of top quality, the rest is physicality with a bit of cynicism thrown in.

[hogesar 10,775]

1 minute ago, ricardo said:

Yes, there was very little between them, in fact I was expecting Leeds to be better. They have one spark of top quality, the rest is physicality with a bit of cynicism thrown in.

Yep. Leeds will be in a relegation battle for much of the season. That we can't beat them is quite telling however.

[ricardo 8,042]

1 minute ago, keelansgrandad said:

Mr Taylor didn't appear to want to help us much in the first half. First awful tackle from them should have brought an early booking and more control over the attitude. Think it was a good shout for a penalty and under the current rules his arm was in the wrong place. But unfortunately, it is true that when your are down, the blows reign down on you even more.

Definitely was Tim's fault for the second. Whichever angle you look at, he should have got it. Yet another body blow whe nyou are in pain.

Considering that Espirito got a chorus of "you don't know what you're doing" to a team five points of the CL, then I think our lot got off lightly with a few boos. Stoic our lot.

I've boo'd more times at CR than most but I didn't think it warranted it today. More disappointed than anything else.

[Yellow Fever 4,415]

I think we had more 'chances' then they or at least attempts.

We just haven't got the clinical finish or quality.

Defence frankly Ok (Kabak's and Krul's blunder aside) 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,797]

59 minutes ago, ricardo said:

I've boo'd more times at CR than most but I didn't think it warranted it today. More disappointed than anything else.

I get the feeling people are resigned to the situation already . As I’ve said before its not the noisy minority that we hear on here , it’s the quiet majority that you heard today on the way to the ground , the pubs, sitting in the seats and in the bars after . 

 The majority opinion is that Farkes Prem record speaks for itself , and we haven’t got enough money to compete ,  so the players aren’t good enough  . The fans were quiet for large parts of today , and the reaction at the end was more a resigned shrug than anger . 

My mom was Andrew Oma for what it’s worth . I thought he did ok out of position . 

[Heading South 24]

1 hour ago, hogesar said:

Yep. Leeds will be in a relegation battle for much of the season. That we can't beat them is quite telling however.

Sorry Leeds had 3 regulars out today and will not get relegated , Bamford Ayling and knoch will make them to good to go down IMO

[Badger 2,745]

Thanks Ricardo.

We look like a team devoid of confidence to me (understandably) and we seem to have given up playing football in favour of the long kick forwards - it feels like the identity of the team has gone.

Too many changes..?

[Capt. Pants 5,018]

6 minutes ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

I get the feeling people are resigned to the situation already . As I’ve said before its not the noisy minority that we hear on here , it’s the quiet majority that you heard today on the way to the ground , the pubs, sitting in the seats and in the bars after . 

 The majority opinion is that Farkes Prem record speaks for itself , and we haven’t got enough money to compete ,  so the players aren’t good enough  . The fans were quiet for large parts of today , and the reaction at the end was more a resigned shrug than anger . 

My mom was Andrew Oma for what it’s worth . I thought he did ok out of position . 

Think you have to ask why with the size of squad we have that we play players out of position. 

In terms of pub talk. a big WTF moment when the team was announced and downright pessimism after the game. Not heard it this bad for many a season and certainly no talk of us not having any money, but questionable tactics.

 

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

22 minutes ago, Heading South said:

Sorry Leeds had 3 regulars out today and will not get relegated , Bamford Ayling and knoch will make them to good to go down IMO

Quite correct, Hoggy would be bust as a bookie in a fortnight. 

[daly 553]

It’s a case of Farke has no idea what his best team is and what system to play

 

[Dean Coneys boots 1,533]

2 hours ago, Uncle Fred said:

All that money spent and we have a team worse than last season

That is hard to argue against. It does look as if we just spent our biggest ever amount and wasted it. Not sure this team would finish top six in the champs 

[ricardo 8,042]

3 minutes ago, daly said:

It’s a case of Farke has no idea what his best team is and what system to play

 

And nor does anyone else. Each one of us has different favourites and different lineups but I'm  afraid none of them will make the sum total of what we have, good enough to stay in this league. The quality of this league improves each year. This team might have survived two years ago but not this year.

[Uncle Fred 526]

2 hours ago, ron obvious said:

What did you think of our early penalty shout ricardo? It looked like handball to me.

Ball to hand all day long 

[ricardo 8,042]

3 minutes ago, Uncle Fred said:

Ball to hand all day long 

Yes, I don't  think anyone made a big fuss about it where I sit. Seems they did on TV though.

[Big Vince 427]

23 minutes ago, ricardo said:

And nor does anyone else. Each one of us has different favourites and different lineups but I'm  afraid none of them will make the sum total of what we have, good enough to stay in this league. The quality of this league improves each year. This team might have survived two years ago but not this year.

And so every time Delia has one of her many relegations Norwich City just fall further and further behind the EPL juggernaut.