Først føler jeg for å lime inn innlegget som Promo postet tidl. i dag (sikkert for å åpne for diskusjon om det som blir hevdet her). Men jeg inkluderer det også her fordi det forteller om Brentford-kampen. Deretter kommer jeg med noe eget (så bla forbi dette om du ikke gidder lese det).
No Urgency, No Tempo... No Good!
Another 2 points dropped on Saturday in Leeds' latest attempt to throw promotion away and crucially another chance for the chasing pack to put Leeds under pressure for the run-in. Most reports will reflect that Leeds were one cool finish away from 3 points and that they had the majority of the chances but against a Brentford team set up with a 4-5-1 damage limitation plan, would anybody expect anything less?!
It's become a concerning trait of this Leeds team that they have to concede a goal before they display any sort of urgency or attempt to play at any sort of tempo. Strangely it's not just the players to blame for this, it's the whole setup! Early in the first half a wayward effort on the Brentford goal landed on the segregation netting between the two sets of supporters in The South Stand... at least 50 seconds elapsed before the game was ready to resume as everybody in the stadium waited for a steward to hurdle down a few rows of seats to retrieve the seemingly solitary football inside Elland Road! This has been the story all season, how can you expect the team to play at a tempo and put defensive teams under pressure with constant reprieves whilst waiting for the ball to return??
At The Galpharm last week we were subjected to huge amounts of pressure, fuelled by a constant supply of footballs to players waiting to get the game back underway. Surely any Leeds team, nevermind a promotion chasing one should be looking to dictate proceedings at Elland Road, trying to turn the screw and not give the the opposition a chance to regroup, instead we get dragged down to the level of the teams that come to Leeds content with a 'smash and grab' and subsequently struggle to create any pattern of play...
As detrimental to a winning display that this is, it's far from the only problem we have currently; lack of confidence, nervous fans and the fact that the ball just isn't dropping for us at the minute, as pathetic as that sounds. Its all combining to make a once straight forward season into a very nervous one (Norwich City fans may argue that we've had enough luck to last 2 seasons this term).
By the time Lubomir Michalik headed against the foot of a post Leeds had already spurned more chances in 90 minutes than they've created in the previous 3 home games, Robert Snodgrass the biggest culprit as he failed to convert a magnificent opportunity after being released through on goal with only the 'keeper to beat. Leeds now travel to Tranmere for our long awaited 'game in hand' in the hope of strengthening our ever-weakening position in the top two. Hopefully we set about them from the off and not wait until we're a goal down and have it all to do.
Its all getting a little nervy but I'll take solace in the fact that bar Norwich, every team in this league would swap places with us, no questions asked and we're more than good enough to see the job through. We certainly make it hard for ourselves though!
De jeg snakket med etter kampen, følte alle dette som et tap. Gedigent tap. Til å bli deppa av eyc... Og det selv om vi hadde spillet (iallefall til vi inviterte Brentford med igjen). For, ja, vi skapte sjanser, spesielt vil jeg fremheve da Beckford for once spilte Snoddy gjennom så det sang... Men generelt, vi var ikke
farlige! Det var ikke 'hett' foran Brentford-målet. Den innlånte Brentford-keeperen hadde flere nervøse inngripener tidlig i kampen (bl.a. kastet han ballen omtrent i beina på Howson), men det var ikke
trøkk fra vår side... Derfor er jeg enig med Runar som heller ville hatt innpå Kandol enn Dickov (men nå er det jo dette med etterpåklokskapen da..)
Talende for meg var hvordan White visnet hen under kampen. Etter hvert ble han en nervøs bombe som knapt turte å gjøre feil... og da ble jo
alt feil. I mine øyne var det godt at han etter hvert ble byttet ut, for han spilte jo på alt annet enn sine sterke sider.
Ellers håååper jeg at McSheff er i ferd med å våkne. Han har jo blitt omtalt som en katastrofe i de foregående kampene, han var ingen katastrofe på lørdag. Er han i ferd med å komme til sin rett for oss???
Det som var så synd med lørdagen er at lettere motstand får vi knapt på denne siden av decenniet fremover. Og likevel klarte vi ikke å skaffe oss tre poeng
PS! I pausen (skulle på do) havna jeg i Radebe Lounge sammen med Ben Parker & free coffee/ tea, biscuits.
(usedvanlig deilig siden det var småkaldt)...men tok nok ikke kontakt & spurte hvor lenge han blei ute... (angra etterpå ja)
PS!! ...på vei ut på banen igjen så jeg 'presseavdelingen' og måtte jo ha en svipp opp dit også (og møtte igjen en jeg hadde truffet tidligere på dag, på min vei til Commy)