Leeds (dirty thugs) discussion

Dave Smith said:
I wouldn't categorise Palace as a PL team really and rate Burnley above them as Burnley were a decent team in the 50's.

As for teams missing, the real big ones missing now are Forest and Sunderland. Arguments can then be made for Wednesday, Burnley, Preston, Blackburn, Derby, Ipswich, Portsmouth and Huddersfield as all those teams have had reasonable periods of history were they were top teams.

If I had to pick a 20 biggest English PL, mine would be:

Utd
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arse
Villa
Newcastle
Sunderland
Forest
Leeds
City
Spuds
Sheff Utd
Sheff Weds
Wolves
Everton
Blackburn
Huddersfield (owing to their 1930's team)
West Ham
Derby
Ipswich (just nudge in owing to their Uefa Cup win.)
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I put Palace there strangely because they’ve been relegated so many times from the league. Just feels inevitable that by hook or by crook, they will either get promoted or just stay up. Like the stain you scrub every 30 minutes which keeps coming back.

Anyway, it’s a good list filled with history but I disagree primarily with Huddersfield. They’re just a league 1 club, even accounting for Herbert Chapman’s success. Even their fans would say so. I’d personally put Leicester in there. Why’ve you excluded them? Maybe I’d remove Ipswich too as I don’t know much about their history, but they did have Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson, so it should be good.

Rest are fine. I’m too young to remember a Premier League Steel City Derby, so would love to witness one.
 
RashyForPM said:
I put Palace there strangely because they’ve been relegated so many times from the league. Just feels inevitable that by hook or by crook, they will either get promoted or just stay up. Like the stain you scrub every 30 minutes which keeps coming back.

Anyway, it’s a good list filled with history but I disagree primarily with Huddersfield. They’re just a league 1 club, even accounting for Herbert Chapman’s success. Even their fans would say so. I’d personally put Leicester in there. Why’ve you excluded them? Maybe I’d remove Ipswich too as I don’t know much about their history, but they did have Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson, so it should be good.

Rest are fine. I’m too young to remember a Premier League Steel City Derby, so would love to witness one.
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Huddersfield's 1920's achievement of three on the trot means that they are one of only three teams to achieve the feat in English football. That for me is a much bigger achievement that most other teams in the bottom five can dream of (even if it happened a long time ago). Also, on top of that they also finished runners up 3 times so for about a good decade they were one of the top teams in England.

To be honest, missing out Leicester was a mistake, they should've been in the bottom five somewhere. As for the bottom five and the others I suggested, I think all those clubs can lay a claim to being worthy of being worth a PL place based on history.

That said, I actually love how every now and then you get a Wigan/Bournemouth/Barnsley/Wimbledon in the league. For the supporters of those teams it is amazing as it is real making history moment rather than just thinking 'ah, back to fight out relegation'.
 
Dave Smith said:
Huddersfield's 1920's achievement of three on the trot means that they are one of only three teams to achieve the feat in English football. That for me is a much bigger achievement that most other teams in the bottom five can dream of (even if it happened a long time ago). Also, on top of that they also finished runners up 3 times so for about a good decade they were one of the top teams in England.

To be honest, missing out Leicester was a mistake, they should've been in the bottom five somewhere. As for the bottom five and the others I suggested, I think all those clubs can lay a claim to being worthy of being worth a PL place based on history.

That said, I actually love how every now and then you get a Wigan/Bournemouth/Barnsley/Wimbledon in the league. For the supporters of those teams it is amazing as it is real making history moment rather than just thinking 'ah, back to fight out relegation'.
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Oh, I never knew about the Huddersfield stat. Fair play then.

And yes, your last passage is why since Forest blew it against Stoke, I want Brentford to go up. Some new blood is always welcomed too.
 
Most of the time fan made songs are totally cheesy and wince inducing. This is no different and also goes on too long. Nonetheless, it's surprisingly good:

 
Was curious what sort of business they'll do this summer.

Been majorly linked with Rodrigo de Paul of Udinese who'd be a fantastic pick up for them. 31m is a pretty decent price for him.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...to-31m-for-udinese-midfielder-rodrigo-de-paul

Already signed Rodrigo from Valencia and Robiin Koch from Freiburg who's been capped a couple of times by Germany. As I suspected the lure of working with Bielsa means they can attract some good quality players from Italy, Germany and Spain, something I'm desperate for my own club to do. Instead we seem permanently on the line to Brentford. :wenger:
 
ShinjiNinja26 said:
If they have a decent start to the season how long you reckon it’ll be before we’re plagued with Leeds fans on the caf?
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don't think we have to worry, they have a few good players but not enough to mount any sort of trouble I reckon they’ll be 11th to 14th too good for relegation but not good enough for a top 10 finish.
 
dannyrhinos89 said:
don't think we have to worry, they have a few good players but not enough to mount any sort of trouble I reckon they’ll be 11th to 14th too good for relegation but not good enough for a top 10 finish.
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Bielsa will give some teams a right headache for sure. They will be tough on weak minded big teams like ours.
 
arthurka said:
Bielsa will give some teams a right headache for sure. They will be tough on weak minded big teams like ours.
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Yeah but burn out will catch up with them as always. Bielsa high energy/pressing tactic is good to watch as long as the players can handle it. I think they'll take more points off top teams than bottom teams though.

They'll be wanting crowds back in at somepoint as a full Elland road will help them take points too.
 
ShinjiNinja26 said:
If they have a decent start to the season how long you reckon it’ll be before we’re plagued with Leeds fans on the caf?
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There is little danger of that happening since your average Leeds fan has yet to discover the internet or electrical appliances in general.

Most still live in shacks without running water or toilet paper. Rumours that they eat their young are not unfounded.
 
dannyrhinos89 said:
Yeah but burn out will catch up with them as always. Bielsa high energy/pressing tactic is good to watch as long as the players can handle it. I think they'll take more points off top teams than bottom teams though.

They'll be wanting crowds back in at somepoint as a full Elland road will help them take points too.
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Agree I think Elland Road will be bouncing when they get to open again.
 
Random Task said:
There is little danger of that happening since your average Leeds fan has yet to discover the internet or electrical appliances in general.

Most still live in shacks without running water or toilet paper. Rumours that they eat their young are not unfounded.
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:lol: They aren’t called dirty Leeds for nothing.
 
Random Task said:
There is little danger of that happening since your average Leeds fan has yet to discover the internet or electrical appliances in general.

Most still live in shacks without running water or toilet paper. Rumours that they eat their young are not unfounded.
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:boring:
 
Really surprised a newly promoted club in the prem can sign a player like Rodrigo Moreno. Fully expect them to finish in the top 10 in the coming season.
 
Leeds are showing they can play football very well against top teams. Bielsa against any pressing or attacking team is always fun to watch. The next very fun and interesting match will be to see Bielsa going up against Pep's Man City. It is a little sad that Pochettino is no longer the manager of any Premier league team, and we could have a proper match of master vs student.
 
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Leeds are the dark horse and teams will be very nervous playing them.

Bielsa, smart no nonsense manager.
 
ray24 said:
Leeds are showing they can play football very well against top teams. Bielsa against any pressing or attacking team is always fun to watch. The next very fun and interesting match will be to see Bielsa going up against Pep's Man City. It is a little sad that Pochettino is no longer the manager of any Premier league team, and we could have a proper match of master vs student.
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Tried to explain to my missus that one of my best friends (Leeds fan) is super excited about first game today. Asked her for a score and she said 3-2. Called her when it was 3-2 after 35 mins. She was convinced men know nothing about predictions. Didnt tell her final score.
 
Imagine if they had a great CB who commanding that high press line, it would be a nightmare for any team.
I can see Leeds season will be the same as prime Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao.
 
I can see them struggling after winter break with their style. There will be some injuries and they don't have the depth yet especially with this condensed season. Took the team time to acclimate to Bielsa and now will take a couple of seasons to build and acclimate to the Premier League. With that said I expect plenty of 5-4 and 4-3 games and they will always be a contender for an upset.
 
Leeds remind me of Liverpool 2016. Relentless with some flaws but very dangerous. Can’t wait to see them against the other big boys( City, Chelsea, Arsenal).
 
Feckers will beat us this season. We always seem to struggle against bielsa style teams
 
Heard from the commentary that the CB pairing was the first time and not their regular CB partnering.
Maybe that is why their defense had so many clangers.

Attacking wise, they are a joy to watch. They seem to be very aggressive with their pressing and good with the ball.
 
Could be me just not wanting to credit the Leeds scum so early but maybe last night was some game-raising by their players. Let’s wait and watch how they perform against Fulham next Saturday. If they hammer them, then fair play.
 
Think they'll finish around 13-16th their first season back. Personally believe those predicting them to qualify for Europe just because they play some nice stuff at times are bonkers. Good team, but we've seen that the most successful promoted teams recently are those that have a solid structure and build from there (Wolves and Sheffield United). They'll probably start pretty well and peter off. Also think Bielsa's style is going to leave them exhausted midway through the year, especially since they won't have most of the ball all the time like in the Championship, and will have to chase around more. Actually quite enjoying them being back though, no doubt it's a massive club and they have interesting players and a fascinating manager. Leeds fans haven't had a chance to shine yet, I'm sure they'll change my feelings in no time.
 
Wow were they impressive yesterday. There is a clear method to their madness and the players 100% believe in it.

I will come to hate Leeds like I did in the late 90s and early 2000s again... but my goodness were they fun to watch.

If injuries don't hit them too bad, but I see them finishing top 10.
 
ValenciasDrilledCrosses said:
Think they'll finish around 13-16th their first season back. Personally believe those predicting them to qualify for Europe just because they play some nice stuff at times are bonkers. Good team, but we've seen that the most successful promoted teams recently are those that have a solid structure and build from there (Wolves and Sheffield United). They'll probably start pretty well and peter off. Also think Bielsa's style is going to leave them exhausted midway through the year, especially since they won't have most of the ball all the time like in the Championship, and will have to chase around more. Actually quite enjoying them being back though, no doubt it's a massive club and they have interesting players and a fascinating manager. Leeds fans haven't had a chance to shine yet, I'm sure they'll change my feelings in no time.
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Just curious what you mean by 'solid structure'? This Leeds team seems pretty solid; they've been playing like this all along under Bieksa, haven't they? Or are you talking about their defence?
 


Defensively they look massively suspect, although in fairness they were up against one of the most lethal attacks in world football. A better gauge of their ability will be against teams like Wolves etc.
 
Thought they did well. A better GK and CB pairing, and they win that.

Were very suspect on defensive corners though and couldn't deal with Van Dijk. Kock got a proper PL lesson yesterday
 
izec said:
Thought they did well. A better GK and CB pairing, and they win that.

Were very suspect on defensive corners though and couldn't deal with Van Dijk. Kock got a proper PL lesson yesterday
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His name is actually Robin Koch? For real :lol:
 
They looked good.

Not sure they can keep that level of work rate for the whole season especially with this years congested schedule.
 
Haddock said:
They had the best defence in the Championship, they aren't that suspect. If you exclude the two stupid penalties which you would assume won't happen every week they look okay.

Bielsa does not compromise. If he sees an opportunity to take the game to a team he will so he was hardly going to park the bus. The trouble is with all Biesla teams is the inevitable exhaustion that sets in. With this season's insanse schedule it wouldn't surprise me if they are top 6 by Christmas and then slide dramatically by March.
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Their best defence relies on their possession of the ball. And they lost their best CB in Ben White. Koch does not seem like an upgrade compared to White.

Castia said:
They looked good.

Not sure they can keep that level of work rate for the whole season especially with this years congested schedule.
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They managed to do so in the championship with even more games. The question is whether they can find the belief to carry on playing this way when the results aren't going their way. But this is a squad that spent two years with Bielsa and they won promotion under him, so it might be harder for the squad to lose faith in him as the manager.
 
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Haddock said:
They had the best defence in the Championship, they aren't that suspect. If you exclude the two stupid penalties which you would assume won't happen every week they look okay.

Bielsa does not compromise. If he sees an opportunity to take the game to a team he will so he was hardly going to park the bus. The trouble is with all Biesla teams is the inevitable exhaustion that sets in. With this season's insanse schedule it wouldn't surprise me if they are top 6 by Christmas and then slide dramatically by March.
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They lost a key figure in White? if say Cooper got a big injury, there style of play means their centre backs are likely to be more exposed. Top 6 is a big ask, tactically they're very exciting but I wonder if individually the players are as talented as previous suprise promotion packages.
 
I think someone earlier in the thread summed him up. He's an excellent coach, but poor/average manager. It's why he did so well at Bilbao because they have a limited pool of players because of the Basque only rule.

I think he'll do enough to keep them up this season, but the problems will come when they need to invest and build a squad for the future. Do you trust him to do it? Or if you get someone else (like a sporting director) will he eventually fall out with them?
 
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