Jourdan

People are saying he deserves financial backing. People are saying he deserves a transfer window. People are saying he deserves his own hand-picked coaching team.

If it had been a closely contested battle all the way down to the last day, I could understand this point.

If Rotherham and Wednesday had produced incredible form to keep us in danger, I could understand this point.

But it wasn’t always close. At the end of February, we were 9 points clear of Rotherham and 10 points clear of Wednesday. It’s down to 2 and 3 points respectively now.

But Rotherham and Wednesday haven’t produced incredible form. Wednesday have picked up 12 points in 13 games since. Rotherham have picked up 12 points in 14 games.

For us, it has been a capitulation of the highest order and any signs of optimism from Rooney’s early tenure have vanished faster than a burger from my plate. 

And some of us want to reward Rooney with more time in the job? I can’t believe what I am reading.

I don’t really understand Leeds fans. Imagine being 10th in the Premier League and five points off the top six and searching for a thread like this on a Championship club’s forum, never mind deriving enjoyment from it.

If it were me, I wouldn’t have the time. I’d be far too busy planning for prospective European nights in Rome, Brussels and San Sebastián and trawling forums for travel advice instead.

I guess it goes to show how fragile their confidence is in the Bielsa project and the foundations upon which the club’s success has been built.

No-one is going to pretend they haven’t had a great year. They absolutely have and fully deserve to be where they are.

But I am not even sure Leeds fans themselves think it is likely to last. Enjoying success in the PL for one season is nothing new for promoted clubs. Sustaining it or building upon it is another matter entirely.

My feeling is they have achieved too much, too soon and there are numerous risk factors for a debilitating case of second season syndrome.

It’s hard to say what the aims are for next season.

There are more questions than answers at this time.

With six loan players returning and several players out of contract, we don’t know what the squad will look like.

With uncertainty over the takeover and the club’s financial status, we don’t know what kind of budget and leeway in the transfer market Rooney will be given.

With a varied approach favoured to drag us as far away as possible from the relegation zone, we don’t know what Rooney has in mind to allow the team to kick on. Will we see attacking football that is exciting to watch?

Too many unknowns at this point.

I finished The Serpent a few weeks back now.

I agree with @Chester40. It’s underwhelming and unconvincing. It is average fare and undeserving of all the hype and publicity it was generating at the beginning of the year.

It takes what is actually an interesting real life story and strips it of any tension, any intrigue, any coherence, and where the characters are concerned - there’s hardly any believability.

Rahim is hit and miss as Charles, as an example. He conveys the nasty, bitter, unflinching side of the character well but doesn’t really illustrate any of the charm or charisma that would bring all of these people into his orbit in the first place.

It is also unnecessarily long and drawn out - eight episodes long when it could be easily condensed into four episodes or fewer.

Don’t get sucked in by the hype. 

24 minutes ago, ColonelBlimp said:

Nothing mate, free.

 

Thanks, CB.

How much does it cost to listen to these podcasts?

13 points clear of the relegation zone now.

4 wins and 2 draws away from the ‘magic 40’.

18 of their 26 points have come against five of the teams occupying the bottom six.

I think Leeds are overrated, but the bottom half of the Premier League is that poor that they will have secured safety with 7-8 games to spare.

Such a shame.

4 minutes ago, Patrick Rams said:

You seem to be contradicting yourself..first you say Frank was naive...then he knew exactly how Chelsea and Roman operate...your second point is the correct one...he was at Chelsea for more than 10 years and knew exactly what he was getting into.. He wasn't remotely naive.He knew the score.

No contradiction at all.

Of course Frank was naive. His ‘dream job’ has gone up in smoke inside 18 months without a notable achievement to his name.  That suggests his decision to take the job was an unwise and misguided one.

When I say he was naive, I mean he knew the risks and he knew the typical working conditions for a manager at Chelsea but wilfully ignored all of it and went ahead with taking the job anyway. Perhaps he expected this time it’d be different or that he’d get special treatment because of his status at the club.

If I start dating a woman knowing she has cheated on her boyfriends in the past, if I press forward with the relationship expecting it will be different with me and later get cheated on, is that not naive?

There were so many obvious red flags that should have made him see it wouldn’t work and dissuaded him from taking the job at the time. They didn’t and look what happened.

You can know the risks involved in an action and the chances of something going wrong, but still do it anyway.

If that isn’t the definition of naive, I don’t know what is.

10 minutes ago, ramsbottom said:

But in fairness there wouldn't be many people who turned down the chance of working with better players, having more money to spend, earning more money, and being able to live at home with their Mrs, regardless if they thought they were ready for it.

The only way you could see any manager seeing out his contract with Roman is if they won the Prem and champions league every year, and commented that he is the best chairman, of the best football club ever, as every press conference...

Of course, the appeal and attraction was obvious. I get that. But as a career step, it was naive, premature, and loaded with risk.

Look at a top coach like Brendan Rodgers. He had to bide his time before getting a big job. He only got the Liverpool job after he had first taken Swansea up and then established them as a competitive team in the PL.

Even then some people argued it was too soon for him. And that’s after three different jobs and three to four years of development and learning the craft.

I don’t think Chelsea is an impossible job, but as a manager, it’s obvious when you have bitten off more than you can chew. With Lampard going there, it was clear right away.

1 hour ago, StarterForTen said:

If, as you say, Frank knew how Chelsea and their owner operate, how can he have also have been naive?

I suspect he knew exactly what the likely outcome would be when he took the job, and a few more years of experience with Derby (or anywhere else) would not alter that outcome one jot - look at the calibre of managers they have hired and fired over the last decade.

When its your dream job you take it when it's offered. It might never have come round again.

He could have turned it down, stayed with Derby and seen his playing resources dry up (as has happened since the summer of 2019), in which case I doubt he'd have been in line for the job now.

He was naive to think he was ready for such a big job and could succeed where far more established managers have failed - keeping Roman happy.

At the end of the day, if you are an inexperienced manager, you work your way up and you bide your time. If Frank had progressed us as a club in the same way Nuno has done with Wolves and taken his lessons, rolled with the punches and taken the bumps and bruises along the way, he would have been far better placed to take on the Chelsea job.

If it’s your dream job, surely you want to do that job to the best of your ability and give yourself the best platform for success? So surely you take that job when you are at the peak of your powers and have considerable experience and know how behind you? 12 months of managerial experience was never likely to be enough.

There is a constant churn of managers at Chelsea. Tuchel will probably last less than two years too. Of course the opportunity would have come around if he had shown his qualities over time.

He tried to run before he could walk, and now I would imagine he is back to square one. He’ll have to take on a project like Brighton and grow the club.

What an entirely foreseeable situation. It seems the only person who couldn’t see it was Frank himself.

He was so naive in taking the Chelsea job. He should have stayed here and grown with the club. Getting us promoted and re-established in the PL would have reflected far better on him as a manager.

For such a seemingly intelligent bloke, the lack of common sense and long-term thinking was astounding.

He knows exactly how both Chelsea as a club and Roman as an owner operate so he should have recognised that the moment he stopped hitting club targets, he would be at risk.

If no protection, time or patience was afforded to managers like Mourinho, Ancelotti and Conte, why would Roman treat him any differently?

12 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

I found it annoying. 

The story itself is a fascinating one but the constantly changing timeline back and forth was unnecessary. 

There was quite a lot of overreacting in my opinion too. 

One of those BBC dramas that gets a bit too clever and up itself. 

I’d heard so many good things about it.

To be honest, the first episode didn’t really make me want to watch further episodes.

But The Queen’s Gambit was the same. I watched the first episode and it almost sent me to sleep.

Maybe it’s one to stick with. Maybe it grows on you.

Has anyone seen The Serpent on BBC iPlayer?

I watched the first episode. Only Jenna Coleman’s beautiful face kept me hanging in there.

Does it get better?

Leeds United, spellbinding, stupendous, marvellous, breathtaking, sensational once again.

Lampard on the verge of the sack, you say?

1 hour ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Burnley, West Brom and Brighton are 3 of their next 4 league games. They'll be dragged into a relegation battle if they don't win at least one of those.

Possibly.

On the other hand, they might also look at those games and think they could be out of reach if results go their way. They probably go into each of those games as favourites on current form.

I would like Leeds to implode as much as the next person, but the platform is there for them to stay up comfortably.

The teams below them have been that bad.

Leeds will be fine. They are already seven points clear of the bottom three.

They’ll have days like today, but they should stay up comfortably.

They are poor defensively, but their aggressive pressing style always gives them a chance. 

They don’t have to be better than United. They have to be better than Brighton, Burnley, Fulham, WBA, and Sheff Utd and possibly a few others, which is hardly the challenge of a lifetime.

They’ll be absolutely fine.

Seeing Leeds 3-0 down after 20 minutes...

Remembering they are playing United...

Why can’t they both lose?

Souness has to rip into Spurs. They are a threat now.

Personally I applaud their adaptability. Spurs have shown so many different sides to their game. It’s the sign of a great team.

And anyone who watched them score six at Old Trafford or three in less than twenty minutes at home to West Ham knows they can be very good to watch. Direct, fast, incisive, clinical.

For me, I enjoy watching them, especially with Harry Kane in full flow. He has been the best player in the league so far this season.

I love the way he drops deep and delivers a decisive pass that would take other teams 10-15 passes to build up to, for example.

The trouble is nowadays pundits would have you believe that anything other than high pressing, possession football is an affront to football lovers everywhere.

I always thought Mourinho would do a good job at Spurs. But no-one expected this!

6 hours ago, Abu Dhabi Ram said:

Villa looking good, many Villa fans wanted Dean Smith out during his second champ season and last season. They look very good so far this season. 

Villa are doing well and the momentum from surviving on the last day of last season has clearly carried over.

I am delighted for Dean Smith. He deserves all the plaudits he is getting. But let’s be realistic here, the moment results start to turn, Villa fans will be against Dean Smith once again.

A lot of them believe they have a divine right to being a top half Premier League team and many of them look down on Dean Smith, especially when clubs of a similar size have world class managers like Mourinho and Ancelotti at the helm.

1 hour ago, nottingram said:

Chris Martin? Bradley Johnson? 

Can’t think of many others, especially not from last season which is where the argument of the squad being poor has come from? Can you think of many (or any) others?

I just find it funny how we often bemoan ‘the lack of quality’ in our squad and we deflect blame for results onto the ‘poor players’ to defend the manager. It’s not a recent trend at all.

Then at the same time, former players of ours - many of whom our fans were happy to see the back of and many of whom were not considered good enough to even make our bench - are starting for Championship teams.

Look at Pearce, Bennett and Malone at Millwall. Weimann and Paterson at Bristol City. Bradley Johnson at Blackburn. Even Nugent was a regular for Preston last year.

My point is not that I’d want them back. My point is that I don’t think some of our fans appreciate what a fortunate position we are in when it comes the quality of player we can attract and what a competitive advantage we have compared to other clubs in the division.

Yet we’ll quickly turn around and call the squad bang average and whatever else, almost oblivious to the fact that there are other clubs in the division trying to compete on a budget that wouldn’t make waves in League One.

This is why I struggle to get behind the common argument that 'the players aren't good enough'.

How many of our players have gone to fellow Championship clubs and walked into the first XI? How many of our players have gone to fellow Championship clubs and become key players?

Martin is just the latest. It was obvious that he would go to a top half club and elevate them. It's only taken six games and Diedhiou is the forgotten man. It is no surprise to anyone.

I have to admit to feeling a little frustrated at our plight. We can't bring in a striker for love nor money, meanwhile Bristol City can start with Martin and Wells, and have two or three good options off the bench.

Man Utd 1-6 Spurs?

Villa 7-2 Liverpool?

Claude Davis must have written to Make-A-Wish.

Bristol City 2-0 up.

Martin with two assists.