Leeds game ratings

[ZLF 334]

Green  6    Very little to do - distribution, like the rest of the team

Colin    4    Limited aerial strength exposed by Leeds who also used the space in front of him very well.  Pulled out of position too easily.  Poor distribution

Flem    5     Too slow an too often out of position and weak clearances..  poor distribution. 

Shacks 5   Manfully handled illegal approach by HUlse with ref who offered him no protection but passing appalling and uses pace to get himself out of his poor poitioning problems.

Charlie  5  Poor passing, poor coverage poor.

Defence - no organisation or leadership; a total inability to keep a shape and cant pass to a yellow shirt without putting the receiver under pressure or hitting a hopeful long ball.  All solvable with good coaching... but who can give that.  Why did one striker keep 2 central defenders so busy????

Marney  5 - best partner for safri we have seen so far but corners and most free kicks poor, poor passing.  He needs to be far better than this.

Safri     8 - the one ray of light - comfortably the best footballer on the park.  God forbid he gets injured or suspended.

Brennan 5 - Did ok but did not have much of an impact - nearest of the fives to a six but again poor passing and pass selection let him down.  A player out of his optimum position.

Hux       5 - Wasted on the right, wasted his own runs by constantly running into blind alleys and not releasing the ball early enough.  Worthy has to solve how and where to play him in the team.

Ashton   5 - Did he have someone elses shooting boots on or was he playing rigby league - every effort went sky wards.   Shooting worse than leons but link upplay better.

Leon      5 - Poor shooting but nt as bad as Deanos but his touch and link up play were dreadful.  His redeeming feature - hard work - was again down on last years efforts.  T9ie to sort out his home life or move on.

Doc       5  Derided unfairly IMO.  Did nothing wrong and unlike everyone other than Safri WANTED the ball and was desperate to keep the game moving.  Won just about everything in the air. Would have been booed even if he had got a hat trick...

McVeigh  5  Too little time to have an impact

 

Worthington 4. 

Team selection - A midfield comprised of two midfielders?  Brennan is a left back and Hux a striker who prefers the left. How can he be happy with the squad with that subs bench?  He simply had no options when it became clear to most observers that we could not cope with their 5 man midfield and or able to get a shot below 8 feet high.  

Tactics  Why play hux on the right?  His whole game is about cutting onto his prefered right foot from left of the park - on the right flank he can only go to the byline which is not his game.  Why minimise you own most lethal weapon in that way??  The space he left in front of Colin understandably left him shellshocked and with his worst game so far.  

Going to 3 at the back was an OK idea (match leeds numbers in midfield) but you take charlie off at that stage and bring McVeigh onto the right and switch Hux to the left.

Reliant on route one for far too long in the game - it was clear that Gregan and Butler had the beating of ashton in the air every time - why did it take to hlf time to focus on passing? Conversley Leon had the beating of both for pace but not once did our midfield try and make the most of it - I know I know, leon would not have passed or got a good sho