Spot on Chris

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Exactly. Even though we're almost halfway through the season, the table is still taking shape (and we haven't played West Brom yet). Teams like Norwich, Derby and Middlebrough are putting runs together that justify their position. Teams like Stoke and Birmingham will be jostling for position. Leeds have just had three games against poor opposition (Bristol City, Reading and us) where they've scraped lucky wins but you can't rely on luck all the time. Our current trend is depressingly similar to last season, but what did we expect? Chris has wrung the last drop out of these players but I'm afraid the well is running dry.

Not bad until you put us and poor opposition together.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I haven't heard Wilder yet , but I think we were pretty good today overall, against one of the strongest teams in the league.

They have a good manager who had done his homework and they did a good job of starving our midfield of the ball, meaning O'Connell and especially Egan had lots of opportunities to show us why they are centre backs and not centre midfielders.

A draw would have been a fair result, but the goal did come from one of our centre backs being forced yet again to go backwards. Bielsa will be patting himself on the back tonight, and rightly so.

We are a decent side though. But we have to accept that sometimes the opposition play really well too.

A team that went top with an unlikely win makes us crap to some?

 

[paul betts]

I haven't heard Wilder yet , but I think we were pretty good today overall, against one of the strongest teams in the league.

They have a good manager who had done his homework and they did a good job of starving our midfield of the ball, meaning O'Connell and especially Egan had lots of opportunities to show us why they are centre backs and not centre midfielders.

A draw would have been a fair result, but the goal did come from one of our centre backs being forced yet again to go backwards. Bielsa will be patting himself on the back tonight, and rightly so.

We are a decent side though. But we have to accept that sometimes the opposition play really well too.

For me ,that’s spot on
I said on another thread that it’s amazing how many on here seem to think there’s only one team on the pitch
Credit their manager he’s done his homework well
But still a draw would’ve been a fair result

 

[blade67]

Not bad until you put us and poor opposition together.

We've taken 14 from our ten games against the top half teams and 20 points from our 10 games against the bottom half teams.

Over the season that would be around 78 points and the play offs. Not bad really

 

[1888to1889]

Well pass me the white cane and guide dog. For a team seemingly looking to consolidate a position in the top six, we were crap. How many shots did their goalie have to save? And Leeds are not a good side.

White stick on way and guid dog on way please look after the guid dog if you capable
UTB and support the blind dog association as well

 

[Ridgeway Blade]

Agree with CW. We dominated most of the first half and played the ball around well. Leeds seemed to concentrate on defending the wide areas and left lots of space which Basham and McGoldrick exploited. Leeds changed at ht and we never got back that same rhythm. I disagree with Bromtom's comment about being off the pace. I thought first half especially we were first to the ball but you would expect any of the top sides to have periods where they get into the game and Leeds did that better second half. Very disappointed we missed our only clear cut chances again. Even if we didn't deserve the win we certainly didn't deserve to lose. There is still a long way to go.

 

[Ricky]

I think we missed Freeman today, that right wing is lacking when he's not there and it takes a lot out of Duffy's game as well..

Baldock was anonymous. Didn't do a thing going forward. It's clear he's not 100% fit.

He should still retain his place in the team for next week though.

 

[cc1]

Well pass me the white cane and guide dog. For a team seemingly looking to consolidate a position in the top six, we were crap. How many shots did their goalie have to save? And Leeds are not a good side.

I don't know why you take the time and effort over the statistics and info you provide on here when watching the blades clearly gives you almost zero enjoyment. Don't get me wrong, you're not alone on here, but ffs to say we were crap today is baffling. The performance is not determined by the number of shots on target alone, and you personally might not think L**ds are a good side, which maybe they aren't, but they are top. So, on that basis, when do you start to give the oppo any sort of credit? When we're getting shit on by Man city so we can take some sort of pleasure in getting pasted? When 'you' (not just you individually grafikhaus, metal blade etc) continue to post nothing but negatives, and adopt a fairly consistent critical stance, you don't sound more intelligent, or inciteful, or worldly...you're just annoying. I genuinely wonder if some of you turn up expecting to see Madrid every week.

This brief journey under Chris is fantastic and has energised the entire fanbase after the shit of the last few years; the football is great and I for one came away today, despite having had 3 points nicked by those utter pricks, pretty happy about us as club.

Clapping Happily,
cc1

 

[Mumbo]

Well pass me the white cane and guide dog. For a team seemingly looking to consolidate a position in the top six, we were crap. How many shots did their goalie have to save? And Leeds are not a good side.

Leeds are the 2nd best team so far this season,don’t ask me how I know,maybe there’s
a correlation with the championship table or something wierd like that?

 

[finlaytheblade]

Exactly. Even though we're almost halfway through the season, the table is still taking shape (and we haven't played West Brom yet). Teams like Norwich, Derby and Middlebrough are putting runs together that justify their position. Teams like Stoke and Birmingham will be jostling for position. Leeds have just had three games against poor opposition (Bristol City, Reading and us) where they've scraped lucky wins but you can't rely on luck all the time. Our current trend is depressingly similar to last season, but what did we expect? Chris has wrung the last drop out of these players but I'm afraid the well is running dry.

Some pathetic comments on here ! We are shooting ourselves in the foot at present but still playing well.Hopefully the players stay positive through this spell and we will come. good again.
No team is playing us off the pitch ,how about a bit of positivity it's all to play for. very frustrating at present but it will change.
Wilder knows what is needed in the window and said its not up to him where we go from here,we are a bit short to maybe make the play offs or automatic and put the ball in the owners lap.
We are still a good team lacking that bit of quality but to say we are a poor side! Never !

 

[grafikhaus]

I don't know why you take the time and effort over the statistics and info you provide on here when watching the blades clearly gives you almost zero enjoyment.

Such 'zero enjoyment' that I was still there 10 minutes after FT, determined to clap Hendo off - as were quite a few others. He's cost us the game but will learn from it. The sight of some Leeds bastards whoopin' and hollerin' in the directors box was sickening, as were the 'high fives' their players were giving it. But they're not even fooling themselves. Put them up against a decent team and they'd have beeen slaughtered playing like they did today.

We're all pissed off about today, but I'm not going to clap when we were deficient all over the park.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Exactly. Even though we're almost halfway through the season, the table is still taking shape (and we haven't played West Brom yet). Teams like Norwich, Derby and Middlebrough are putting runs together that justify their position. Teams like Stoke and Birmingham will be jostling for position. Leeds have just had three games against poor opposition (Bristol City, Reading and us) where they've scraped lucky wins but you can't rely on luck all the time. Our current trend is depressingly similar to last season, but what did we expect? Chris has wrung the last drop out of these players but I'm afraid the well is running dry.

We have an average, bang mediocre , team.
At times poor, occasionally great, at times good.
Not a poor side all told.
Not a good one either.

 

[andy m]

We have a good team, not the best, but good.
But win, lose, or draw they give everything time and again, and thats good enough for me.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Put them up against a decent team and they'd have beeen slaughtered playing like they did today. We're all pissed off about today, but I'm not going to clap when we were deficient all over the park.

Suppose in your world a decent team would be a Man City or Liverpool. So I agree Leeds would be slaughtered against those teams.
However surely you can accept that a team in the top 2 after 20 games must by definition be more then decent for that league.

Agree compared to PSG, Barcelona, Juventus then we have loads of deficiencies all over the place
But when you consider how many stupid points we’ve thrown away this season and still sit in a play-off spot
Then by definition our deficiencies must be less than most opposition teams in this league.

 

[Sheffsteel]

We have a good team, not the best, but good.
But win, lose, or draw they give everything time and again, and thats good enough for me.

That’s how I see it.
We are a good team but nothing special.
However this season there’s are no teams even approaching anything special, suggesting it’s weaker than normal
But I reckon there are 8 to 10 “good teams” and we are currently one of them with a realistic chance of playoffs.

The Rotherham performance was unacceptable as we were so lacklustre playing like bigtime Charlie’s as tho we expected to win.
But win, lose or draw as long as we give 100% playing as a team then that’s good enough for me too.
I feel like I’ve got my club back and will always be grateful to CW for that.

 

[finlaytheblade]

That’s how I see it.
We are a good team but nothing special.
However this season there’s are no teams even approaching anything special, suggesting it’s weaker than normal
But I reckon there are 8 to 10 “good teams” and we are currently one of them with a realistic chance of playoffs.

The Rotherham performance was unacceptable as we were so lacklustre playing like bigtime Charlie’s as tho we expected to win.
But win, lose or draw as long as we give 100% playing as a team then that’s good enough for me too.
I feel like I’ve got my club back and will always be grateful to CW for that.

Some punters want to live in the real world,we have a small budget compared to the teams we are sparring with at the top end of the championship.
We all get frustrated when we throw points away like today,Leeds will be in the mix for the places come May,no reason why we can't be there too if we cut out the gifts and strengthen in January.

Don't understand where this poor team Comes from! the cham.pionship is what it is and we are competing well.
Compared to the best teams Europe wide we are miles behind ,comparing championship clubs to them is silly.

 

[Numpty's Dusty Ruts.]

It was ok, now I've calmed down (it didn't take long). We were good in the first half, Leeds were better in the second. Unlike many, I think the problem is defence. We have scored a lot but conceded too many. Unfortunate for Deano, let down really by Egan. It's not the end of the world, we're 6th in the Championship. Just watched Wendy against a side we took to pieces not long ago - like I said it could be worse!

 

[Houston_Blade]

For once I think Wilder is wrong in his assessment. We worked hard and tried hard today but were massively lacking in any kind of end result or quality. Their keeper was dodgy and yet wasn't tested, their defence would have struggled if we'd have got the ball down and played around them (apart from Philips who was excellent) but we contented ourselves with backwards and sideways passing and the occasional lump forward that invariable found a CB's forehead.

I honestly can see no further than a mid-table slog for the rest of the season if our form continues to be so hit and miss. I fully understand the reasons why we're not top of the league and playing consistently well, I also don't expect much to be done about it anytime soon so this is how it will continue.

If it does carry on as it is I think we have a maximum of 1 more full season after this one with Wilder in charge as he'll not be spun a yarn about "jam tomorrow" forever, hopefully he believes it at the end of this season though and sticks with us for another tilt next year. The other option is to gamble and actually give the bloke some cash to play with. If we don't replace 3 strikers this season we're in the shit next and that will cost us £15m so it's not going to happen.

 

[Kevincarterversion2.0]

Leeds looked decent, did quite a good tactical job on us second half (stopping Norwood and Duffy player). I dont think they are word beaters though (looked poor at the back). I think we did have enough chances to win the game. Sharp, Washington, McG and the more spectacular one from Stevens. The problem we have is that we dont take them. Even in tight games, we usually create one but we dont take it. It's having that player to win tight games, which we dont have.

That being said - there is too much over passing at the moment. Getting in good postions, and turning inside again. It wastes the attack.

I suspect the owners are not going to help in January, so my gut feeling is that we will fall short again this season. We all then know what that might mean for our manager and some of our better players.

 

[Bill puntin]

Don't know if it's just me but I detected Chris is getting itchy feet again, saying it's up to the board now if they want this club to progress.

 

[itsinyerblood]

The only trouble is that for all our pretty football we once again have fuck all to show for it due partly to missing our chances but mainly due to more stupid mistakes at the back gifting goals to the opposition. We must have thron at least 12 pts away this season. Mid able medicity it is then for us.

What's medicity?

 

[BettingBlade]

we aren’t a good side. At this level we are massively over achieving. I personally don’t think we will stick around the play offs for much longer because we are seriously lacking quality at the top of the pitch.

Wilders assessments of each game are essentially the same now. ‘We dominated the game’ (we don’t either btw, we have loads of possession, but don’t do anything with it)

 

[WorkingtonBlade]

It’s a spot on interview from Chris but it’s infuriating to think that this could be our best chance of getting promotion?.
Our co owners are currently squabbling in the courts. There’s fuck all in money as we all know. Chris is expected to produce magic from little or nothing every time. How much longer can he be expected to do this?. He’s worked miracles so far and I’m loving every moment but I fear that we’re heading to the point of Chris saying back me or I’m off?.
Who could blame him?. UTB

I suppose the other way of looking at it - given that the co-owners are squabbling in the courts and there’s no money - is that this is our worst chance of getting promotion. Without money or any immediate prospect of any, our chances of promotion are small, and anything we do achieve is a bonus.

That also means that we’re not against the clock to get promotion before our big spending catches up with us.

Look at it that way and watching United becomes much more relaxing!

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

I don't know why you take the time and effort over the statistics and info you provide on here when watching the blades clearly gives you almost zero enjoyment. Don't get me wrong, you're not alone on here, but ffs to say we were crap today is baffling. The performance is not determined by the number of shots on target alone, and you personally might not think L**ds are a good side, which maybe they aren't, but they are top. So, on that basis, when do you start to give the oppo any sort of credit? When we're getting shit on by Man city so we can take some sort of pleasure in getting pasted? When 'you' (not just you individually grafikhaus, metal blade etc) continue to post nothing but negatives, and adopt a fairly consistent critical stance, you don't sound more intelligent, or inciteful, or worldly...you're just annoying. I genuinely wonder if some of you turn up expecting to see Madrid every week.

This brief journey under Chris is fantastic and has energised the entire fanbase after the shit of the last few years; the football is great and I for one came away today, despite having had 3 points nicked by those utter pricks, pretty happy about us as club.

Clapping Happily,
cc1

Yes and no. Was discussing this with a mate yesterday. We're certainly in a better mental place post Adkins, etc, but the buzz of the promotion season has finally faded, and we're down between 2,000 and 2,500 home fans every home game this season compared to last (even Wednesday game was 1,000 down but that might be segregation, etc), the general atmosphere has been flat this season for long periods, yesterday being no exception. The boardroom shenanigans, the last 7 or 8 games, it's all gone a bit 'meh'.

 

[Jan Age]

Cream will always rise to the top over a full season and that is why we will finish mid table. The teams above us will be the ones who invest heavily either in the summer or Jan (or both)

We have to be at our very maximum to get a result but the teams with quality don’t have to be week in week out and over the course of a season that counts big time !

 

[metalblade]

What's medicity?

Fat fingers, small phone and beer

 

[itsinyerblood]

Fat fingers, small phone and beer

As nature intended

 

[Sean Thornton]

Fat fingers, small phone and beer

It's lying about someone settling for mediocrity.

 

[Darthblade]

Regrettably …… until we find owners who are prepared to provide more financial support to the Manager than this pair are prepared to do …… then we will continue as we are doing and will finish 6th - 10th in the Championship.

Tufty has us punching above our weight at the moment, on a bottom 6 budget and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

Hopefully he doesn't get pissed off and leave before we find somebody with the commitment that the fans have.

Until we are able to pay £ 5/6m for a striker and similar for a Duffy replacement, we will continue at this sort of level.

UTB & FTP

 

[itsinyerblood]

Regrettably …… until we find owners who are prepared to provide more financial support to the Manager than this pair are prepared to do …… then we will continue as we are doing and will finish 6th - 10th in the Championship.

Tufty has us punching above our weight at the moment, on a bottom 6 budget and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

Hopefully he doesn't get pissed off and leave before we find somebody with the commitment that the fans have.

Until we are able to pay £ 5/6m for a striker and similar for a Duffy replacement, we will continue at this sort of level.

UTB & FTP

Think you may be underestimating the value of the type of forward we need Darth. Unless Wilder manages to take a risk and look in Division 1, where a potential Callum Wilson lay in wait. A decent predatory forward will cost upwards of £8-10mil, quite possibly upwards of £12mil. If our owners are incapable of supporting our manager then, as has been suggested elsewhere, we'll probably have to accept a place amongst this division's top 10 clubs.