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LUFC Is it really all doom and gloom?
At the moment it all seems doom and gloom around the Leeds United fans sites.
Lack of ambition, selling all our players, selling them to fellow championship clubs, the list goes on and on.
However, are we all guilty of jumping on the bandwagon before we have even given Simon Grayson a chance to bolster his squad for the new season? A season that is still over five weeks away.
So far we have seen two players leave Elland Road.
Selling Kasper Schmeichel might have come as a bit of a shock. However, are we really disappointed to see a goalkeeper leave that let in fifty-one goals last season in thirty-seven championship games?
His defence wasn`t particularly good either but he didn`t cover himself in much glory after the opening month of the season in the Championship.
Leeds boss Simon Grayson even pointed to the fact that a lot of goals were down to him and that selling a player, who only arrived at the club twelve months ago for free was good business.
Schmeichel may go on to a long a prosperous career at the top level but at this moment in time we need a much better keeper, one that commands his area and takes control of those playing in front of him.
Goalkeeper Paul Rachubka is so far the only signing made by Grayson, one of two goalkeepers we need to bring in with fellow goalkeeper Shane Higgs also released at the end of last season.
We are still not sure if Rachubka will be number one choice as we wait for news of another goalkeeper signing.
If he is to be number one we have a goalkeeper that worked with Grayson at Blackpool. He helped them win promotion from League One during Grayson`s time at Blackpool and he made twenty appearances for the seasiders when they won promotion from the Championship just two seasons ago, so he knows what it takes to get out of this division.
We then look at the others departing Elland Road, with Neil Kilkenny already gone to Bristol City and Bradley Johnson set to seal a move away sometime in the near future.
How many Leeds fans are disappointed to lose these two players?
Neil Kilkenny was a midfielder who could only pass a ball ten yards sideways and didn`t always find a player in a Leeds shirt.
That was his value to the side, he couldn`t fill the role as the holding midfielder, did little attacking and he couldn`t tackle his way out of a paper bag.
We have been crying out for a tough tackling midfielder for a long time, now that he`s off the wage bill, we might find one. Surely it can`t be hard to find better than Kilkenny.
Bradley Johnson was never the most consistent player during his three years at Elland Road. He had a decent start to the 2009/10 season but quickly tailed off.
Last season he had some good performances but once again, surely we can find better than him. He was another midfielder who struggled to find a fellow Leeds player with his passing and don`t get me started on his shooting. Ok he scored a screamer against Arsenal in the FA Cup but more often than not, he was closer to row z than finding the back of the net.
So let us put it into some sort of context. We are losing three players who did little for us last season. All three played the vast majority of the season as they fell into the 'Grayson`s favourites` criteria.
We still wait for the signing of another goalkeeper, could he be the number one?
Hopefully we could see a fully fit Patrick Kisnorbo ready for the start of the new season.
In midfield, we have two great wingers in Robert Snodgrass and Max Gradel. John Howson stepped up to the championship last season. He looked the part, chipping in with eleven goals, and he is a player that will only get better. People forget that he is still only 23.
Ramon Nunez is waiting in the wings. Let us hope this season he will get the chance and he can make the same impact that Davide Somma did last season.
Upfront we have Luciano Becchio, Davide Somma and Ross McCormack, I`m not going to lie about Billy Paynter, he`s not good enough for the championship.
We know what we will get from Becchio. He will give you 100% every game and he is a player that has scored in or around twenty goals in each of his three seasons at Elland Road.
If Ross McCormack can carry on where he left of last season then he will be like a new signing. I hope he hits the ground running in pre season and he could chip in with around twenty goals a season.
An inform Becchio and McCormack partnership is a mouth-watering prospect.
Davide Somma looked more than capable when given the chance last season and is certainly a good back up.
We are probably looking at needing five or six good signings to make this side more than competitive this season.
The players still haven`t returned for pre season training and many fans are already writing off our chances.
I don`t like Ken Bates, I wouldn`t trust the bloke as far as I come throw him, and lets be honest it wouldn`t be very far with his rotund figure but lets see what happens in the next five weeks before we start talking about relegation fights
Read more:
http://www.leeds.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=245632#ixzz1Qg90hk00
