Leeds Utd 1-0 Crystal Palace Match Thread

[Ellandback1]

Tuesday 30th November 8:15pm | Elland Road


Patrick Viera's Crystal Palace are the visitors to Elland Road on Tuesday evening as Leeds look to build up points in preparation for a turbulent Christmas fixture list, but it won't be easy against a side who only lost their third game of the season on Saturday (at Villa). Similar to Leeds, the Eagles have become the draw specialists in the top flight. They have thirteen ties between them. Bielsa will need more than a point against Palace and Brentford (on Sunday) with their festive fixture list consisting of Chelsea, City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Patrick Bamford and Luke Ayling both featured for the U23's on Monday evening against Manchester City's youngsters. But it is too early for either to make the first team squad. Joe Gelhardt was an unused sub during Leeds dire performance in West Sussex at the weekend and will start on the bench again. Tyler Roberts will lead the attack backed up by Mateusz Klich in the advanced midfield role. Raphinha replaces Jack Harrison on the left of midfield with Dan James moving out to the right. Kalvin Phillips and Adam Forshaw complete the midfield. The Argentine had a big call whether keep faith with out of sorts Junior Firpo but will instead recall the versatile Struijk at left back. Stuart Dallas will start at right back.

The visitors will be without Joachim Andersen and James McArthur (both thigh strains) whilst Nathan Ferguson is still recovering from a long lay off. Odsonne Edouard and Eberechi Eze are both pushing for a starting role having impressed recently. Eze returned from a long-term Achilles problem as a substitute in the defeat by Aston Villa at the weekend. Christian Benteke has scored 12 Premier League goals on a Tuesday, only Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney have managed more.





Last season Leeds lost 4-1 at Selhurst Park on a day when the Leeds fans were cursing VAR once again. Patrick Bamford was denied a perfectly good equaliser when his excellent, chipped finish was ruled out by the Video Assistant Referee because of his outstretched arm being 'offside'. Leeds got revenge back at Elland Road with a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Jack Harrison and Patrick Bamford. Bamford's strike was the 100th goal of his career, including 21 on loan at MK Dons, 8 on loan with Derby, 33 with Middlesbrough and 38 with Leeds.

Leeds have won five successive home league matches against Crystal Palace, last losing to them at Elland Road in March 2006. The Whites have also won four of the past six meetings in the Premier League. The Eagles are unbeaten in their last three away games in the Premier League. They have scored in eight successive league fixtures. But Palace have won just one of their 12 matches in the Premier League played on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.


Watch the game live on Amazon Prime Video...

[1964white]

This team would give us a good chance of acquiring three points.

.............................Meslier.............................

Drameh.......Liorente......Struijk.........Dallas

....................Phillips.........Forshaw................

.Raphinha..................Klich..................James

................................Gelhardt.........................

Notice, the majority of our players in their correct positions & a proper striker upfront who hits the target nine times out of ten

[1964white]

Benteke is a beast, look after him, Pascal.

Our midfield must keep tabs on Gallagher & Olise, too.

[Chilli D]

This team would give us a good chance of acquiring three points.

.............................Meslier.............................

Drameh.......Liorente......Struijk.........Dallas

....................Phillips.........Forshaw................

.Raphinha..................Klich..................James

................................Gelhardt.........................

Notice, the majority of our players in their correct positions & a proper striker upfront who hits the target nine times out of ten

I understand the thinking behind playing Drameh 64 but I'm not sure playing him against Zaha is wise.

[The Subhuman]

Meslier
Dallas
Llorente
Cooper
Struijk
Phillips
Forshaw
Raphinha
James
Roberts
Gelhardt

[1964white]

I understand the thinking behind playing Drameh 64 but I'm not sure playing him against Zaha is wise.

Drameh is a good tackler.

Who else is there without disabling other positions, Chilli?

[VinnysTattoo]

That’s the team a lot of us would pick.

Not sure the manager sees it that way.

Two more under par games and the owners will start twitching. It may come to a stick or bust situation given there will be a fair chunk of the season left. I don’t want the manger to go,but, and it’s a big but, Radz and Co will want to protect their investment and if they believe MB is no longer the answer, they could pull the trigger.

Who would we have though? The six million dollar question. I’d start tapping up Graham Potter just in case!

[1964white]

Meslier
Dallas
Llorente
Cooper
Struijk
Phillips
Forshaw
Raphinha
James
Roberts
Gelhardt

Like that team too, plenty of defensive cover & a better chance of goals with Roberts & Gelhardt upfront.

[The Subhuman]

We've seen from the stats, as much as I hate them, that Roberts gets in plenty of tackles up the pitch and wins headers, he also creates havoc in the box even if they've yet to reap assist rewards. Go look at his successful passes in the box stats.

So Roberts gives us some creativity and a defensive presence up the pitch. Bielsa likes his forward players to defend and his defenders to launch attacks ... Part of the problem recently is Meslier's poor form while in possession and the slow defence to attack from our defenders. Struijk put that right a bit with more direct passing, including a peach of a ball to Roberts

[1964white]

We've seen from the stats, as much as I hate them, that Roberts gets in plenty of tackles up the pitch and wins headers, he also creates havoc in the box even if they've yet to reap assist rewards. Go look at his successful passes in the box stats.

So Roberts gives us some creativity and a defensive presence up the pitch. Bielsa likes his forward players to defend and his defenders to launch attacks ... Part of the problem recently is Meslier's poor form while in possession and the slow defence to attack from our defenders. Struijk put that right a bit with more direct passing, including a peach of a ball to Roberts

Yes, it was a peach of a pass

[DDB220]

I would argue that Meslier is not in poor form with the ball. His distribution is a symptom of the team. Our transitional play from defence to attack is a poor imitation of the past few seasons. He plays it to the flanks when there is no other option. If he passes it short it invariably comes back at him with even less time to assess an outlet.
Our ability to play out from the back this season has been awful. We really struggle to beat the opposition press.
There is a lack of confidence at the back in this regard. Only Ayling is willing to set the tone and even he struggled before he was injured. Llorente does it to a lesser degree and those occurrences are declining.

Playing a relatively high ball to the flanks carries less risk - however we are losing out more often than not on the 50/50 element. Or the resulting knock downs.

James is not competitive in receiving these balls and Raph only occasionally. Harrison was pretty productive until his form deserted him.

Playing out from the back and completing those quick transitions from defence to attack has largely deserted us this season. The passing all over the pitch has been rather forced and we often surrender possession tamely with poor passes and decision making. These are symptoms of anxiety on the ball.

[DDB220]

Bamford is a big miss in these situations. He is so intelligent with his runs that he creates space for others.
Gelhardt has not mastered this yet, hence why his appearances are limited. A better finisher without question, but we need to get the ball up the pitch first.
Rodrigo makes good runs but his first touch has been very inconsistent. I noticed this on a number of occasions against Brighton.

[DDB220]

What James offers in the 9 role ahead of Gelhardt I cannot fathom. I haven’t seen James play that role live. On camera you don’t really get to see his runs when we get possession in our half.

[Leeds1000]

I would argue that Meslier is not in poor form with the ball. His distribution is a symptom of the team. Our transitional play from defence to attack is a poor imitation of the past few seasons. He plays it to the flanks when there is no other option. If he passes it short it invariably comes back at him with even less time to assess an outlet.
Our ability to play out from the back this season has been awful. We really struggle to beat the opposition press.
There is a lack of confidence at the back in this regard. Only Ayling is willing to set the tone and even he struggled before he was injured. Llorente does it to a lesser degree and those occurrences are declining.

Playing a relatively high ball to the flanks carries less risk - however we are losing out more often than not on the 50/50 element. Or the resulting knock downs.

James is not competitive in receiving these balls and Raph only occasionally. Harrison was pretty productive until his form deserted him.

Playing out from the back and completing those quick transitions from defence to attack has largely deserted us this season. The passing all over the pitch has been rather forced and we often surrender possession tamely with poor passes and decision making. These are symptoms of anxiety on the ball.

Pretty much how i see it. Teams are pressing us high up the pitch and we look devoid of ideas. Against Spurs they gave us plenty of room first half and we looked great again. Meslier is an integral part of that back 5 with the ball but with the high press he does have to kick the ball somewhere and it always seems to go to the wings because we have no target man or no midfield. Easy to defend against.

[DDB220]

Our answer in most situations is to try and get the ball to Raph. Who is generally closed down quickly and the opposition are doubling up on him. Under those circumstances one would assume that this creates exploitative space elsewhere. For whatever reason we are not identifying this space and still trying to give him the ball. Our predictability is easy fodder. Happened so many times against Brighton I lost count.

[1964white]

What James offers in the 9 role ahead of Gelhardt I cannot fathom. I haven’t seen James play that role live. On camera you don’t really get to see his runs when we get possession in our half.

Believe me DDB, from a live perspective, James is not a striker, not his fault he's been asked to do a job up top.

[1964white]

Pretty much how i see it. Teams are pressing us high up the pitch and we look devoid of ideas. Against Spurs they gave us plenty of room first half and we looked great again. Meslier is an integral part of that back 5 with the ball but with the high press he does have to kick the ball somewhere and it always seems to go to the wings because we have no target man or no midfield. Easy to defend against.

And we lose possession as a consequence & we are on the back foot again, our midfield rarely picks up the second ball.

[WestgateRun]

On a positive note. If we win these next two home games, we will shoot up the table.
Finishing 17th or above this season is the only thing that we need to worry about.

[Ellandback1]

This team would give us a good chance of acquiring three points.

.............................Meslier.............................

Drameh.......Liorente......Struijk.........Dallas

....................Phillips.........Forshaw................

.Raphinha..................Klich..................James

................................Gelhardt.........................

Notice, the majority of our players in their correct positions & a proper striker upfront who hits the target nine times out of ten

Absolutely spot on Leon. Our most balanced side you could have picked. Flip of a coin between Klich and Rodrigo, mainly because Rodrigo cost us 30m

[1964white]

Absolutely spot on Leon. Our most balanced side you could have picked. Flip of a coin between Klich and Rodrigo, mainly because Rodrigo cost us 30m

Football is a simple game, Matt

Why complicate it?