Groundhopping Owl

The club need to avoid a PR own goal on this - if Penney is turning out in a Leeds shirt (or whoever else) next season then the mood is going to turn downright ugly. Given our options at left back, we might as well accept him as an established first team player and pay him accordingly, it's not like with Hirst when he had no first team experience to match his pay demands.

Our effort towards students is p*ss poor and it's handing a whole swathe of fans straight to United. Up here I can walk into Hearts or Hibs games for a tenner and have a cracking afternoon, when I want to watch Wednesday I have to spend the best part of £60 on travel and end up buying a season ticket despite the distance because of how ridiculous our walk up charges are.

It bodes well for the future as long as we can keep our head above the water with regard to FFP in the meantime. If it really is sh*t or bust this season then it's just not going to cut it, but if we can hold on for some more long-term fruition, we'll be in a good position.

The ones on West St who burst onto the tram left us in no doubt by screaming "We are f***ing Leeds" in the face of some poor women standing by the doors.

A battling and very fortunate point. I'm pleased with our level of commitment - there was a hell of a lot of last-ditch defending required to keep us in that game. It was a worrying performance in that we had no control of the midfield, but we have to remember that we were up against a very good Leeds side. Bielsa's plan to press us off the ball worked perfectly, they just couldn't stick the ball in the net. We didn't cave, we stuck at it despite having to switch systems and suffering an injury early in the second half. I'm far from downhearted after that. Leeds look a very good side but their season is all about whether they can maintain that intensity with tired legs at the end of the season, we knew they'd start fast.

I hate midday kick offs but frankly after tonight we should never play them on a Friday night again. Supertram ought to take action against both the club and the f*ckwits at Sky Sports for damages and lost revenue.

Whoever’s idea it was to put this on a Friday night - well bloody done. Leeds fans making the trams absolutely impossible.

Glad we’ve got three in midfield, I’d have worried about us being overrun otherwise. It’s a strong team, if a bit thin on the bench.

Must make a nice change after well over a decade of home fans rubbing their hands at the prospect of playing your rabble. Don't worry, I doubt it'll last long.

A very good afternoon to you all, especially mi'lud who eloquently captures the dilemma of many Wednesdayites - we may hate United most, but L**ds are almost more irritating - while also giving me a good chuckle. Travelling down to this one because I'm a bit barmy, plus I missed both wins last season. Expect a loss tonight then. Big game this one, after what was probably our best performance of the season last week. If we really want to get excited about the table etc., tonight's the sort of game we need to be winning. Dispatching mid-table teams is one thing, beating the league leaders and media darlings (Bielsa's sheer presence apparently negates the fact that it's still Dirty L**ds and always will be) is quite another. If we want to do that, we'll have to be near our best. It's a good job that we finally found our top gear last week, else I'd be much more worried. It's going to be very high tempo, it'll be physical and probably fairly bad-tempered. The likes of Pelupessy will be useful tonight, as we need 100% commitment from everyone out there. Will be interesting to see whether Jos sticks or twists - keeping a winning team together is usually a good idea, but it may be a little braver decision than usual with Thorniley and Forestieri back available. Jos is inspiring more and more confidence in me that he's a man who keeps it cool and knows what he's doing, so I'll defer to him. I'd probably take a point tonight - it would only add to the image of Hillsborough being a tough place to come so far this season. A lot of our younger lads have never played in a local derby before, but I've no reason to doubt that they'll step up to the plate. Extra-raucous support required tonight, given the noisy pondlife that'll be occupying the Lepp. COME ON WEDNESDAY!!!!!! Wednesday 2-2 Leeds (Saiz 8, 86, Reach 19, Bannan 69) 28,034

It's an easy story for them to print because he supports us. There just seem a lot of obstacles to it - even if Chelsea let him go cheap, affording his wages while keeping within FFP would be very tricky. Plus there'd surely be a queue of Prem teams in front of us.

Apparently his second goal was brilliant.

You can see which decision is easier for Jos - he's less likely to get pelters if we lose if Forestieri starts from the beginning. Doesn't mean he should though, would be harsh to drop Matias after a goal or Reach after a borderline man of the match game.

Despise them both, the Blunts probably have the dubious honour of being slightly worse though. At least playing Leeds is entertaining because their fans desperately refuse to acknowledge that it's their biggest game of the season, they can shout about Man U all they like but they haven't played in donkey's years and have pretty much forgotten they exist.

Mods please change thread title to L************ds