Swindon easily beat us 3-0. I’m disgusted.
I’ll let Simon Grayson say it all:
Hopefully this is the major kick up the backside we need because one or two people are getting carried away with their own publicity.
Archive for the ‘Football’ Category
Swindon v Leeds
Sunday, January 24th, 2010Allez Les Bleus
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010“There is no other legal text that would allow the committee to impose sanctions for any incidents missed by match officials” – FIFA.
Earlier today Thierry Henry faced a FIFA disciplinary committee for the deliberate hand ball in the France v. Ireland game.
We all know what happened: Henry stops the ball from running out with his hand (twice), he crosses to Gallas, Gallas scores. France go to the World Cup and Ireland go home shell shocked. Ireland pleaded for a replay, but their requests where ignored by both FIFA and the French football association.
Ultimately France, the more marketable team, qualified. This of course is exactly what FIFA wanted, made evident by the fact that the first time in Qualification history the playoffs were seeded.
So, what happens to Henry? I expected that he’d get a 3 game ban. He gets nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Eduardo was banned for 2 Champions League games this season for a diving. The original incident was missed by the officials, but after later reviewing the evidence the Arsenal player was slapped with a two match ban.
His ban was overturned on appeal, but surely this sets precedent for punishing players based on video evidence.
Granted it was UEFA that banned Eduardo. This is FIFA you’re dealing with. UEFA at least proved they’re willing to try and address obvious failures. Not just ignore, and hope everyone forgets.
I don’t about you, but I’m putting a nice bet on France this World Cup. Seems like FIFA, Sepp Blatter and Platini are doing their best to help them out.
Allez Les Bleus
Leeds Dreaming of White Hart Lane
Sunday, January 17th, 2010Two weeks removed from famously beating Man Utd in the FA Cup, Leeds were left wondering what went wrong yesterday.
Exeter inflicted on Leeds their first defeat in 18 games, and only their second league defeat all season. Exeter got the early goal that they were dreaming of and the game plan from that point forward was defend and hope to hit Leeds on the counter, and that’s exactly what happened.
Harley grabbed his, and Exeter’s second 7 minutes from time as Leeds were pushing hard to find the equaliser. It was game over for Leeds.
The fact that we’ve lost 2 games this season isn’t what worries me, it’s the recent form after the FA Cup game against United. In the two league games since we’ve played Wycome (17th) and Exeter (18th) and we’ve only gotten the one point. Not exactly the return that I was hoping for.
Is this just minor bump in the road? Two teams that came up against Leeds that we just couldn’t break down, or is it something more serious.
The FA Cup is a distraction when Leeds need to be focused. The FA Cup is not important. Promotion is what will define the season and the future of Leeds United Football Club. There’s a loyal fan base, but how long will they keep coming out to watch poor quality football? How long will they keep coming out to be disappointed?
If Leeds fail to get promoted this season it would be a disaster, plain and simple.
Grayson needs to get them focus on the real job at hand. No disrespect to the JP Trophy, FA Cup, Carlisle or Spurs but we should be focused on winning at Swindon on the 26th, and getting three more points from Colchester at Elland Road on the 30th.
Donovan Dropkicks Beckham. US Win 2-1.
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010In what must be one of the biggest shocks so far in the Fake World Cup, the United States toppled England 2-1.
It was an amazing game, but what was more amazing was Landon Donovan’s dropkick on David Beckham. Journalists and spectators alike were left with jaws hitting floors. Some said that Donovan was a full 6 feet off the ground before his flying round house landed square in Beckham’s chest. Others said it was clearly 8.
With the U.S. already up 2-0 and looking good for the win, Donovan decided it would be the best time to give Beckham a close up of his new boots. Donovan was given a yellow card, some may say harshly. England got a free kick 25 yards out.
Beckham picked himself up, with the stud marks on his chest still bleeding, and curled the ball into the top right hand corner. Sadly he had to be substituted shortly after having re-aggravated the stud marks in his chest in a diving celebration.
He will likely miss the rest of the World Cup.
Greece Suffer Heavy Opening Defeat
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010Drawn in Group B with Argentina, Nigeria Czech Republic and Korea, Greece would have been hoping to progress as runner up, at the least.
First up for the Greeks was Korea. This game was supposed to set them up for qualification to the round of 16. Greece are recent European champions and Korea, well they’re Korea, who expects them to win?
However, what started out with so much optimism ended up as a Greek tragedy.
The Koreans took and early lead in the game and never looked back. It was 2-0 at half time, and the final score of 6-0 could have been more. Ji Sun Park, of Man United, scored three and set up two in a monumental day for the Koreans who have put themselves in a great position to surprise all pundits and make it out of the Group.
Greece have an uphill battle on their hands. Up next for them is the Czech Republic who held group favourites Argentina to a 0-0 draw in their first game. Greece need to pick themselves up and get a result against the Czechs or their World Cup experience will be very very brief.
Coyle Wanders to Bolton
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010In what is all but finalised Owen Coyle is set to leave lowly Burnley for the mighty Bolton.
The footballing world is left with a single word question: “Why?”.
Are Bolton a better club than Burnley? Looking at their position in the table, and current form in general it’s hard to say that Bolton are superior than Burnley.
Do Bolton have a superior squad and currently under-performing? Man for man it’s hard this is an interesting debate… Bolton fans would say they’ve the stronger team, with Burnley supporters arguing the opposite. If forced to make a decision, I prefer the squad of players that Coyle has built up at Burnley.
Are Bolton the club with the most potential? Read as “potential” = “money”. Turf Moor has a capacity of 22,546, with plans to expand to 28,000, while the Reebok has a capacity of 28,783. So really, the difference is negligible.
Coyle did play for Bolton in the mid 90’s for two seasons, and I’m sure would be a popular choice with the Bolton faithful. Previous manager Gary Megson was never really accepted by the fans and it was just a matter of time before he was released.
The managerial world is tough, especially so in the Premier League. Coyle may see this as his shoot at achieving something great, but unless they get some serious financial support that’s just not a reality at Bolton. So Bolton must be a stepping stone to a bigger job.
The decision is even more baffling when we look back to the start of the season when he was offered the Celtic job and said no. Bolton or Celtic? Celtic or Bolton? No offense to Bolton, but Celtic are playing in the Champions League every other season and if that’s not a platform to build something great from then I don’t know what is.
For his sake I hope he’s not the next Paul Ince, who after leaving MK Dons for Blackburn was quickly fired, and was lucky to be accepted back at Stadium MK. I don’t think Coyle would be so welcomed at Burnley.
It’s a risk, but I hope it works out for him.
I’m looking forward to Bolton entertaining Burnley at the Reebok on the 26h of January.
Leeds beat United
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010I must admit I feared the worst when Leeds were drawn against United in the FA Cup. All I hoped for was that we wouldn’t get asses handed to us, and keep the confidence at the club high as we start the second half of the season.
We had already played a “top four” Premier League team this year when Liverpool came to town and they lucked their way to a 1-0 win. I would have been quite happy to have the same happen again.
Then we scored in the 19th minute.
A great cross field pass from Howson, who by the way was great again today, was latched onto by Beckford. His first touch was poor, but he managed to rescue the situation with a smart finish underneath the on rushing Kuszczak.
I’m sure that it was a great moment for Beckford personally, with him not agreeing to a contract extension, this highlights exactly the talents that he possess and on the biggest stage too. It’s hard to say what the future holds for him, Newcastle are being constantly mentioned, but I hope that he stays with Leeds for the long haul.
The second half was a nervous watch to say the least. Hope is a horrible thing when you’re a Leeds fan! Numerous changes fell United’s way – Rooney shooting high and wide, second half substitute Owen had a guilt edged chance but slipped at the last moment. In these types of cup games the underdog inevitably needs a stellar performance from their keeper, but Ankergren really wasn’t tested until injury time when he made two great stops.
Ultimately Leeds held strong and United couldn’t find a way past. 1-0 Leeds.
It’s only a year since we lost to Histon at the same stage of the FA Cup. What a difference a year makes.
Update
Reward for beating United is a tougher draw against Spurs at White Hart Lane. Where Leeds will come up against former players Woodgate, Lennon & Keane.
What To Look Forward To In 2010
Friday, January 1st, 2010Premier League
I haven’t been this excited about the Premier League since my beloved Leeds were involved at the sharp end. Looks like it’s a race between Chelsea and United for the title but with the current form that Arsenal are in it’s hard to immediately rule them out. If they want to be legitimate contenders, then they’ll need to get better results against United, Chelsea and City than they had in the first half of the season (where they lost to all three teams).
The fourth Champions League spot is very much still up for grabs, with four teams having a realistic chance at grabbing it. Tottenham current hold 4th, having played a game more than Man City in 5th, with Villa and Liverpool occupying 6th & 7th respectively.
Villa had a tough Christmas, losing to both Liverpool and Arsenal, but if they put a good run of form together and others slip they have a chance at finally cracking the top 4.
Liverpool were lucky to beat Villa 1-0. Only a injury time goal from Torres pulled victory from what would have been a justified draw. The January 10th game against Spurs will make or break their season.
Should Tottenham win that game at Anfield it will fill the squad with confidence and they’ll start to believe that they can actually take 4th. If they lose… then they’ll likely fade and finish 6th.
For my money Spurs are favourites to take fourth, but they need that result against Liverpool. If Spurs slip up then I think it’s City’s to lose.
South Africa
The bitter disappointment of not making the finals to Le Cheat’s goal will never fully fade, but it’s hard not to get excited about the tournament.
Picking a winner is tough. I mean it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Brazil don’t make it out of the group stages. Argentina are managed by Maradona, who great as he was as a player, he’s equally bad as a manager, so it’s down to Messi and others to succeed in spite of the fact.
Spain will be looking to build on the Euro success and with Villa & Torres up front it’s hard to bet against them winning it all again.
Roll on June 10th.
League One
Hopefully Leeds can continue with their strong form and grab automatic promotion to The Championship, and of course beat United on Sunday, but the FA Cup doesn’t matter at this point, it’s all about promotion.
Are Liverpool the next Leeds?
Monday, December 21st, 2009A lot of people are drawing parallels to with Liverpool’s plight and that which hit Leeds in the 2001/2002 season. In that season Leeds had banked on getting fourth, but ultimately missed out and had to sell Rio Ferdinand, at the start of the 2002/2003 season, to Man United to make up for lost revenue. Leeds ultimately survived that season, but fell the following season.
Could Liverpool be facing the same scenario? Lets not beat around the bush, Liverpool must finish the season with a Champions League spot. Gerrard is 29, and is a born winner, and will want to win a League title, a season out of the Champions League would mean a rebuilding year, would he wait 3/4 years to have another run at the League?? If Gerrard leaves, why would Torres hang around? He’s 25 at the peak of his career, arguably one of the better strikers in the world, who may be a world cup winner. So if Gerrard leaves, so does Torres.
With United and Chelsea looking very secure, there are two spots up for grabs with four teams that are vying for them.
Arsenal are the most likely of all teams to get 3rd or 4th, they’ve had a difficult season thus far, losing to Man United, Man City, and Chelsea, but have taken care of business against the “lesser” teams. The fact that their have been some upsets has help Arsenal pick up points they’ve dropped. This weekend was a great example. Man United lose 3-0 to Fulham, Arsenal beat Hull 3-0.
Aston Villa are real contenders now. They’ve hit a rich vein of form recently, winning their last five in all competitions, including beating Man United in Old Trafford. Villa current occupy fourth, level on points with Arsenal having played a game less. Their season could very well be defined over the next few games: Arsenal (A), Liverpool (H), Wigan (A). If they can pick up 6 points from those games then people will have to take them very seriously.
Tottenham Hotspur when compared to Arsenal and Aston Villa they are least likely to succeed. But should either of the two teams above them falter Spurs have the personnel to go on a great run. They got great strikers, a decent midfield and a strong defense.
Then we have Liverpool. It’s hard to be optimistic about their chances, but the one thing that they do have going for them, is that they’ve been there before, and pulled victories from the jaws of defeat on countless occasions. If they stay healthy and others slip up, they can swoop in. But they need to stay healthy (what would happen if Gerrard or Torres gets injured for a month?), and others need to drop points. They do play Arsenal and Spurs in their next three league games. Those are make or break games.
Leeds Win, Beckford Pouts.
Sunday, December 20th, 2009I must admit I had Leeds down for at most a draw in this game. In December Charlton have been slowly closing the gap to the Whites and I feared that this would be another weekend where they’d move two points closer to us. I’ve never been happier to be wrong.
Today’s game was one of the better performances of the season. We dominated the game and restricted Southampton, with Casper Ankergren barely had a save to make.
Hughes, who had a great game, played the ball to Snodgrass who curled in a wonderful shot from 18 yards on 77 minutes to score the winning goal. The goal was a great response to an substitution that was not well received by all.
In the 74th minute Simon Grayson chose to bring in Max Gradel for Jermaine Beckford. Beckford who didn’t have his greatest day at the office, as well as not getting any decisions was no pleased with being taken off.
Some people will look at this and try to make a mountain from a mole hill. Beckford was just frustrated the with his performance and disappointed to be coming off… I’d much rather see him pissed off with being subbed than coming off laughing and smiling.
The fact that we went on to win the game means that the conversation between Jermaine and Simon will be an easy one, and we’ll be able to move on from what was really a nothing incident.
There were good performances all over the park with Hughes being a standout, and I’m delighted to see another clean-sheet, and we’re still unbeaten coming into Christmas.
Come on the Leeds.
