ianofcleveleys

If we're playing Bradford and both of us are in play offs there's no way I'm risking any of ACD, Kenny or even Rodrigues and giving them a chance to do a Maghoma on one of them, on their scruffy pitch, before the play offs start. Send Apter, Cissoko and McAtee out for that one, hope Bradford aren't that arsed and scramble a draw.

He'll be worth more than that by the end of this season. He's got some assets that lad. We'd need to go up to be seeing him again.

Football's a simple game vastly overcomplicated these days. The team talk could have been four words, start fast, score first. We did, whole different night than might have been expected Gale's best game for us, turned his threat into much more end product

Football, bloody hell! Expected drudgery, got destruction Simple game when we start fast and score first. They've only one plan, was out the window after half an hour ACD and Kenny in the same side are our route to glory. If we win Saturday slippers on for those two till first leg. Don't want them nobbling in two dead rubbers

He's missing the point here, since we reverted to 4231 we've looked way too open and conceded 2 in a game 6 times, including to sides like Rotherham and Blackpool, neither of whom were in any sort of form. It's less about how much he thinks we're creating, more about us being hard to beat. I'd be quite happy to bore our way to the Championship with a series of games where the opponents score nil. Having ACD back is clearly a good thing but has given SS a ready excuse to defend sticking with 4231, even when it involves having to play either Gale or Cissoko on the other side.

They shredded Man U first half, that moment when they blocked it on the line to stop it being 3-0 was pivotal. Got a bit panicky late on when they couldn't kill it off. Great result for Leeds though

Can get a bit nippy up there, though I'm on back row to be fair

The 'its a weak league' thing is, I think as much about the regression/underachievement of sides like Posh, Wigan, Barnsley, Huddersfield, even Blackpool, as it is about how many points / wins / losses it's taking to get into autos. To be fair, Lincoln might get close to 100, at least par for the course recently and they deserve more credit than they're getting in some quarters. Because they weren't big hitters at the outset it doesn't make the league shit. Cardiff might scramble into the 90s, maybe a touch below par. In my eyes only of course, they have a way that's worked well enough for them but haven't looked hugely impressive for much of the time. Are we one of the underachievers? We'll know yes or no soon

We've recently slipped into the same habit as under Evatt of not starting fast enough and scoring first. These aren’t a team to be relying on the last minute heroics against. Run at people, charge a few balls down, win some tackles, force a few corners, all stuff to get the crowd involved, most of all score first.

It's not down to the players to do that thinking, whether they're minded to or not, the backroom staff will know, its their job, and prepare their team accordingly. That's what I was getting at.

Agreed, while our ability to pull something out of the fire late on has been laudable, and opponents may have it in the back of their minds, it wont come off every time and hasnt when we've ballsed up v Rotherham and Stockport What I imagine will be more prominent in their thinking will be how easily we give up leads to teams and how they can take advantage then 'manage' the rest of the game.

Even 4 points this week will settle everything down a bit, though 6 should rightly be the aim. Ideally Bradford and Luton will be dead rubbers and we can keep one or two under wraps for those play off legs

Since the last time we went away, scored, had a measure of control and kept a clean sheet (Wimbledon), we have kept one clean sheet home or away (the turgid draw with Donny) and have let 2 in 6 times.

We are this season's anomaly. A thoroughly well resourced and supported 'big hitter' who have made serious heavy weather of being better than far more modest outfits. SS needs to give his head a good shake here, before he makes a fuck up of it

We were evidently a few short today of a team that would properly trouble them, even though, again, they were nothing earth shattering. If Forino wasn't 100%, fair enough, if Kenny’s injury has flared up, not ideal, two knackering each other in training even less ideal. CBT's early departure the biggest loss, brought in as an admission Gale and Cissoko were both shite and was a mile above them. That's the mitigations out of the way. That line up, with the fixation with 4231 is, as said last week, going to kill us. None of back four look comfortable, two in midfield are overrun, full backs have weak wingers in front of them, an absolute mess, with piss poor goals given away, as they are being every week. Surely to god SS can see what's playing out in front of him and be big enough to admit the need to change. He did it once and got two away clean sheets back to back. We need to start looking like hard to play and score against, and sharpish.