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EYEBALL119

Last Night - A Leeds view

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First of all this isn''t a view from the TV, I was sat behind the goal opposite to yourselves so any opinions on actual incidents do not have the benefit of TV replays.

I''ll start of by congratulating the fans that made the horrific journey from your part of the world (and probably a worse journey back) didn''t hear a lot from you but thats always the way as the acoustics in Elland Road aren''t that great - I''m sure you came across a lot better on the TV.

Now to the game, it was clear from the first whistle that when the ball was on the floor Norwich were going to be a threat, neat passing at a high tempo from a mobile attacking team. I thought it took us a while to come to terms with it but we did eventually and the goal came at a good time. From a Leeds POV the turning point of the 1st half was us losing our GK. His replacement just can''t deal with crosses into the box as you probably noticed. Had Higgs still been in goal Grant Holt wouldn''t have had the opportunity to score.

I think its fair to say you were the most accomplished team to visit Elland Road this season without really having that cutting edge or ruthlessness. Similar to Leeds last season under Gary McAllister, we passed teams off the park and steamrolled the smaller teams but lost so many games due to our inability to defend. For Leeds this season is all about getting out of this division, 2 failed attempts make it a MUST this year.

A lot has been made of the last 20 minutes or so and although at the time it was more frustrating than enjoyable, we did actually come into the game a lot, the extra power and pace the substitutes brought negated the need for Leeds to have to play through midfield, which I thought was your strongest area of the pitch. You will notice on replays that a lot of the chances late on came from long balls up to the front men. The goal itself although a huge amount of luck/misfortune should have been academic by that point, Beckford had enough chances to win the game on his own and 9 times out of 10 he doesn''t miss the open goal...

As much as you played some pretty football you never really got behind our back 4 and our GK made few saves. I don''t think for a minute that anything other than a draw would have been a fair result but on gilt-edge chances created Leeds were bound to snatch one. I''ll take another 34 of those this season.

I''m sure you''ll be up there come May, Charlton aren''t a great team and the rest of the squads up there aren''t big enough and always have the ability to lose a game or two. Automatic is a real possibility for you if you keep playing but teams do find it easy to play well at Elland Road. We''re 11 points clear of you now with a game in hand - that''ll take some catching!

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Will also add that I thought the referee was terrible last night 2 yellows inside the first 4 minutes!? I''m led to believe that the 1st one was correct but the Norwich one wasn''t, he made a rod for his own back because he had to book everyone for a similar challenge all night. The less said about the getting in the way and then giving a free kick the better...

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A fair-ish reflection.Although I would say that Leeds lack that creative spark in midfield, whilst Norwich struggled with the last ball we not only passed the ball well we looked full of ideas.Grayson did the right thing and changed it and it wasn''t added pace that started to threaten us it was the player that came on with the blond streak in his hair. He made good strong runs and tried to pick out players and keep the ball moving. From the begining of the second half Leeds seemed to struggle to know what to do every ball seem to be played to Beckford who had the best scoring oppertunity of the match and fluffed it. He was either not on song last night or he really isn''t as good as all the stuff you hear about him is. Up until the substitutions the best chance you had you scored.As for the change of keeper, it was a good thing for you because Higgs looked decidedly dodgy in the opening ten minutes, wasn''t holdin onto anything and almost put it in his own net.I would agree that Norwich lacked a cutting edge, it wasn''t in finishing it was with the final ball. I think sometimes we could have taken on longer range shots.Not sure what will happen come the end of the season, there are a lot of things that could effect both teams. For example at the moment the financial issues around Leeds have been rumoured to possible be leading towards a transfer inbargo. Then there is the will-he-stay-or-wont-he Beckford. Its a long tough old season - good luck to Leeds.

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I don''t know of any financial trouble Leeds have!? We''ve just recieved £8M for Fabian Delph, £800kfor 2 14 year olds to Man City and £1.7M for a young defender to Everton. We also made a £4.5M profit last year! We couldn''t afford or wouldn''t stump up the cash to activate a buy-back option on our training complex but Grayson was told he has the money to strengthen in August... he just chose not to.

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I think your summary of last night is pretty fair, Eyeball, although like most on here I took the chance to watch it on Sky rather than make the long trek to Elland Road and therefore saw it from a different perspective from those actually at the game.

To be honest Beckford did have a couple of gilt edged chances which looked certain to find the net before he did score by which time we were pretty much dead on our feet. I expect with hindsight our manager regrets not bringing on the subs a bit earlier. For the first 30 mins of the second half we played probably our best football of the season but actual clear cut chances were few. At that stage I still thought we looked the more likely winners.

I do hope you''re right about our promotion chances. Paul Lambert seems to have addressed some of the problems he inherited and I''m feeling more and more that a top six finish is on the cards. Leeds must be there or thereabouts at the end of the season but for all of us there''s a long way to go yet.....  

I will have to disagree with your assessment of the ref. I thought he had an excellent game. Knowing that this game was likely to be a little '' lively '' he clamped down on things straightaway and left no one uncertain that he was in charge. You said you thought the first Norwich booking was harsh - I disagree - but to even things up a bit I think Johnson can feel aggrieved that he got a yellow for a fairly harmless second half challenge on our full back by the left hand touchline.

Perhaps we''ll be both be doing this all again in the Championship next time.....

 

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Eyeball119, well said-Leeds are a very powerful, strong, pacey side-clearly lessons learnt from the Gary Mac era. Don''t think you''ll have any trouble getting out of this league this season.

We look great when we''re passing it about, all the little triangles and movement, Holt is also more than "the big bloke up front", with some pace, and a bit of rejigging in the defence, I can see the positions come May being 1.Leeds, 2.Norwich, as we shouldn''t have much to fear from anyone else.

Incidentally, do you post on WACCOE?

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As an amateur referee in my spare time I tend to keep an eye on the ref more than most but for a game that barely had one bad challenge how can he justify booking 8 or 9 players??

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[quote user="chicken"]A fair-ish reflection.Although I would say that Leeds lack that creative spark in midfield, whilst Norwich struggled with the last ball we not only passed the ball well we looked full of ideas.Grayson did the right thing and changed it and it wasn''t added pace that started to threaten us it was the player that came on with the blond streak in his hair. He made good strong runs and tried to pick out players and keep the ball moving. From the begining of the second half Leeds seemed to struggle to know what to do every ball seem to be played to Beckford who had the best scoring oppertunity of the match and fluffed it. He was either not on song last night or he really isn''t as good as all the stuff you hear about him is. Up until the substitutions the best chance you had you scored.As for the change of keeper, it was a good thing for you because Higgs looked decidedly dodgy in the opening ten minutes, wasn''t holdin onto anything and almost put it in his own net.I would agree that Norwich lacked a cutting edge, it wasn''t in finishing it was with the final ball. I think sometimes we could have taken on longer range shots.Not sure what will happen come the end of the season, there are a lot of things that could effect both teams. For example at the moment the financial issues around Leeds have been rumoured to possible be leading towards a transfer inbargo. Then there is the will-he-stay-or-wont-he Beckford. Its a long tough old season - good luck to Leeds.[/quote]??

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[quote user="Old Shuck"]Eyeball119, well said-Leeds are a very powerful, strong, pacey side-clearly lessons learnt from the Gary Mac era. Don''t think you''ll have any trouble getting out of this league this season.

We look great when we''re passing it about, all the little triangles and movement, Holt is also more than "the big bloke up front", with some pace, and a bit of rejigging in the defence, I can see the positions come May being 1.Leeds, 2.Norwich, as we shouldn''t have much to fear from anyone else.

Incidentally, do you post on WACCOE?[/quote]

Yes you''ll find me under the same username.

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[quote user="EYEBALL119"]I don''t know of any financial trouble Leeds have!? We''ve just recieved £8M for Fabian Delph, £800kfor 2 14 year olds to Man City and £1.7M for a young defender to Everton. We also made a £4.5M profit last year! We couldn''t afford or wouldn''t stump up the cash to activate a buy-back option on our training complex but Grayson was told he has the money to strengthen in August... he just chose not to.[/quote]Isn''t the problem not that you''ve got money but that the Football League is unsure whose money it is and even KB doesn''t appear to know who ultimately owns your club? The training ground deal with the Council has not gone ahead because they are required as a public authority to undertake certain checks under the money laundering regs etc. which broke down when it became impossible to establish who actually owns Leeds Utd.

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[quote user="EYEBALL119"]Will also add that I thought the referee was terrible last night 2 yellows inside the first 4 minutes!? I''m led to believe that the 1st one was correct but the Norwich one wasn''t, he made a rod for his own back because he had to book everyone for a similar challenge all night. The less said about the getting in the way and then giving a free kick the better...[/quote]

We had a good view of that from the norwich corner, and there was an obvious foul, which is why the ref caught the ball rather than letting it bounce off him. Can see why it would be impossible to see from the other side though.

very fair report Eyeball.

We had good possession, but your defence essentially had us covered for most of it. There were spell where we stretched you, but we seemed scared to shoot all too often. Leeds had the better chances, by far.

I enjoyed the night though, we thought it might be one of those grounds where the acoustics make it hard to hear, but I loved the noise we made. Think the Norwich fans deserve a big well done, especially in the second half, and responding to the last minute goal with a rousing OTBC.

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[quote user="EYEBALL119"]Will also add that I thought the referee was terrible last night 2 yellows inside the first 4 minutes!? I''m led to believe that the 1st one was correct but the Norwich one wasn''t, he made a rod for his own back because he had to book everyone for a similar challenge all night. The less said about the getting in the way and then giving a free kick the better...[/quote]

Thanks for taking the trouble to post all those words on the game and yes we do need some pace and quality out wide.

I thought both the early bookings were justified. Naylor''s early foul on Hoolahan was a real cowards challenge, from behind and leading with the shoulder/elbow and the first opportunity to get at who Leeds perceived to be our most creative player. Hughes tackle looked nasty as well, late and studs raised. The cards seemed to settle the game down.

No complaints about the result, we had enough of the game to win it, but didn''t.

 

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[quote user="EYEBALL119"]As an amateur referee in my spare time I tend to keep an eye on the ref more than most but for a game that barely had one bad challenge how can he justify booking 8 or 9 players??[/quote]

You''ve answered your own question earlier on in the thread.

Because he booked someone within the 1st minute, he then set the tone for the rest of the match.

He is either card happy or just plain stupid.

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What I will say is that as much as the injury time winner was cruel, especially the manner of it and the fact you''d bossed posession. Had Beckford had his shooting boots on we could have been out of sight by the time your keeper decided that it was unfair to keep saving all Beckford''s shots.

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Leeds biggest problem will be keeping hold of Beckford in January if he keeps scoring goals.

TBH without him, they would appear to have much less threat and from what i could gather on the TV last night, a number of their players are loan players..and we know how that usually ends up!

City''s biggest problem is a lack of pace up front. Martin is a neat and tidy player but he lacks body strength and pace and does seem to disappear out of the game for long stretches. A quick forward or winger would make a big difference to our away games.

 

Ohh and the sooner Spillane is fit again to play R-B the better.

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i thought we rode our luck a little bit first half but were matching Leeds all through the game.

We didnt deserve to lose and it was due to a mistake that we all have to shake off that we did.... If Leeds are the best team in the division we have nothing to fear, and thats not a dig at Leeds in any way!

 Bring on the Swindle on Saturday and back to winning ways.

 

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[quote user="EYEBALL119"]What I will say is that as much as the injury time winner was cruel, especially the manner of it and the fact you''d bossed posession. Had Beckford had his shooting boots on we could have been out of sight by the time your keeper decided that it was unfair to keep saving all Beckford''s shots.[/quote]Don''t want to be harsh but this isn''t the first time I have seen Beckford play against a better team and seen him struggle. I was a bit shocked to see that Doherty was equal to him in a sprint and that most of his shots were poorly directed or that his first touch was poor and meant that he was always stretching when it came to a shot. He will struggle a lot more at a higher level if he can''t take the chances he had, it isn''t unlucky that he missed those chances!Gradel looks like a quality player, it was his injection of creativity and energy that reignited your game in the last 20-25mins and everything seemed to come through him at that point.As for the money bit one of the posters has already covered it, there have been murmerings about some sort of embargo if the league cannot establish who owns Leeds because any owner has to pass a fit and propper test etc.

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What I would say about Beckford is that he is available for a free in the summer so I can''t see any team shelling out on him in January. Leeds are fully prepared to lose him in the summer but hope to persuade him to stay by winning promotion. Any transfer embargo would surely help Leeds'' cause of keeping Jermaine Beckford.

Beckford is by no means the finished article, as mentioned his first touch is poor and at the moment he is lacking a bit of confidence. What he does have is the ability to win games (Monday being a prime example) He did something similar at Walsall earlier in the season. Losing with 8 mins to go - get an equaliser and with 2 mins left hooks a shot over his shoulder from 25-30 yards - 2-1 and 3 points!

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[quote user="refjezhitchin"]

[quote user="EYEBALL119"]As an amateur referee in my spare time I tend to keep an eye on the ref more than most but for a game that barely had one bad challenge how can he justify booking 8 or 9 players??[/quote]

You''ve answered your own question earlier on in the thread.

Because he booked someone within the 1st minute, he then set the tone for the rest of the match.

He is either card happy or just plain stupid.

[/quote]

 

The first booking was definitely justified. If the ref had not acted, the defenderr could have been emboldened and the next challenge could have put Wes out of the game. Well done ref !!!

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