By Mike CourtneyA point away to Leicester, who made the playoffs last season and have similar if not greater aspirations this time, is positive. Our first clean sheet of the season, another positive. The return of Rudy to midfield in a man of the match performance and the captains armband a definite positive. Unbeaten start to the campaign, positive again.
Now that that's out of the way let's look at the negatives, and they were quite a few. Let's start at the back and work our way forward. The performance of Lee Peltier at right back only intensifies the need for a speedy return of Sam Byram from injury. Inept, abysmal, cringe worthy, were just a few of the phrases that went through my head as I watched with head in hands at some of his play. All epitomized by his foul throw in the second half. If one of my under 14's did this I would be hauling him off. As long as he is in the side we remain vulnerable down that flank and we need Byram back as soon as possible. Thankfully the rest of the back four were at their best and kept Nugent and Vardy relatively quiet throughout. We had industry aplenty in midfield but little creativity going forward. We didn't pass the ball that well and were often chasing after the Leicester midfield three. We need to control the game more and get Murphy on the ball as he does have the ability to find a pass though he did seem a little flat today. Up front we didn't have many chances and didn't really create anything until the introduction of Dom Poleon. McCormack was busy and got on the ball a lot but often in places where he couldn't hurt Leicester. Hunt and Varney worked hard but without any end product. When Smith came on he did pose a threat in the air but he offers little else on this evidence. So overall a good point. B-Mac will be happy with certain aspects, especially at the clean sheet and Austin's performance, but even he must see that we need to be more of a threat going forward and we do need fresh blood out wide to add a bit of pace and craft to get teams on the back foot. Byram's return can't come soon enough as he offers a threat going forward as well as being a decent defender. So back to Elland Road next week and the first of the Yorkshire Derby's against The Wendies and again live on TV. Hopefully we can be more of a threat in front of goal and build on the positive unbeaten start to the season. A good enough week for us Leeds fans but still a bit to go before we are a force to be reckoned with this season. MOT Leeds Leeds Leeds
8 Comments
shazzan
11/8/2013 07:58:56 pm
Already I am concerned about Smith and we have only just started. He seems to be lacking confidence and somewhat out of his depth. oops.
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Sci-Fi Dave
11/8/2013 09:22:52 pm
Personally, I think yesterday was one of Peltier's better performances - looked comfortable in a position which has traditionally been a weakness for him. Usually, he's been caught out of position on too many occasions but I was pleased with his overall display - foul throw aside!
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Chareose
11/8/2013 09:54:07 pm
I thought Peltier was steady at FB but he lacks ability going forwards. I think hes a good CB. Yes we need Byram to replace Peltier and Diouf to replace Green.... Then youd have the missing flair we need. Long term we need a CB who can pass and a striker (maybe poleon) who is more threatening..... Strength in depth is an issue too. The nice thing is i think BM knows this.....
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mick
12/8/2013 03:05:08 am
totally agree, pelts noy bad rb or cb, but no good going up field, green aint our answer neither, we maybe better with tonge in there at mo, he can see a forward pass
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Bedders
11/8/2013 10:37:57 pm
Leeds fans always seem to want a player at the football club to disparage and rubbish. I hope that Lee Peltier is not going to be that player this term. In my opinion he is a good all-round defender - calm, two footed, good in the air. I remember a few seasons ago when the Leeds faithful decided Steven Crainey wasn't their idea of a left back: picking on his slight lack of pace and ignoring his wand of a left foot and sound positional play. The player was virtually hounded out of the club and went on to be very influential in Blackpool's promotion to the Premier League and an excellent performer in their season at the top table. He has now been picked up on a free by Wigan and has a good chance of going back to the Premier. My point is that United fans are not always the greatest judges of a player and, perhaps we should get off Peltier's back and give him our full support.
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MrLew
11/8/2013 11:26:35 pm
Eh! Those saying Pelts had a good game should have gone to specsavers! either that or I should........oh I forgot, I actually did.
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Mr orange
12/8/2013 12:30:36 am
I think one thing we are all agreed on is that we need more strenth in depth ... Bmac has said yet again that he's working on bringing new faces to the club but its proving difficult , lets hope the problems can be ironed out this week and bmac can get the players he wants for the positions he wants them in , I think at the moment players are having to step out of thier comfort zone for the good of the team and play in positions they are not happy being in
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Jon Davies
12/8/2013 07:23:32 am
Look. Results are all that matter. We nullified a very good Leicester team and although we didn't create much we still stifled a fancied side. I think there's loads of positives to take out of that. We're not Barca, we're a championship side and a good one at that. Judge the team next May, not after 2 games
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