Middlesbrough v Leeds Utd Match Thread

[Dalton]

For me it also shows the borrowed time we were living on with the Reading game, Villa and Blackburn...9 points but could have been 2
Just have to make those in the box chances go in again and we will be ok

[BGwhite]

It also proves how relentless Leeds are in their pursuit of victory, draws aren't in their vocabulary no matter how late in the game. They have suffered so much bad luck with injuries and now Jack Clarke going down with some sort of illness any piece of good fortune that does come their way I think is fully deserved and justified. Not once this season have I seen Leeds look like they're playing for anything other than a win and they give their all in every single match and for this they should be fully commended.

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[The Subhuman]

Don't think it proves anything...quality of chance is not indicated above. Though for once we did have a couple of clear cut shooting chances.

[dezzy]

The thing is that only twice have we failed to score so it isn't like teams know how to stop us scoring. The only thing to stop us scoring a lot more goals has been wasteful finishing and I have made the point earlier that we don't have enough players capable of scoring from open play. Klich's goals have dried up which has largely meant that unless Roofe or Hernandez score no one scores. If you take Roofe, Hernandez and Klich's goals away then without counting I would say that we have probably scored 10 or less goals in total from everyone else in the team and that is appalling. Take a look back to the Leeds midfield under Wilko and Strachan, McAllister and Speed would contribute a lot of goals (which allowed for Batty to do the defensive side) you would also get a reasonable contribution from the full backs, the centrebacks, 2 strikers both scoring etc. Under O'Leary and Bowyer, Bakke scoring in midfield, Harte,s free kicks, again 2 strikers and Kewell. That for me is the crux - too many players who are not a goal threat.

The big hope is that Bamford and Brown can both be incorporated into the starting line up without sacrificing Hernandez and Roofe. Suddenly we then have 4 regular scorers, Klich likely playing too and if he can rediscover his shooting boots then 5 players capable of scoring from open play consistently. Then we can hopefully make the continued stats work in our favour. The opposition hasn't stopped up this season, no team has stopped us creating enough chances to win any game (even in the Norwich defeat we had more chances than them), what has stopped us has been wasteful finishing or players not having the ability to score goals.

I also am yet to buy into the Bielsa fatigue argument as we continue to score late winners. There is yet to be a match where we have looked tired after 70 minutes and the only game where we conceded a few late on and looked out on our feet was against WBA but I put that down to us losing confidence after the keeper error that made it 2-0. But even then we found a way to score in the last minute of the game.

Fatigue is an issue, I think it was Bamford who mentioned all the high intensity sprints post training, fine, but why the hell do we do them the day before a game?! Maybe a reason why we miss so many chances, mental fatigue, there is a point when you can over work teams, Bielsa is a genius, but he admittedly is stubborn and makes mistakes, he comes as a package, maybe his fitness demands and his small squad policy are reasons he missed out on Premiership jobs and other big jobs, we’ll be firing again soon, Bamford with minutes under his belt will tap a few in Wednesday