Match thread; Leeds Utd v Aston Villa

[Dazzle]

This match is now almost certainly a match between playoff rivals. It might be two “B” teams. I can understand the calls to try and keep the winning sequence going, however it must surely be sensible to have both eyes firmly fixed on the playoff semifinal. Besides, I think we can still field a strong and able starting eleven even if we take 2 or 3 out of the firing line. It only takes a couple of seconds for a rush of blood moment that could seriously put our playoff chances at risk. As an example, Kalinic is currently recovering from minor surgery and Nyland is long term out. Our current back up GK is Sarkic. If Steer got injured or picked up a red card we would lose a vital component in our winning run and be left with an inexperienced GK. Not good. The same argument can be made for Grealish & McGinn, both vital players to our chances. With all of that in mind, my starting 11 for Elland Road would look like;

..................................Sarkic...............................
Elmo..............Elphick................Jedinak...........Taylor
.................................Whelan..............................
ElGhazi...........Lansbury.............Hourihane.........Green
................................Davis.......,........................

Bench; Steer, Mings, Grealish, Kodjia, McGinn, Tuanzebe*, Hause*

*assumes back from injury

[Saunders82]

Dazzle you have made some sensible points there, I think Leeds will be looking along the same lines to a point, part of me wants to try to keep the winning run going but to loose any key personnel at this point would be a disaster. I do think though that Leeds heads are starting to go or have gone, I'm sure DS and the team will have worked out all the different permutations, so I'm going for a draw. UTV

[Jae1411]

Leeds are without their top scorer in roofe and they are missing their first 3 choices of left back. Dallas likely to start their. Plus their form makes this winnable. And if grealish plays as he has been Phillips won't last 90 minutes. I see no reason for us not to go for this. The play offs are all about momentum and confidence

[VillaBill]

Leeds should be deflated, we need a win to keep our slender hopes of finishing fourth alive .
It is not the be all and end all though, what an effort by the guys to get us into this position though, we can enjoy 90mins of relaxed viewing

[FoxyAV]

Leeds are without their top scorer in roofe and they are missing their first 3 choices of left back. Dallas likely to start their. Plus their form makes this winnable. And if grealish plays as he has been Phillips won't last 90 minutes. I see no reason for us not to go for this. The play offs are all about momentum and confidence

Ouch, who'd want to be playing fill-in LB with Adomah/Green, Elmo and either McGinn or Hourihane coming at them?

[VTID85]

Leeds are without their top scorer in roofe and they are missing their first 3 choices of left back. Dallas likely to start their. Plus their form makes this winnable. And if grealish plays as he has been Phillips won't last 90 minutes. I see no reason for us not to go for this. The play offs are all about momentum and confidence

I read yesterday that Alioski is out too? I find him painful to watch, so this is good news on a personal level.

Our team sees 3 changes, with Tuanzebe, Hourihane and Green in the starting XI today.

[Saunders82]

It could be an act but Bielsa looks very down (a broken man?) if that is the manager then what state are the team in, the first 20 minutes will tell us everything. UTV

[VTID85]

It could be an act but Bielsa looks very down (a broken man?) if that is the manager then what state are the team in, the first 20 minutes will tell us everything. UTV

It is. Bielsa is a charlatan - not from a managerial perspective but his bucket, his squating, his thumb twiddling is a 100% contrived image for the cameras and for idiots to wank over on the BBC sports comment sections and with that comes what we are seeing today. Completely orchestrated. No wonder his team are primadonna arseholes, every single one of them.

We need to put this to bed a.s.a.p. and get Grealish and McGinn off. Tensions from Leeds are boiling up and the challenges will come harder and faster in the 2nd half as frustration continues but McGinn unfortunately is a prime candidate to get himself in the book "on balance" with the way he plays and that would be a disaster.

[deadbuzz]

El Ghazi misses the play-off semi finals now, and if McGinn gets another yellow card he will as well, need to take him off. Hope we can appeal the El Ghazi decision.

[VTID85]

El Ghazi misses the play-off semi finals now, and if McGinn gets another yellow card he will as well, need to take him off. Hope we can appeal the El Ghazi decision.

No way the El Ghazi card stands.

Leeds should be ashamed of themselves today, with Bielsa the only one covering himself in any remote glory.

Absolute piss take of a shit show.

[VillaBill]

What a farce, watch Bamford the cheating runt score the winner

[VTID85]

Thank fuck for that. Plenty that will be remembered and plenty to forget!

[VTID85]

Also, what a colossal defence we have.

MINGS AND TUANZEBE.

Two lions of gigantic proportions.

[Saunders82]

El Ghazi misses the play-off semi finals now, and if McGinn gets another yellow card he will as well, need to take him off. Hope we can appeal the El Ghazi decision.

No way the El Ghazi card stands.

Leeds should be ashamed of themselves today, with Bielsa the only one covering himself in any remote glory.

Absolute piss take of a shit show.

They should be disgusted with themselves, hopefully the red card will be rescinded all over their team there were players willing to cheat to win, desperate or what.

[VillaBill]

Battling qualities clear to see, we remain unbeaten with confidence intact, McGinn booked, at least we know he won’t play next week.
As above, Mings & Tuanzebe immense

[Dazzle]

It’s a “hate to say I told you so” moment. Ok the ElGhazi red will be rescinded, but that battle was fucking predictable. Looks like we might have lost Kodjia to injury, Grealish kicked all over the place, McGinn a sniff away from missing the entirety of the playoffs. It was naive, at best, to play them all without thought of the playoffs. Hopefully we have escaped any serious injuries, Steer hopefully is just a minor niggle. Against Norwich I don’t expect to see McGinn, Grealish, Steer, Mings. We’ve had a warning, take fucking notice.

[Saunders82]

They have just shown the "Goal" incident again and Klich was off side when he received the ball, that linesman was an utter plank he could have/has destroyed us today, if they do get to the playoff final and we get there it will be VERY interesting to say the least. UTV

[VTID85]

It’s a “hate to say I told you so” moment. Ok the ElGhazi red will be rescinded, but that battle was fucking predictable. Looks like we might have lost Kodjia to injury, Grealish kicked all over the place, McGinn a sniff away from missing the entirety of the playoffs. It was naive, at best, to play them all without thought of the playoffs. Hopefully we have escaped any serious injuries, Steer hopefully is just a minor niggle. Against Norwich I don’t expect to see McGinn, Grealish, Steer, Mings. We’ve had a warning, take fucking notice.

Give yourself a big pat on the back then Dazzler.

Would be fantastic if Leeds don't even make it to the play-off final. No-one seems to be talking about that, it's as if they've already guaranteed their place at Wembley (even more so than we like to think Villa have )

[Saunders82]

The next week will be very interesting IMO, lots to play for by every team, whatever happens if we can get to the final it will be VERY VERY different. UTV

[deadbuzz]

Leeds are vastly overrated, they're a good team of course, and capable of beating anyone in the play-offs, but since Smith took us over, we've taken more points than them, yet people talk about them as if they're on another level to everyone else... This time last year both Fulham and Cardiff had more points after the same amount of games, and no one would have been scared to play Cardiff in the play-offs, we also had the same amount of points after 45 games as they have now, and a better goal difference, so they're not that great.

[deadbuzz]

Good to see Adomah back on the scoresheet again, that's four goals in twelve games for him now, and he hasn't been playing the whole ninety minutes, back in goal-scoring form. Pity Davis wasn't on the pitch though, might have been good to give him the goal.

[Dazzle]

The next week will be very interesting IMO, lots to play for by every team, whatever happens if we can get to the final it will be VERY VERY different. UTV

Absolutely it would be a different game at Wembley. I’d be quite relaxed going into a against that Leeds side in the wide open spaces of Wembley. Their press would be harder for them to do, and our midfield runners should enjoy the gaps that would be available. Not to mention we would hopefully have Tammy back who would work even more space for those midfield runners. My concern remains the Tesco bags with their two cheating CFs.

[FoxyAV]

Good to see Adomah back on the scoresheet again, that's four goals in twelve games for him now, and he hasn't been playing the whole ninety minutes, back in goal-scoring form. Pity Davis wasn't on the pitch though, might have been good to give him the goal.

He's our only fit striker left.

Can Bamford be punished retrospectively for simulation in having El Ghazi sent off? I thought the FA were coming down on that hard?

If we meet them in the play-offs we're going to absolutely hammer them. Smith will see to it but so will every single one of our players. It could actually have been the best thing to happen to us, give the players and manager some real fire and urge to ensure Leeds don't beat us.

[deadbuzz]

People are suggesting that Bamford can't be punished retrospectively, because he picked up a yellow card in the aftermath, but that yellow card will have been for a different incident. I mean, It doesn't make sense that his yellow was for the dive, if the referee was booking him for diving then he wouldn't have sent El Ghazi off for elbowing him. So in theory, it should be still possible to take retrospective action against him, but somehow I doubt that that will happen.

[deadbuzz]

Davis wasn't even on the bench, so we don't actually know if he's fit, presumably not, otherwise I'm sure he would have been in the squad. I don't know if we're allowed to use Hogan in the play-offs, but we might need him.

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