Leeds United 4 - West Bromwich Albion 0

Date:	Friday 1st March 2019
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Leeds: 7.6
WBA: 2.6	Johnstone 5.1, Holgate 4.3, Dawson 3.7, Hegazi 5.0, Adarabioyo 3.3, Harper 4.3 (Field, 65 4.0), Livermore 3.5, Barry 3.4 (Morrison, 63 3.7), Robson-Kanu 4.7 (Montero, 70 3.5), Rodriguez 3.8, Gayle 4.0 Unused subs: Bond, Bartley, Townsend, Murphy Manager: Darren Moore 2.6
Referee:	Tim Robinson 4.6
Attendance:	35,888 Home Fans 6.7 Away Fans 5.5

Brendan Clegg:

Less said about this the better.

When I saw the starting lineup I was worried - Same disfuncintional front 3, same overrun midfield 3, Tosin at left back.

Add to that conceding a terrible goal after 20 seconds and could it get any worse?

Yes.

Everything the average fan could foresee happened. Totally overrun in midfield by their 2 extra players, no options for our defenders who are instructed to play from the back, no pace up front in areas that could hurt them and Gayle out of position/Rodriguez totally anonymous.

2-0 at half time but could have been more.

What was most worrying and dispiriting is that Moore and Jones kept the same failing system; after half time, after Barry should’ve been sent off, after the third.

Who honestly watching that game thought that what we needed was the same system but different personnel? That the game would be transformed in our favour by a mid thirties James Morrison who has been injured for 3 months? The people who count unfortunately.

I can’t recall a poorer piece of in-game management in my lifetime of watching the Albion. We made it so easy for Leeds. Naive rubbish.

Some people might blame the players but they were totally hung out to dry and exposed by the system and tactics that DID NOT CHANGE for the whole 90 minutes. Most of the tried hard and fought enough but they were given no chance and many were lucky their frustrations weren’t punished.

Who would’ve complained of we’d gone out 4-5-1 after Sheff Utd did exactly the same? I actually can’t believe what I saw there. So stupid.

We need an urgent reboot or we’ll blow the play-offs too.

SJ - 6 Not at fault.
Holgate - 5 Lost his cool, had no options, wasted chances.
Daws - 5 Buckled under relentless pressure and also had no options.
Hegazi - 6 Tried his best but given no protection.
Tosin - 6 Not going to skate the kid. Did his best, Showed good feet at tones, no options or protection and shouldn’t have been put in this situation.
Barry - 4 Sloppy but totally outnumbered. Would’ve been fine in a 5.
Livermore - 5 Tried but struggles to pass it well when there are options. Clueless hen swamped.
Harper - 5 Showec glimpses but even when he beat 3 players we were so outnumbered a tackle came in. Got lost in the end.
HRK - 5 Amazingly had the easy beating of his man on the deck but had no pace to get away, no options and kept falling over as the game went on.
Rodriguez - 4 Absolutely nothing. Couldn’t control it, couldn’t pass it, couldn’t run away from people. How bad does he have to be to get benched.
Gayle - 4 I’m sure it’s a surprise to everyone that he carries little threat on the left wing and is actually a bit of a liability in this system.

Morrison - 5 Why?
Field - 5 Found our quickly the handicap of our system.
Montero - So late and on the same failing system that it wasn’t worth it.

I still think we’ve got the best squad in the league. We’re massively screwing this up now. Under-achieving is the worst thing.

oshawabaggie:

A critical six-pointer against a team defeated 72 hours earlier and were we up for it? Not a chance. Vulnerable in defence, sloppy and slow in mid-field, devoid of ideas up-front, out-worked, out-thought and of course out-scored.

Automatic promotion now requires a minor miracle - like winning ten games and hoping two of the three above us slip up, which is not likely. The trouble is, even if we scrape into the play-offs I can't see us beating Sheff Utd, Leeds or Norwich.

Perhaps the bigger question is, what kind of team are we building for the future, whichever league we are in? It's all very well doing loan deals to save cash, but it comes at a cost - a failure to develop our own talent. Not to mention, the issue of commitment from loanees. Most of the loanees will be off in the summer, along with the old legs; Mozza, Brunt and maybe Barry. Harvey Barnes was a revelation, but where has it really got us? Harper was one of our better players while he was on tonight. In fact, tired as he was, he would still have done more than Mozza, had he stayed on the pitch. But he is the only young player to have made the team on a regular basis. Leeds have two ex-baggies who would look great in an Albion shirt right now.

If we miss out on promotion, we will be facing a rebuild without having either the cash or having developed our younger players.

Of course if, by some good fortune, we go up we will still need to rebuild, but at least we will have some money to do it.

Once more we seem to be at the crossroads.

Ancient Baggie:

What a completely amateurish performance. Everything - team selection, system and personnel - all looked wrong and so it proved. It was almost like watching a Pulis team. Pack the side with big old experienced pros with no pace and no creativity, keep it tight and hope to score from a set piece.

Since Barnes left we have got steadily worse as an attacking force because we have nobody who can beat a player with the ball. Barry and Livermore together doesn't work, I would have preferred Field, more energy. With Gibbs injured we had to play Townsend/Brunt or go for a back 3 with pace and wingbacks. If Townsend isn't good enough why was he on the bench?

Substitutions were strange and Montero looks like a poorer version of Jon Leko. We played 3 strikers who can only finish chances created by others consequently we had one shot on target in 93 minutes. People keep talking about the strength of our squad but I don't see any playmaker in there. I am glad Harper and Field are getting game time that has to be the way forwards, how we needed a Tyler Roberts in the team last night!!

Losing away to Leeds isn't shameful but the manner of the defeat definitely was. Come on Darren give us something better.