Give Joseph a start up front. I love Piroe's instinctual finishing but he just doesn't do the running like Bamford. Bamford is essential to the Leeds press. Joseph can clearly finish, has bags of talent and can run for a full 90 minutes. Let's see what he can do in a league game. Chelsea might agree too.
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I enjoyed that today, Carra Rud rocked.
OTBC
Pitch
It seems the 12.30pm KO slot is our (Ipswich) nemesis as much as our Norfolk rivals. A poor game in my view, Ipswich didn’t show up really. Our winless run in the Old Farm continues! At least Leeds slipped up too, still a long way to go.
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Leeds very lacklustre today, conceded two sloppy goals and looked lacking in urgency. Meslier is a good shot stopper but very flappy when off his line and could have prevented both goals today.That said, always likely Leeds would hit another poor patch so hopefully that's it over.
Farke will stick with Paddy even though he looks short of pace and confidence, with Joseph as an impact sub. I'm fine with that but, not for the first time, he should have made changes at HT rather than 65mins.
I was hoping we wouldn't need to beat Southampton on the final day to secure promotion but I'd probably take that now, although I'm standing by my hope that Ipswich will tire on the run in, even if that's the last 6 games
It’s not as bad as it could have been for us with Ipswich losing today but a great day for Leicester.
I agree with all of that.
That little flick from Joseph into Piroe was top draw and he should've finished it.
The football was better when they both came on, the passing was quicker and we found some space.
We can't afford to go behind to a physical side like Coventry and not expect them to spoil our forward play with their physicality.
Looking forward to us getting up for our two home games and I have a feeling the top three will change places again.
It certainly was mad yesterday and we ended up in The Complete Angler, riverside was rammed.
One hell of a match and afternoon.
Ipswich……… so disappointing, the players just did not seem up for it, I was expecting so much more from them. Chapman and Moore just did not turn up, Duffy’s pockets were stuffed the entire game. Their midfield was non existent until the last 15 minutes, Norwich bossed it and chased every ball down.
It’s been a funny ole season for us, we started well, god knows what happened in Oct, Nov and Dec, maybe Josh’s injury and what was going on behind the scenes with Webber, but since Christmas it’s been enjoyable again.
Pitch
Whatever happens in the coming weeks, the playoffs are going to be extremely tough for the team that finished third!
Was really surprised at the level of your performance Saturday. Didn’t seem up for it although watching highlights back you had more of the balls and attempts than I thought. I did feel it one of those days we finally got some luck - our first goal for one then the shot that hit the bar (which I think our keeper got fingers to). It definitely puts us back in with a chance.
Games running out and many twists and turns I suspect. We just can’t get a break and get out of the bottom 3. Gutted Huddersfield scored as late as they did. I thought we were dead a week ago but I honestly can’t call the other two to finish in bottom 3
Last edited by senwar; 8th April 2024 at 11:36.
Keeping the faith but we need to make sure we win our next 2 games at home. Alaw
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
About time the football league thought about the implications for a Championship side having a decent run in the FA Cup with current timings. Basically means we end up having to play 5 matches in the last 13 days of a long season when our play-off opponents have 3 in 14; it's not as though Championship sides can pull £100m players off the back up squad like a number of the prem clubs, maybe we will lose to Southampton and Birmingham whereby it becomes academic whether to field our first team against Man U! Nice touch making it a Sunday game too for two sides that have to travel when one of the sides in the other semi is London based (cue joke about United being London based...)
we have history for this going back decades...
i thought at half time our lot would get a bollocking and come out fired up; not to be. Yep the goal was a fluke and the second was pretty irrelevant as last kick of the game; but we seriously underperformed, despite that stats not being too bad. Manager spent all week talking about still needing points and focussing on the game; apparently only the fans were listening.
the most impressive thing was Bannon; at 1 point in the second half we broke and it was him chasing the striker all the way back to your box; not just there for the possession and midfield play. Lovely footballer and someone who has always been a massive PITA. You lot got what you deserved
thought the ref was gash, but not blaming that on our defeat
Do you also have to put up with Sky TV constantly moving your fixtures around because they want to show your matches?
We were due to play Middlesborough on Saturday 20 and QPR on Saturday 27. These games now have been moved, thanks to Sky, to Monday 22 and Friday 26, so instead of having 6 clear days between games we will only have 3. Not what we need right now.
All together: "Sky TV is <word I can't use in G&D> <another word I can't use in G&D>!"
Totally agree. It is becoming increasingly rare for teams without parachute payments to get promoted and for promoted teams to survive the next season. It promotes the need for either a big squad which most can't afford or for the archetypal championship "workhorse" that can play lots of games but isn't quite up to premier standard. Buying foreign internationals looking for a shop window to showcase talents and get a move to a bigger club is regular business too, that's what we've done a lot of but as you say, international duty can hurt. There needs to be more money filtering down and less games to bridge the gap and continue to build the quality of the championship. It's a super competitive league, but too many games, too much travelling and most teams that get promoted ending up scrapping most of the squad thinking they need a different type of team for the prem. Then TV demands have a big say in fatigue and outcome at the end of the season despite the modest revenues brought.
I'll predict now Burnley will be back competing for promotion next season despite clearly being well short of premier league standard. The whole thing needs a shake up to keep refining depth of quality in the championship or we'll see lots of yo-yo teams and fines for breaches of FFP by promoted teams feeling they have to spend a lot to try to bridge the quality gap and survive.
Nice time to save your worst performance of the season…. Leicester utter garbage
Millwall were pretty impressive…. Not pretty, but defended for their lives
I just can’t call it this season…. We just want to chuck it away
Ipswich will be laughing tonight…. Really surprised Leeds didn’t turn over a bang average and out of form Sunderland side…
well my 370 mile round trip was nearly worthwhile.
got through a bang average 1st half to dominate the second and take the lead; missing a hatful of great chances.
then our keeper completely misses a corner and it bounces off a players knee for a very hash equaliser; only ourselves to blame (mantra for most teams in the relegation battle)
onto round 43 on Saturday, 3 out of 4 against teams in the promotion battle starting with Hull away
Frustrating night at Southampton. Yellow card after 2 mins for precisely the type of challenge the ref let go for the rest of the game. Missed penalty halfway through a listless first half performance when Wright slipped and then Saints capitalised with a goal clearly deflected off Adams arm which the ref missed. 2-0 down at half time with neither the sky blues or ref having a good game. Then a much better performance in the second half, could easily have fought back for the draw but as Robins said, you can't be that poor in the first half and expect to compete at the top of the table. Hoping to see more use of the squad players like Tavares and Da Silva next time out as first 11 look run into the ground.
Not sure if I'm happy or grateful to the Canaries for fluffing a 2 goal lead, at one level being out of play-off contention would allow us to focus on the FA Cup semi and avoid the fans being teased with a playoff spot where failure seems to follow every positive step forwards!
Really hotting up at both ends of the Championship. Good battle for the top 2, and everybody down to Hull in 10th with a shot at the play offs. Also at the bottom, there are 5 points between Swansea in 15th and the knuckle draggers from Small Heath in 23rd. Now, if the latter could finally be flushed down to League 1 after years of circling the pan, it would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Another Boro season wasted, will next season be the one...
Leicester, Leeds and Ipswich all dropping points this week - and not scoring a single goal between us!
Ok. Can the real Leicester and Leeds please turn up this weekend. Thank you. Sheffield Wednesday fans.
Plymouth are bang average at the moment & Blackburn seem to be in terminal decline; but all of the bottom clubs seem to be able to steal themselves for random fighting performances, followed by complete feck ups. Birmingham, Blackburn & Stoke all giving the rest of us hope last night, along with Huddersfield on Tuesday. All games they would have hoped to be competitive in.
as for the top 3; no words!
I said I'd take 16/24 points over the last 8 games so that's 11/12 coming up hopefully!
also, i wasn't digging out Plymuff in particular, but from relative safety and their ex manager taking over the poison chalice that is Stoke; they've dropped like a stone....... bang average covers all the teams from 12th to 23rd with Rotherham being the one properly shite team; who still beat us!
'You go up'.
'No you go up, I insist'.
'No you first'.
Wow - didn't see that coming!! Kudos to Plymouth, they played well.
They really need to sort out the penalties for breaching FFP/PSR rules. It's crazy that clubs can knowingly choose to break the rules and incur penalties on the basis they might be better off in the long term by doing so. They need to move to an in-time month by month reporting system with binary penalties applied and no scope for appeal.
On that basis I'm hoping Leeds and Ipswich go up!
Every game is going to be difficult.
I'm hoping that the speech Stuart Dallas gave in midweek on his retirement will drive us on today.
It’s so tight now and recent results have almost brought Southampton back into the mix. With both Leeds and Leicester still to play though, they’re going to have a big bearing on the result even if they don’t manage yo get into the top two themselves.
Well…. That was worth the 500 mile round trip…. Although I’m enjoying Plymouth in the sunshine this morning
So disappointing for Leeds...seems a lack of pace in the passing. No runs behind defenders..with the pace we have that is a joke. All the top three are pathetic at the moment...frightened to win. Desperation in the substitutions made too...we had Piroe, Bamford and Joseph all on! I'd almost root for Southampton ;).
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Well, I did think Rutter deserved the benefit of the doubt after his season. He can make things happen....you could see the frustration in his face. I think he is the kind of guy that can have 89 bad minutes yet one moment of magic changes the game. It was a surprise.
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I think that’s us in the playoffs now.
Massive win.
OTBC