Popular Post Lord Snooty Posted January 11, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 11, 2020 (edited) The nerves jangle somewhat. They shouldn't of course. It's just a derby game with those lot up the road. But I have to say that seeing them in the first half of their FA Cup tie against nearly £300m worth of Arsenal talent brought a bit of a tightening of the buttocks. Of course Arsenal came out the second half, and made a game of it before eventually nabbing the win. But truth be told, but for profligate finishing L**ds should have been 3 or 4 goals to the good going into the second half. The game should have been dead and buried. Thats the one good thing to come from the nights viewing from our point of view was - their finishing. They don't have a world class striker. Which you probably wouldn't expect in the second tier of English football. And that's a good job really because they came out like a greyhound from the traps. Bamford is having his best season for some time having bagged 10 goals. But can hardly be considered prolific. I can think of a host of strikers who'd like to be playing at the top end of that attack. It has to be a positive for us. With Big Dom and Borner at the back I think we can deal with him. The worry is the number of chances they create. So how do Wednesday go about beating this L**ds side? Well. There's the quandary you see. Usually in a game like this, against a team that is likely to dominate the ball and the midfield you might be tempted to stick some extra bodies in there to clog it up. Take out the attacking options of their midfield players. In fact it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that that might have been a little thought in the managers mind in using his 4-1-4-1 set up at Brighton. Getting the lads used to it. On the other hand... Monk got two excellent results against L**ds last season whilst Birmingham manager. A 2-1 win at Elland Road and a 1-0 win at St.Andrews. And he got both of those results, (as he did the 0-0 for us this season) by playing a 4-4-2 and bypassing the midfield! It works. It stops L**ds getting that rhythm and tempo going. "Well that's in then," I can almost hear you cry, "Monks 3 undefeated against these lot proves the point, lets go 4-4-2 bypass the midfield and stick it to L**ds right,up the ricker! Huzzah!" The thing is though... tempted as he might be to do that again. He hasn't got someone like Che Adams on the books. Adams scored all three goals for Birmingham last season in their wins over L**ds. And. we don't really have anyone with the pace and power that the £15m Southampton man has. (*As an aside twist to this, Marcelo Bielsa is currently trying to sign Adams as the final piece of his promotion chasing team!) Monk would dearly love to have this sort of option - Strong, quick, athletic With talisman striker Steven Fletcher injured we are down to three first team strikers. Nuhiu, Rhodes and Winnall. now truth be told they all look quite useful when they play with Fletch. Together though we are yet to see the sort of link you hope for from a front pairing, and the one thing it does leave us lacking is (along with genuine pace) Fletch's mobility and goal threat. I mean really who do you stick in? Nuhiu and Winnall, bigman/little man. Or Nuhiu and Rhodes. (Rhodes has always done better with a target man partner) . Or do you go with Winnall/Rhodes? There really isn't a right answer. It also raises the question of midfield? Do you stick in players like the diminutive Bannan when you are largely going to be bypassing midfield? Or do you stick with someone like Luongo who seems a bit more rough and ready. Or Sam Hutchinson who as we all know, likes a tackle and the physical side of the game... There are some big choices for Garry Monk to make. For example, does anyone who played their part in the Brighton defeat actually deserve to be dropped from the starting line up? It would be incredibly harsh. I once had a manager and one of his favourite sayings was "Never change a winning team". The next match he dropped me. "What happened," I said "to not changing a winning team?" "You can always make a winning team even better" he replied. Which told me two things. Firstly that he loved a cliche and secondly that he was a lilly-livered chump who picked the sponsors nephew one the promise of a nice summer stay in their house in Antibes. But I digress... Does young Osaze Urhoghide stay in the team? He had a terrific debut. But yknow....sometimes the debut is the easiest game. The shock, the adrenaline. The follow ups can be tougher. On the other hand...Palmers out. Odubajo seems to be out of favour. Who else can play there! We could shuffle Iorfa across of course, but he and Borner have been our best centre back pairing this season and the big lads pace will surely be a vital weapon in our armoury against their buzzing attack. Midfield? Upfront? We just don't know do we. We just don't know. "Sir, it's Mr Hargreaves on the telephone" "What's want?" "He want you to 'wind your neck in with trying to do a proper OMDT', Sir" "Pardon?" "He wants you to stop trying to do the professional style. He says that if people want more questions than answers in their match day preview they can read the Stir" "Well, I thought I was doing quite well?" "No, Sir. He wants more hits. He says think 'Less content and more sensationalism" "But it's the match day thread!" "Indeed , but as he points out he's currently getting more traffic on a thread stating the claims of a made up Agent who uses a photo of Ainsley Harriott as his profile picture" "But that's pure cobblers!" "Indeed, but it's caught the imagination and it's more hits. He says' people don't want to talk about the fact we're facing one of the toughest games of the season and that there's a chance we could get creamed." "They don't?" "No. He says there are plenty of things you could talk about other than the game. Mr Chansiri has transferred his share into a holding company owned by his wife. We've been linked with a move for Connor Wickham. We've won the battle with Sheffield City Council." "Those swines! More bent than a nine bob note. They couldn't lay in bed straight" "Sir." "Fine! Fine! I'll try a different type of matchday thread." ===================================== "I'll tell you what. That Patrick Bamford. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about that lad. Maybe it's because he looks like a loudmouthed Student showing off down West Street on a Friday night in drainpipe trousers, no socks and a pair of deck shoes , but he really does just have one of those faces that really makes me want to do this.... "Mr Hargeaves says that's more like it ,Sir" "Looks like we're signing Connor Wickham, not on loan either. Permanent. Funded by the owners wife. And Eddie Nketiah too. He'll probably play on the other side of Dwight Gayle. Oh, did I forget to mention that, yes Dwight Gayle is coming too. It's a dangerous front trio and will all be part of our exciting new 3-4-3 with Kingsley Black and Attilio Lombardo providing the crosses from the wide positions while Andre Gray will be playing in the net to ensure we start moves off in a more attacking way. " "Excellent" ===================================== L**ds United - V - Wednesday English Championship Saturday 10th January Kick off : 3:00pm Elland Road ===================================== THE TEAM NEWS L**ds United L**ds goalkeeper Kiko Casilla will return after being rested for the FA Cup third-round defeat by Arsenal. Midfielder Pablo Hernandez (hamstring) is back in contention after missing the past four games. Sadly the whack on the ankle that Alioski picked up at Arsenal doesn't look like ruling him out. Similarly Ayling is likely to recover from knock picked up at the end of the game. Casilla Ayling White Cooper Alioski Phillips Costa Dallas Klich Harrison Bamford ===================================== SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY Wednesday will be without striker Steven Fletcher for up to 10 weeks after he suffered a knee injury in the FA Cup win at Brighton. The Owls have no other new injury or suspension concerns as they look to end a run of three Championship defeats. . Dawson Iorfa Lees Borner Fox Reach Luongo Bannan Harris Nuhiu Winnall ===================================== Match facts Leeds are unbeaten in three league games against Sheffield Wednesday (W1 D2) since losing 2-1 at Elland Road in March 2018. Sheffield Wednesday are without a clean sheet in their last 12 away league visits to Leeds since winning 2-0 in the Premier League in August 1996. Leeds United have lost just one of their last 15 matches in the Championship (W9 D5 L1), although they have won only once in their last five (W1 D3 L1). Sheffield Wednesday have lost three consecutive league games - they last lost four in a row in November 2018. Leeds' Patrick Bamford has been directly involved in 12 league goals this season (10 goals, two assists), his best tally in a season since 2014-15 (17 goals, two assists). Sheffield Wednesday's Adam Reach netted in the FA Cup last weekend versus Brighton, ending a 17-game run without a goal. Reach last scored in consecutive appearances between September and October 2018, with the first of those goals coming against Leeds. Edited January 11, 2020 by Lord Snooty 23 8 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ever the pessimist Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 First reply! Going tomorrow but against my better judgment. Hate going to Leeds at the best of times - always feel like Homer vs New York. Meh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weshallovercome Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Whatever we do we need to keep Reach on the left, for once he actually looked like he was enjoying himself against Brighton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flo Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Ho is this on TV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewsburyowl58 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Thought you were doing fine before Hargreaves butted in . Tough one this , can we do them ? Me and my son are surrounded by them so please let’s !! . UTO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costello 77 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Play the same setup as Brighton.. not much choice up front but Winnall gets my vote.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offalyowl Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Great as always snoots hope we win it but think it's going to be a draw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westfield Owl Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Balls to the 'would be delighted with a point' b0llocks I've heard many Wednesday fans say this week. It's draws that kill you in this league. Leeds aren't in any great form right now; 1 win in their last 6 games & conceded 12 goals in that time. Plus we've had 2 extra days rest since our last match. We should be setting up to cause an upset, just like we did last Saturday against Premier League opposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevthelodgemoorowl Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Wish we had Woodhall on the left. He hit two against Leeds before he learned to tie his laces ! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roscoe P. Coltrane Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 THE WEDNESDAY 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edmontonowl Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 2 hours ago, Westfield Owl said: Balls to the 'would be delighted with a point' b0llocks I've heard many Wednesday fans say this week. It's draws that kill you in this league. Leeds aren't in any great form right now; 1 win in their last 6 games & conceded 12 goals in that time. Plus we've had 2 extra days rest since our last match. We should be setting up to cause an upset, just like we did last Saturday against Premier League opposition. Wednesday'll sort that out for 'em But you know, I think we'll beat 'em 2-0 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orlando_Trustful Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Can't see anything other than a comfortable away defeat. 2 v 0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ferkorf Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 6 nil Tut Wednesday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VictoryBell Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Disturbingly analytical, Snoots - unfortunately it all goes over my head as I only understand what happens when somebody scores or misses a penalty. Even throw-ins and corners are a mystery to me However, I am a master of superstition and at 6.30 this morning they played "Hi Ho Silver Lining" on "Sounds Of The Sixties", so nothing can go wrong. Don't quote me on that 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Tom Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Bamford is the roaster's roaster 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bladeshater Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Come on the Wednesday 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airborne_rat_of_s6 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Just want to see a battling performance and players taking a shot as soon as they get chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bouncing Owl Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 OP makes some good points. I’m unsure what formation to go with today and who to play in certain positions. I think we will give them a game. I think we will keep it very tight for the most part but probably likely to come away with a 1-0 defeat. Fletcher is a massive loss and we just need to do some business in January. We need 2 strikers and we need to move a couple on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Sorry everyone, not feeling this one today. Fletchers injury has knocked my duck off and don't see where a goal is coming from Our forward options are pathetic, least worst probably Winnall, genuinely despair if Nuhiu starts, but realistically any one of them like starting the game with 10 men. Expect we'll set up to be compact, however lack of any forward pressure will concede possession and space, leading to the inevitable game of attack v defence, played exclusively in our half. Best we can hope for is to get lucky from a set piece. I always want us to win, so hope for another 0-1, but in mo way optimistic. My mood today.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmigo Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Heard a whisper Borukov might be on sub bench today , if so maybe Rhodes or Winnall on their way in January. we need Nuhiu to find some form, he started season well but has been poor for 6 weeks now. To save me a job at 5pm please could someone cut and paste one of the two below. narrow defeat today . Tactically naive, monk out , always said rowett or Cowley, no pies, remember graham Hyde those were the days, fallen out of love with football , POTD pricing joke, Nuhiu should be put down. or we sneak it. Love monk, Doing great job, think he is the one, let’s only sign players in jan who can play in prem next season when we storm to promotion, tickets worth every penny, love this team, big Dom worth 25 million, Nuhiu always does business . 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now