Well here we go again on our Xisco Premier party bus. Our discounted team of honest journeymen, cast offs and rough diamonds are set to face a Leeds team that have played 6 and not won a league game yet. For the bedwetters this means a guaranteed loss with more grumbling about the state of our squad. A draw would keep the level headed forum members going for another week while a win would send the good folk on board HMSPTL into a full cruise ship mode! For me personally it's clear we are skint, it obvious we are in budget mode but the players moved on either needed to go, didn't want to stay or quite simply weren't any good. Yes Isaac Success that means you. Looking across the stats for our departed players so far it seems the right call was made in most cases too! So onto Saturday's game. Will we see Watford attack from the outset? Will our Chilean defensive Hulk come back in from what appears to be a temporary benching? Will Tufan start seeing as he looked good in the system when he came on? Where does that leave Etebo and Kucka? Will Kiko make it through 2 games without an injury in the Premier league for the first time? Leeds fans are a bit unhappy having had a lurk on their forums. It seems a lack of signings has left a bit of a stale team this season so far. Injuries are also having a knock on effect on consistency. Obviously getting a 5-1 spanking against Man United in your first league game probably doesn't set the fanbase up for a happy mindset! It sounds like the first half against West Ham was their best performance of the season but the second was a return to lethargic play. Let's hope the second half team turns up against us on Saturday. Injury news: Watford have doubts over Mr 100% after his head injury on Saturday. Bachmann also carrying a knee injury again. Leeds will be missing Bamford, Llorente, Forshaw and Koch for Saturday. Dangerman Raphina played last week despite carrying a knock so will probably be OK for Saturday. Head to head stats: We have a pretty good record over them. We have 10 wins to there 9 with 6 draws. Our overall goals are well ahead too. Betting odds (for the over 18's) Leeds best bet 7/10 Draw 3/1 Watford 4/1 Leeds forum links: There's always one on their phone checking shoutbox at every club............ https://www.motforum.com/phpbb/ http://www.lufctalk.com/ Current form: Watford sit in 12th - about par for the season baring in mind who we have played Leeds are in 18th - they have played Burnley, Newcastle, West Ham, Everton, Liverpool and Man United. They should have picked up a win playing these teams. Memory lane: The Vic was rocking for Watford's 2-1 against the then league Champions in November 1992. Look at the shocking team we put out too that night! I still remember the bundles on the Vic terrace when we scored. Troy scoring in our 6-1 away day romp in November 2012 (we do like to play them in November) Jay from the USA. What a guy!!! Fessi (love this little Italian magician) scored 2 in a 4-1 rout in August 2014 against a 9 man Leeds in our promotion season. Cheese from Leeds: Wensleydale. It's a bit crumbly just like Leeds defence when they play us........ Adam Leventhal's ITK thoughts: Watford could get a win here, or draw. Watford could even lose if things don't go well. Dom Poleon career reminder: If you, like me are still bitter about what happened to Jon Bond - have a look at how Mr Poleon's career turned out in the end......... https://www.ebbsfleetunited.co.uk/squad/dominic-poleon/ Prediction: A scoring draw - we go into the International break with only 3 defeats on the board.
Interesting game. The pressure on Leeds to post the first win at home to us will be immense. It could play into our hands if we don’t concede early.
A real relegation 11 pointer. Can't afford to allow them to relieve their pressure by giving them their first win. Must win game. Leeds 3 (M Spring, M King, C Carlisle) WFC 0
Could go either way, on one hand this is the perfect type of team for Munoz to come up against, a team that doesn’t make allowances for what the opposition will do and just tries to attack. Munoz hasn’t got to worry too much about the other manager activating a couple of extra brain cells and taking two seconds to think about what we might do and subsequently nullifying us completely, much like himself in that regard. On the other hand we’re crap and much like Wolves we'll be the perfect platform for them to kick start their season. Just like Wolves, they will have been miraculously in a ‘false position’ until the play us, with their failure to pick up a single win against any other team just one of those weird unexplainable phenomenons.
Think this will be a really good test of where we're really at. I don't think Leeds are formidable under Bielsa, especially when you look at some of the names in their starting XI who we've beaten in teams in years gone by, but we know they'll be looking to this game to get their first win. Really tough to predict the result for this one.
Wow - how did that team beat a Leeds side with Cantona, Strachan, Rocastle, Speed and McAllister... I have no recollection of that!
Yes. If we do surrender meekly and lose 3-0 with chaotic substitutions then it doesn’t bode well for what is come in October and November.
The performance against Newcastle tells me we are a bottom 3 side at the moment. Newcastle was a measure in which we could gauge ourselves, but failed miserably. Normally, even if we looked like a solid side, capable of grinding out results, I'd put this game against Leeds down as a probable defeat. Having said that, because Leeds have not won yet, and clearly have issues, it will give us a little more hope than usual. So, therefore, this will be another test and another chance to redeem ourselves and convince people we are not just making up the numbers. I think we'll lose quite convincingly and Xisco will unfortunately be sacked. Probably the first managerial casualty of the new season, but we've got that title to defend remember. However, me thinking that will happen doesn't mean it will....of course. I can see we look a little better with Tufan in the side. If we bring in Sierralta (or Kabs) in place of Cathcart, then I think we'd be as strong as we possibly could be. There is some hope, if things go our way early on. I want to see more from Sissoko though. I'm not convinced he's giving enough for the cause. Once Kucka went off against Newcastle, there was a gaping great hole in our midfield which Newcastle exploited. I was hoping he would be the one who would fill the void, but he didn't. Another example was when Newcastle broke in the final minute, Sissoko was the nearest player to our goal, then Ngakia and finally Etebo. Sissoko almost immediately stopped running and went into a trot, Ngakia ran but slowly and only Etebo bust a gut to retrieve the situation (and pulled a hamstring for his trouble). This is the type of commitment we need. For me Sissoko is an excellent player, but he has to give a lot more of himself during games. Even though I think it will go badly (I just can't get the thought of our rancid defence out of my head), I also believe getting a good result is not totally beyond us (hedging my bets). But the chances of us losing and playing poorly are greater than us playing well and winning, IMO, but I also hope I'll have egg on my face by the final whistle. Sunnyside up please.
How on earth did we win any game with that line up from 1992. Just reminds how pi55 poor we were in the early nineties.
That was the fault of Xisco as we were basically playing 4-2-4 until Etobo came on. Not sure Sissoko can be blamed when the only other midfielder was Tufan who was trying to get forward
I remember listening to the game on 5 live as a student. I think we tried to catch Cantona offside from our own corner but forgot it doesn't work if he starts in his own half.
I think Leeds were on a mini-slump, and it may also have been Cantona's last game for Leeds. They'd just lost a few league games and had been dumped out of the Europe by Rangers a week earlier.
Leeds have always been the team of yesteryear. They were a great side once, ripping up Premier League form books every Saturday and giving the mighty Man Utd and Arsenal* good games. Since their relegation and their points deduction which saw them slip into League One, they have gracefully, pulled themselves back from the brink and a bit like us, been on a bit of a manager roller coaster. Having stopped at Bielsa (one of the few managers in England who seems to not want to learn English) they have found an astute leader who has them playing nice football, and especially last season were England's new darlings having a very impressive first season back in the top flight. It's too early to say whether or not they are/will suffer from second season syndrome, but time will tell. They did OK against Spam and were unlucky to lose in the end. What we can expect is a tough game full of crunching challenges and lots of passion from an always vocal home support. If we play anything like we did first 45 against Newcastle/Brighton we will get tonked. They have a better side than Newcastle imho - and will punish us for silly errors. We need keep in the game, at least keep it level for as long as we can if we cannot go ahead ourselves. I did wonder how we would perform when we went behind again and at least last week we didn't totally shat the bed. Cathcart needs to not be in the side. Play naughty boy Serralta if Xisco can take him off the naughty step this time, play Kiko again and hope him and Sarr can click again. I would almost certainly start Tuffan as he did look good last week and was once of our most standout performers. Rose continues to look very good despite his fitness issues and should retain his place. King looks to be getting better and I would hope he starts again. Pedro perhaps to come on second half if we are chasing the game is a possibility also. Foster, despite his mess up for Newcastle's goal is still pretty solid so will start. Let's hope we can go into the int. break with at least 8pts. I don't think we will lose, but I also think Leeds will want the same. Leeds 2 -2 Watford
I think Bielsa can speak good enough English, it's that he doesn't like using it to the press because he doesn't want to be misconstrued.
I remember going to the palace game back in Feb 2012, getting absolutely soaked in the queue before the game and wearing plimsolls so feet were drenched in South London dirty water, losing 4-0 and spending the last 35 minutes in the concourse trying to stay warm. I feel like this one is going to be the same except I'll be wearing more appropriate footwear.
Maybe, but my overall impression is that he's not giving quite enough right now. He should be far more noticeable on the pitch. Cleverley, Kucha....and even Tufan have caught the eye with their coverage on the pitch. Not seeing it quite so much from Sissoko right now. I'd be interested in seeing the running stats from him, compared to the other regular midfielders. Maybe it's an unfair assessment. It's just the impression I'm getting that he's playing within himself.
3-1 leeds written all over this I think lads - Sarr to score again and add another £2m to his price tag
We're better playing counter attacking football, Leeds don't play with a defence and we have a good record there. Leeds 3 - 0 Watford
I remember the '92 game mostly for a dim-witted female fan complaining to a steward about a young Watford supporter's 'racism' after he called Cantona a 'French c**t'. The poor lad was chucked out. For me this was the day football died
Our manager will be out thought by a one trick pony of a manager and we'll lose. Hopefully this will lead to our mental midget being sacked. Just another game which demonstrates how hopelessly out of his depth he is.
If you know the answer to this question then this game is actually fairly easy to predict, do Leeds have enough quality to exploit the minimum 4/5 unforced errors we’ll present them with during the game?
All I remember from that game is Furlong dribbling past Cantona with a lovely bit of skill, and being hacked down for his impudence. Nice moment.
We were mediocre in 1991/92 and 1992/93 but not as bad as in 1990/91, 1993/94 and 1995/96, also bizarrely Leeds didn’t win an away game in the league (and was it in all other competitions as well?) all season.
My memory was a Leeds corner, and 3 of their players doing these double spins on the edge of the box before running in different directions before the corner taker hit the first defender.
We seem to make mistakes every match. Villa - Masina penalty Brighton - Troost/Cleverley mixup Spurs - Bachmann flap Wolves - Sierralta Own Goal Norwich - Cathcart/Foster mixup Stoke - Ngakia tackled messing around with it Newcastle - Cathcart (and others) several times. We need to compose ourselves. I don't think passing through defence is the solution, it piles pressure on our two least technical players. It feels like Xisco has said he wants to play out from the back but hasn't worked out what to do next. Just get it up there, be direct. King, Sarr, Dennis, Sissoko and Kucka are more than capable of winning headers and it doesn't end up with Cathcart looking for answers that are never going to come. Play no-nonsense Sierralta. Prediction purely based on us being dumb again... 3-1 Leeds.
What sorcery have you pulled with that font, tache? Leeds have better players than us in key positions, and are devoted to relentlessly attacking at pace. Their star-winger is now a member of the Brazil squad. Meanwhile, we haven't kept a clean sheet yet and have a defence largely composed of permacrocks/geriatrics who between them literally cannot go a game without making at least one catastrophic error (usually much more, though), as Aegetis has just pointed out above. We also have no midfield, and it's literally impossible to discern what Xisco is supposedly coaching it to do between games, unless it actually coincidentally does turn out to be 'completely abandon the space between the defence and the attack, and never work the ball through it at any point. Also, one of you continously just run into the positions of other players so neither of you can do the job you're supposed to'. All signs point to a wave of unpleasant-fanned white shirts crashing over us again and again and again. Also we're away and we're quite shyt away, aren't we? Bielsa is not a tactically reactive coach in any way, but he is still one with a clearly defined gameplan, and that has so far proved far, far too much for Xisco to avoid being outcoached. The legions of mining-folk up there must be licking their lips.
Please don't. The last thing Sarr, King and Dennis want is the ball hoofed up to them, it will just keep coming back. Get it wide and involve Tufan from the start
