Millwall v Leeds Utd Match Thread - Post match reaction

[Ellandback1]

Millwall v Leeds Utd

Saturday 5th October 2019 15.00 | The Den


Leeds travel down to Bermondsey on Saturday afternoon for their annual grudge match against the Lions without skipper Liam Cooper, Jamie Shackleton, Pablo Hernandez and Adam Forshaw.

Leeds will be brimming with confidence having got back to winning ways against the Baggies on Tuesday evening which saw the West Yorkshire outfit propelled back to the top of the Championship, and although Swansea have retaken the top perch, Leeds remain firm favourites to take three points away from Bermondsey.

Millwall are four places from safety in 18th place on 11 points. They have only lost three times this season, only one more than Leeds, but have drawn five.

Discounting the own goals against West Brom and Derby, Leeds have not scored since their 2-0 win at Barnsley earlier this month. Why have the goals dried up?

Gaetano Berardi will come into the team to replace the injured Cooper whilst Luke Ayling will play at right back with Stuart Dallas moving into midfield for the injured Jamie Shackleton. Will Lewisham born Nketiah get any game time? Why was he completely left out of both the U23 squad on Monday and Tuesdays top of the table clash?


Leeds Starting XI
Casilla, Ayling, Berardi, White, Alioski, Phillips, Klich, Dallas, Costa, Harrison, Bamford

Subs: Miazek, Davis, Douglas, Gotts, Roberts, Clarke, Nketiah

[rab_rant]

With three of our midfielders missing, how would you rearrange the team?

Errrr!!! Bogusz Gotts McCalmont

[The Subhuman]

Phillips
Costa - Klich - Bamford - Harrison
Nketiah

Bamford has been playing as a midfielder all season anyway

[gessa]

Phillips
Costa - Klich - Bamford - Harrison
Nketiah

Bamford has been playing as a midfielder all season anyway

Pretty much what I posted on 606, except Bamford playingjust behind Nketiah

[Cjay]

Worried after MBs comments today.

He will replace a left sided cb with a right back, that immediately impacts the balance imo, left side cbs should be left footed.

Berardi will be against Matt Smith, he will batter Berardi in the air and shoulder to shoulder.

Also MB talked about moving Dallas to cm and Ayling to rb.

Dallas has finally found a role that suits him, why move him? Dallas will try hard but doesnt have the technical skill for cm and thats 2 players playing out of position.

Why not play Struijk? Why not play Bogusz? Why shoehorn players in to the wrong positions.

Dont like that.

[1964white]

Worried after MBs comments today.

He will replace a left sided cb with a right back, that immediately impacts the balance imo, left side cbs should be left footed.

Berardi will be against Matt Smith, he will batter Berardi in the air and shoulder to shoulder.

Also MB talked about moving Dallas to cm and Ayling to rb.

Dallas has finally found a role that suits him, why move him? Dallas will try hard but doesnt have the technical skill for cm and thats 2 players playing out of position.

Why not play Struijk? Why not play Bogusz? Why shoehorn players in to the wrong positions.

Dont like that.

Dallas played in midfield once last season, he looked like a fish out of water

Struijk is out injured for 4 or 5 weeks

[The Subhuman]

Berardi has a lot of experience playing left side and is a quality central defender...

[Cjay]

Berardi has a lot of experience playing left side and is a quality central defender...

He could be Cannavaro.

A 5ft8 cb against a 6ft6 striker is a mismatch at every set piece and long throw (and we know Millwall will use those at every opportunity).

We disagree on Berardi but as a fan of his genuinely how can he combat Smith in an aerial duel?

[The Subhuman]

tbf a 6 foot centre back v a 6'6 is a mismatch..and Berardi has excellent heading technique ...remember a game last season when he won every duel versus a much bigger guy..Not saying they won't score from a header and that player beats Beradi but that's just the way things go sometimes. Mis matches are whet you're looking for as a manager...With Berardi we get a great footballing centre back, well great at this level

You like your slow non scoring centre forwards, I like my quick clever tough centre backs..

[weasel]

Worried after MBs comments today.

He will replace a left sided cb with a right back, that immediately impacts the balance imo, left side cbs should be left footed.

Berardi will be against Matt Smith, he will batter Berardi in the air and shoulder to shoulder.

I wouldn't worry too much about Berardi being right footed but on the left of defence. I played at centreback for a lot of years and despite being rightfooted preferred to play left of centre. I was comfortable tackling with either foot and you also have the fact that if the striker it looking to come in centrally for a shot then they will actually be going to your right. Don't forget Berardi was fairly comfortable playing left back too.

The height issue against Smith is a concern though although Berardi is only 2cm shorter than Cooper so it wouldn't make much difference if it was Cooper or Berardi up against Smith. I would have thought from set pieces that White would mark Smith.

[gessa]

Have to say, Berardi did struggle in the air against Stoke in the cup.

[1964white]

Have to say, Berardi did struggle in the air against Stoke in the cup.

Doesn't matter mate Gaetano must have lost his spring against their six-footers

On the subject of headers at the other I can only recall us scoring with a header once this season.

Bamford at Bristol City

[hector]

Doesn't matter mate Gaetano must have lost his spring against their six-footers

On the subject of headers at the other I can only recall us scoring with a header once this season.

Bamford at Bristol City

How did that happen?
did he trip up and accidently hit the ball on his way down??

[1964white]

How did that happen?
did he trip up and accidently hit the ball on his way down??

Pablo planted the ball on his head decent header to be fair

[Cjay]

I wouldn't worry too much about Berardi being right footed but on the left of defence. I played at centreback for a lot of years and despite being rightfooted preferred to play left of centre. I was comfortable tackling with either foot and you also have the fact that if the striker it looking to come in centrally for a shot then they will actually be going to your right. Don't forget Berardi was fairly comfortable playing left back too.

The height issue against Smith is a concern though although Berardi is only 2cm shorter than Cooper so it wouldn't make much difference if it was Cooper or Berardi up against Smith. I would have thought from set pieces that White would mark Smith.

Just think it gives a better balance, a sharper passing form, not a big issue just a small pet hate.

Smith I doubt would have much issue against White either tbh, we don't really have that sort of cb anymore, I actually think that's why Kiko comes for so much, he knows his teammates are lacking aerially so does as much as he can.

What I don't get is MB bemoans our weakness from set pieces but never tries to fix it, I cant understand why Pascal Struijk isn't getting a chance (unless injured is he I don't know), but Struijk to me looks ideal, great on the ball, dominant in the air, a proper cb.

[Cjay]

tbf a 6 foot centre back v a 6'6 is a mismatch..and Berardi has excellent heading technique ...remember a game last season when he won every duel versus a much bigger guy..Not saying they won't score from a header and that player beats Beradi but that's just the way things go sometimes. Mis matches are whet you're looking for as a manager...With Berardi we get a great footballing centre back, well great at this level

You like your slow non scoring centre forwards, I like my quick clever tough centre backs..

Made me lol tbf.

[rab_rant]

What I don't get is MB bemoans our weakness from set pieces but never tries to fix it, I cant understand why Pascal Struijk isn't getting a chance (unless injured is he I don't know), but Struijk to me looks ideal, great on the ball, dominant in the air, a proper cb.

Well I noticed against WBA that when they had a corner there were some positioning that I had never
seen before... two Leeds players standing about 5 yards apart and 10 yards from the corner flag.
I just wonder if that formation has some effect on the type of delivery that is coming into the box,
whether to cut it off or to make the trajectory such that it is easier for Kiko to handle.
It happened a few times so I think there must have been a bit of coaching going on there.
Let's see if it is adopted against Millwall... as a method to cut off supply to Matt Smith

[weasel]

Well I noticed against WBA that when they had a corner there were some positioning that I had never
seen before... two Leeds players standing about 5 yards apart and 10 yards from the corner flag.

I used to deploy a similar tactic where we had one player stood 10 yards from the corner flag and the idea was to make it so it was harder for them to cross it into our 6 yard box. They would have to swing it further out and I would have 3 players (the best players we had at heading) in position to attack the ball rather than man marking. Because of the expected flight of the ball and the position of those 3 it meant we could attack the ball on the run. I doubt we conceded more than a goal per season on average and even then it wouldn't be a direct header more of a scramble as we didn't get it clear well enough (a bit like Swansea and Forest's goals).

[Mick Jones shoulder]

Keep the ball and dont allow corners and free kicks easy

[Ratscoot]

Neil Harris has stepped down as Scumwall Manager, sneaky bar stewards hoping for the temp/new manager bounce