For reasons to do with corporate relations, I spent last night at Brighton's shiny Amex Stadium watching their game with Leeds - in between following BBC sport updates of Ighalo/Deeney goals ( from what I can gather - that's about all I actually missed). However, at the risk of completely putting the mockers on Saturday - we should be able to beat the Leeds team that I saw last night on one leg ; they were woeful , which of course was a surprise given their recent run of form, and them doing us a favour at Boro on Saturday. Any sort of performance should get us 3 points . I know that the Championship, and in particular Watford doesn't work like that, but you had to see how poor they were . The only thing in their favour was that they brought 1800 to the South Coast on a Tuesday night . I know that their supporters are not everyone's cup of tea, but fair play to those who have stuck with a comedy club that were in the Champions Leauge semi finals 10 or 12 years ago.
Every team has their off day in this league, I'm not taking anything for granted. This season we've generally been excellent against lower half of the table teams but we did screw up at Brum and home to Brighton so we've had our bad days too.
I'd be more inclined to put last night down to an off-night. They've been getting good results lately and that generally doesn't happen by accident (except to Watford, because apparently all of our head coaches are useless).
Saturday will be no walkover. I predict another Bolton!!! Lock up your pets, put all your breakables in the cupboard, send your wife and children to the mother-in-laws...
I work with a Leeds fan who was at their Brighton game last night - he reckons we'll slaughter them on Sat.
We've got Ighalo & Deeney. We've got Joka & his unorthodox tactical nous. We've got a FIT Almen Abdi. We're playing Dirty Leeds who are not all that good & who we usually beat. What could possibly go wrong?
Leeds United vs Watford FC - 28/02/2015 Workmanlike, boring, drab. Three words used to describe our 3-0 victory at home to Rotherham that has further kept us in the hunt for autos. Whatever your description of the Rovrum match, the fact that we have bounced back from the Norwich farce means we at least can go up the M1 to Leeds in good spirits to face a Leeds United side that have (until Tuesday) been very hard to score against. Opposition Low-Down Do I really have to go in depth into their history? I don't?! Brilliant. First Division winners three times, FA Cup winners one time, League Cup winners one time, Community/Charity Shield winners two times and, of course, they also won the European Cup (if you want to believe them). That'll do. Now let's get down to the real important stuff- Leeds' architecture. Not too shabby if you ask me…. Recently, Leeds United hasn't been doing too well with the dozen changes in owners and chairmen that resulted from Bates' departure. If you believe the Bull**** Broadcasting Corporation as well, apaprently Cellino isn't returning to Leeds after his ban is lifted, which might mean another owner. I know some on here have a dislike (rational or irrational) for Leeds but I don't care for that- my hatred only extends to the scum up the road- and for that reason I would like them to at least have some decent owners who aren't crazy and actually do what they say they're going to do. As for the team itself, they remind me of Watford pre-Pozzo. A first XI and XVIII that has quite a few academy graduates permeated with tough players who fight for each other. Although their quality isn't great enough to be a top 6 team (sorry Leeds fans reading this but it's true), they won't get relegated because they're good enough to stay up and they have a "togetherness" which means they'll work for each other and that'll drive them through matches to grind out the important wins. They're also a team that can, on occasion, get the odd win against a top 6 side. Their win against Boro away on Saturday was a perfect example of that (although I'm sure their fans are happy to remind us of another moment when this happened) and this is a brilliant reason as to why Jokanovic and co. cannot underestimate them (and why we shouldn't either). Three wins out of their last 5 games including a ground-out win against Boro and only 3 goals conceded in those 5 games speaks volumes, especially when you compare that last stat to ours- 7 goals conceded in our last 5 games. In the form tables for the last 6 games, Leeds are 4th and we are 5th, only one position ahead due to a superior goal difference. Make no mistake, we underestimate them at our peril. However, when you take a deeper look into their form (and in particular their home form), they have won 2 and lost 3 of their last 6 home games, whilst we have won 4 and lost 2 of our last 6 away games. It's clear you need to look at Leeds' defence as that is the crux to whether we will be able to beat them. According to Sky Sports, Leeds have been playing in a 4-2-3-1 for the last 4 games with a defence that starts with Silvestri in goal, Charlie Taylor at left back, a centre back pairing that consists of Bamba and Cooper/Bellusci and Wooton at right back (though he is a centre back by trade). They are then backed up by a defensive midfield pairing of Cook and Murphy. From what I have seen, Murphy seems to be the more defensively-minded of the two and Cook is the defensive-playmaker-type player who will occasionally go up to attack but will also help out with defending. Cook and Murphy are both young and not entirely strong (say compared to Watson), but they're both scrappy players (Hogg anyone?) who will not be scared of going into 50-50s or tracking back and doing professional fouls to stop opposition attacks. This is where I think formation is key and I wouldn't mind to see us going with a 4-5-1, as it's a straight-forward formation that will strangle Cook and Murphy whilst keeping a high-ish line, forcing back their midfield 3; it's also a formation that allows for fluidity as situations change if you use the right players as we can change back to a 3-5-2 if we need to. As for players we need to play, well I don't think we need to be too worried about that. This is a match where I think our strength in depth in our squad comes to play. By strength in depth, I don't mean we have good players backing up excellent ones (although it isn't far off the truth), but rather we have different players that are suited to different things. The stereotype that Leeds players are all big, bulky *******s isn't actually true for this version of Leeds (unless Redfearn changes his players). Surprisingly, we have a higher percentage of aerial duels won (46.48% to 45.33%), we have scored much more goals from set pieces (23 to 6) and have scored much more headed goals (10 to 2). We don't need to do a repeat of Rotherham whereby we played Hoban out at left back because he's good aerially, which means we can play better ball players like Ekstrand who aren't that good in the air with relative confidence that we won't concede a goal from a set piece (I've jinxed it now haven't I?). Leeds aren't a hoofball team as well which means some of our smaller players can play (and also gives merit to the idea of a 5-man midfield). Match-Day Predictions Injuries and suspensions-wise, despite the article saying that Gomes' injury wasn't bad, don't be surprised if our medical team rules him out of the game on Saturday. Other than that, there are no new injury concerns or suspensions. All this means that my Watford team is: As for Leeds, Steve Morrison came off injured against Brighton and it is unsure why Byram did not play against Brighton- chances are Morrison might not recover for the game against us. I get the feeling Leeds will either revert to a 4-5-1 or they might try and do a 3-5-2. I'm going to go for a 4-5-1 purely because they will anticipate us going for the 5 man midfield found in a 3-5-2 formation. I'm personally going for a 2-1 win. Leeds will be looking to bounce back from that poor showing on the south coast against Brighton, but I just feel that, up against a Watford that is showing signs of togetherness and fighting to the end (especially away), we'll be too much of a match for them. As long as there is a good performance on and off the pitch, I'll be happy. COYH! Rest of the Championship Other match-day fixtures Brum vs Brentford Blackpool vs Wigan Bolton vs Brighton Bournemouth vs Blackburn Cardiff vs Wolves Charlton vs Hudders Fulham vs Derby Reading vs Forest Rovrum vs Millllll Wednesday vs Boro Latest table 1 Derby 33 33 65 2 Middlesbrough 33 28 63 3 Ipswich 33 20 60 4 Bournemouth 33 30 59 5 Norwich 33 27 59 6 Watford 33 26 59 7 Brentford 33 10 58 8 Wolves 33 6 54 9 Nottm Forest 33 5 47 10 Blackburn 33 -1 44 11 Sheff Wed 33 -4 43 12 Huddersfield 33 -9 42 13 Cardiff 33 -5 41 14 Leeds 33 -8 41 15 Reading 33 -13 40 16 Charlton 33 -9 39 17 Birmingham 33 -12 39 18 Brighton 33 -4 37 19 Bolton 33 -12 37 20 Fulham 33 -14 36 21 Rotherham 33 -17 34 22 Millwall 33 -22 31 23 Wigan 33 -18 25 24 Blackpool 33 -37 22 Leeds United Forums http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=323 http://www.lufctalk.com/forums/ http://www.motforum.com/phpbb/ http://www.not606.com/forums/leeds-united.43/
Can see another 3-0 loss here Shame as Norwich will probably beat Ipswich and we could finally overtake them with a draw or win
I'd take a point here. But then again, taking a point at each game only leaves you with 46 points at the end of the season...
Russell Crowe to buy Leeds? Expect a more gladiatorial atmosphere. https://www.facebook.com/LeedsUnitedFan/posts/10150459121889982
Weeds 0 - 6 Watford We need to improve on the last few seasons otherwise we can right off this season.
They're not in the top 6 so the result doesn't matter and therefore I'm not interested and think I will walk my goldfish instead.
I think the only certainty from this weekend's fixtures is Norwich to be awarded a pen, probably from a Hoolehan dive.
Their goalie hasn't really had the honour of meeting Ighalo yet, he came on near the end of the match in August when the game was all but over.
Will be at this as I'm at the Uni of Leeds, hopefully can get a win because I can see a few of the other top 6/7 dropping points with a lot of away games. Interested to know why you didn't include Deeney in the line-up, is he injured? As with every game left this season, it is a massive game, 3-1 to hornets after going 1-0 down and joka taking off all 3 CB's replacing them with strikers
He's not. As I went with a 1 man upfront formation, I chose Ighalo over Deeney as Ighalo has been in better form atm. But like I said, if Joka does a 3-5-2 or if he does a 4-5-1 somehow and changes it mid-game to a 3-5-2, it's easy to shove on Deeney for one of the midfielders.
Don't think we played the formation we played vs Rotherham before either. However, can't see us playing 4-5-1.
