LeedsCityRam

That 'results only' approach is simply not sustainable over the last 17 games. We have to improve our performance levels dramatically or we are going to be punished by the better sides & miss out again. We've just had 2 matches in the past 5 days being outplayed by two teams in the bottom 4, it shouldn't just be glossed over. No one expects 8/10 performances every week & we will have to win ugly at points but these performances are becoming a recurring habit. The lack of control in games is fundamental to this point..until we can impose ourselves in midfield & whilst we are so cavalier in turning over the ball, we will continue to be vulnerable. We got out of jail today, make no mistake.

Not sure I can properly articulate how much I love this man. The waiver against the Wendies, signing a blank contract that summer when Morris was playing his games, mingling happily with fans at Wembley 2019 even though he wasnt playing & must have been hurting, leadership on & off the pitch during the dark days of admin....amazing that a man with such a career as him thought so much of us to do all that. Much derided as a 'kick it, head it' centre half by outsiders, he improved massively technically when under Rooney/Rosenior. Set his fastest bleep test I believe in training whilst with us during the admin season...he wanted to be the best version of himself at all times. He deserves & will get a rapturous reception tomorrow. I hope he returns back home to us in some capacity very soon 🖤🐏

Derby 2 Super Curtis Davies 1 FRGS Hourihane

Where do you see Fapetu & Wheeldon at this stage? Fapetu really impressed me in his one EFL Trophy start & sure he's made a first team matchday squad since. Wheeldon looks a big, quick lad and was very dangerous against (an admittedly already well beaten) Wolves u23s. Good points in your later post about young players being useful sporadically in first team games. Even Evan Ferguson gets that treatment at Brighton. Of course 21/22 proves that some can actually flourish when given extended playing time. Im sure Cashin would never have made it had he been 4 years older & emerged during Rowett/Lampard reigns.

They did exacrly this on our last visit to Charlton. Each block tentatively released even though postal deadline gets ever closer & we are close to selling out. As I recall last time at Charlton, the smallest block was never opened even though everything else had virtually sold out...ended up being pay on the day which people were unlikely to risk given how close we were to selling out. Probably needs formally asking (SCG question?) but I'd like to see all away blocks released at the start of sales. We are very likely to sell out all of allocations anyway, it rewards most loyal away fans with their chosen seats and also gives everyone true picture of allocation & sales for that given match.

The Academy is apparently ahead of schedule after the decimation of administration What is the plan for developing these players into first team members & why were they so underused during the EFL Trophy campaign?

Harsh on Thompson, I thought he was good tonight. Obvious energy in stark contrast to his midfield colleagues, wanted to get on the ball & looked to move forward/pass forward. He & Elder were the standouts for me and I'm really not sure why he was taken off before Hourihane. As a general point, really disappointed by the attitude to tonight's game. We looked pedestrian without the ball & sloppy with it - I get that teams have off games but there was a real lack of urgency given the prize of being top tonight. I wanted to see players demanding improvements of each other & launching into challenges, particularly when it was apparent the ref had no interest in penalising anything short of ABH. It felt listless throughout & Reading deserved their win. The most concerning area for me is still that midfield. Thompson did improve things at the top end but we simply can not afford to have Bird & Hourihane in tandem further back. Either Fornah or Robinson need to come in & improve the energy in that area - its too passive and slow currently.

I meant more from a financial competition perspective given his wages. Agree his style would be very sought after at this level. We'd also have the trump card of him (presumably) wanting to play for Warne again.

Not read all the thread so not sure if anyone else has commented on this but there was a lot of passing out from the keeper on Saturday. Hourihane was often picking the ball up as the last man & we were knocking it around the back & then passing through the lines into midfield rather than just launching it every time. It was good to see that variety & coming back to your point about Klopp, reminiscent of how they build the play.

Speaking to a Wendy pal at weekend, apparently Smith got a ridiculous wage increase when they went up & that's the issue. Sounds like we would be unable to get close to paying all of his wages (definition of significant contribution could be very broad & not in reality be the majority of wages) which is why they've asked for a loan fee to sweeten the deal. Wendies sound in a mess financially what with Chansiri refusing to put any more money in & even asking the fans to pay HMRC debts in October. I suspect they can not afford to have Smith on the books at the end of January & hence we're in a stronger bargaining position the longer the month goes. I can't see there'd be that much competition from other League One clubs now given Oxford & Charlton's recent business and would be surprised if anyone in the Championship wanted him. Sit tight I think.

Most soulless place in Britain 0 Super Derby 2 FRGS Collins

Imps 2 Rams 1 FRGS Mendez-Laing

I think that's a bit unfair personally. Considering Hourihane is clearly a cultured midfielder, he has adapted surprisingly well to Warne's more energetic style of play - the problem is he simply doesn't have the legs to keep that effort up & Warne seems disinclined to sub him, probably because he has the type of game changing quality in his locker that we saw last night. It would appear that some are mistakenly confusing that tiredness with a lack of effort/passion. As others have also mentioned, he certainly looked very happy with his winner last night & leads the team well in terms of professionalism/high standards on & off the field. I've noticed a few folk calling out Max Bird as well over the past 24 hours despite the fact I thought he played well last night especially defensively. The real issue is that the blend isn't right in midfield with both of them in there. We need an energetic midfielder amongst both of them or in place of one of them. Contrary to the majority on here it seems, I strongly believe that should be Fornah.

Derby 2 Brewers Droop 1 FRGS Collins

Bradford have always had good support, lot of time for them. As for the city, it suffers from a lack of investment generally but areas like Shipley & Saltaire are very nice. Re starting line up, would echo a few others disappointed by lack of youth in the squad. This is exactly the type of occasion that should see some of them start or at least be on the bench. We are also risking important first team players in a low priority fixture...I will be mightily unimpressed if we pick up key injuries here.

Definitely don't see that many black & white scarves - very much a feature of certain teams (Leeds are particularly keen on theirs as are Newcastle - in black & white). When the weather is better, we see plenty of replica shirts at PP but assume you're referring to a lack of colour in winter months One thing that does irk me is how difficult it is to put flags up in PP - my Leeds Rams flag kept falling down from back of East Stand no matter what I tried! Seen others struggling with theirs too. Filling PP with flag artwork could be a great way to add a bit more colour to matchdays

Mainly remember him as manager of the superb 1990 West German WC winning side but his legacy as a player is hard to beat. Was a recent book written about him by the ever excellent Uli-Hesse Lichtenburger that I need to get https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-three-lives-of-the-kaiser/uli-hesse/9781471189104 Beckenbauer, Pele & Bobby Charlton all gone within 12 months - the true Golden Generation.

Did exactly that after panicking I couldn't get 2 tickets at 10am, 30 mins of refreshing and then seeing your post - ticket office managed to get me a couple 👍

Winning is a good habit to have & obviously a Wembley final would boost the club coffers. However it must not be to the detriment of the league campaign & in resting key players, we should be giving opportunities to promising Academy players as well as fringe players. My criticism of this EFL Trophy campaign is that our starting line ups have been far too strong - in the last round against Fleetwood (5th December), Hourihane, Bird & Cashin all started and Mendez-Laing was brought off the bench for 45 mins. In the run up to a busy Christmas schedule playing a style that requires high energy and intensity (as well as having unchanged teams over the festive period), I thought that was extremely unwise - this in a game with less than 2000 present at PP. Totally OTT. For the game against Bradford, I don't want any of those 4 starting (ideally with Mendez-Laing given the night off) & would like to see more of Darren Robinson, Fapetu, Weston & Brown as well as full games for Sibley, Elder, Thompson, Ward, Fornah & Bradley.

Blackpool North 1 Derby 2 FRGS Collins

'That dead footballer' happens to be our record goalscorer. And I don't think it was just that remark that has aroused suspicion - you seem to hate everything about the Derby fan experience whilst making up some irrelevant nonsense about a club down the road. When they were rotting in League One, they certainly weren't booming out anything - in fact, a lot of them abandoned the club & the place was like a morgue. Their support is an embarrassment & so are your comments.

Good points about compromise & flexibility needed for success - any edge to make teams unpredictable & harder to play against is likely to yield positive results. Even though I was a massive fan of his, I was irritated last year by the constant need of Rosenior's teams to restart play with the keeper instead of mixing it up occasionally - it just invited the obvious press from opposition forwards. Obviously all managers have biases but some form of evolution is necessary - one of the most impressive examples of that in recent times was from Neil Warnock at QPR where he found a way to accommodate Taraabt & Alejandro Faurlin (two players you would not normally associate with his sides) & harnessed their talent to get promotion to the Prem. With regard to Warne, a key 'bellweather' of increasing flexibility might be how he handles Liam Thompson going forward. Fair to say that other than his energy, Thompson wouldn't be regarded as a stereotypical Warne player but now he has made his 'great leap forward', will Warne utilise him as an regular first team starter at number 10? Re Championship - I think if Warne takes us up, Clowes would give him a fair crack at the job in the division above. Despite noticeable fan unrest a couple of months ago, Clowes was quick to dampen down any prospect of Warne leaving & despite my wishes to the contrary, I did actually really admire that stance. Clearly we don't ever want to return to the 3rd tier so there would be enormous pressure on Warne to deliver a very different outcome to the Rotherham job in the division above but presumably that's why he dropped down to manage us in the first place.

Thanks for clarification from both yourself & @Archied - so its more that you believe his ceiling to be higher than yo-yo Championship/League One as he gets to grip with a more demanding role, rather than managerial inexperience per se. I think we've all seen some evidence of flexibility from Warne in the past couple of months which is encouraging - I still instinctively feel that when Bird & Hourihane leave he will start to revert to type (we saw this to a certain extent when McGoldrick left & the passes seemed to go longer into the final 3rd rather than to feet) but obviously all we can do is speculate at this point. It would be churlish not to recognise that the style has been better recently though. Regarding the window, yes obviously he can't control Cashin & Bird's situation although we do have the option of an extra year on Cashin so making our negotiating position with Brighton & others a bit stronger. My sense is that we will be a much more attractive destination for incoming players given where we are this season v last (when we were on the fringes of the playoff race with much stronger rivals ahead of us) - if I were Jonson Clarke-Harris for example, I would see a clear role firing the club to an imminent promotion with the obvious potential to establish in the division above & be a 'signature move' for him at this stage of his career. Of course, money is the great unknown but Clowes is a sensible type & will have budgeted for this Jan opportunity I'm sure - I'd be surprised if funds were only available if players were sold first. Again, speculation I accept.

I see there's a couple of you posting the 'he's a young, inexperienced manager' line. This is Warne's 8th season in football management & he had more games in charge than many of the outstanding coaches in this division & above (Schumacher, Duff, Manning. McKenna, Rosenior, Mousinho, Maresca, Evatt). Its a distortion of the truth so can we lay this myth this rest please? p.s he has 3 relegations with Rotherham from the Championship, not 2. Its a difficult window for everyone - there is nothing particularly onerous about Warne's position compared any of our top 6 rivals unless you're privy to information we're all not aware of? He probably needs some more firepower up top - who doesn't but fundamentally he has a very strong squad at this level.

Super Derby 1 Tinpot backwater 1 FRGS Collins