De Bock / Defence in general

[bathlad61]

DeBock a natural LB, bought at our present level for decent money, plays handful of games - ok hasn't set world alight, but then gets axed ( not even on bench last night ) to be replaced by shockingly awful Anita - inept at best.
New players need game time to adjust, no doubt DeBock is starting to think he should have stayed in Belguim.
Surely for all the obvious reasons Berradi at RB & Debock at LB.
Every club / manager goes on about having a " strong core ", building on combinations - we had that for a while last season with Jannson / Bartley - chalk & cheese this year, and regarding the midfield at present, seems to change every game - different players / system etc.
Barring injuries etc, set out a team / formation & run with it, maybe then various combinations / partnerships can develop.

[Marley past ghosts]

DeBock a natural LB, bought at our present level for decent money, plays handful of games - ok hasn't set world alight, but then gets axed ( not even on bench last night ) to be replaced by shockingly awful Anita - inept at best.
New players need game time to adjust, no doubt DeBock is starting to think he should have stayed in Belguim.
Surely for all the obvious reasons Berradi at RB & Debock at LB.
Every club / manager goes on about having a " strong core ", building on combinations - we had that for a while last season with Jannson / Bartley - chalk & cheese this year, and regarding the midfield at present, seems to change every game - different players / system etc.
Barring injuries etc, set out a team / formation & run with it, maybe then various combinations / partnerships can develop.

if as expected jansson goes in the summer , we will need at least three centre backs , because cooper , shaugnessy and pennington are nowhere near good enough .

the same applies with the midfield , take saiz out of the equation the midfield is non existent . and bereft of any quality whatsoever .

as for the strike force , lasogga will go back to germany , ekuban could play till next christmas and not hit the back of the net , so we are left with roofe and roberts when he is actually fit enough to play .

we have gone from wanting four or five players last summer, to wanting virtually an entire team, that is capable of challenging for promotion . combinations and formations are meaningless and pointless , until you get players who are actually good enough to play for this club .

[norfolk white]

Sadly you are 100% correct.

[joellufcprice]

if as expected jansson goes in the summer , we will need at least three centre backs , because cooper , shaugnessy and pennington are nowhere near good enough .

the same applies with the midfield , take saiz out of the equation the midfield is non existent . and bereft of any quality whatsoever .

as for the strike force , lasogga will go back to germany , ekuban could play till next christmas and not hit the back of the net , so we are left with roofe and roberts when he is actually fit enough to play .

we have gone from wanting four or five players last summer, to wanting virtually an entire team, that is capable of challenging for promotion . combinations and formations are meaningless and pointless , until you get players who are actually good enough to play for this club .

If we sell Saiz and Jansson it doesn't matter who we buy as we'd have to buy basically an entire first 11 to be contenders for promotion. Much like this season, if we'd kept Wood, Bartley (I'm aware he was loaned) and Green + added the players we have signed I think we'd be in the top 6 right now.

It has been our problem for years, we have had PLENTY of quality players at this club but we sell them too easily and never build a squad last year it was Wood and Taylor before that Cook, McCormack, Snodgrass, Gradel, Becchio, Clayton, Howson, Beckford.

We never give ourselves a chance to build a team constantly making ourselves start from square one every transfer window because we've got rid of the only quality we had. That will big our big test in the summer both Saiz and Jansson are on long contracts and we have no reason or need to sell them time for the club to grow a pair and put the club first not the individuals.

[Marley past ghosts]

If we sell Saiz and Jansson it doesn't matter who we buy as we'd have to buy basically an entire first 11 to be contenders for promotion. Much like this season, if we'd kept Wood, Bartley (I'm aware he was loaned) and Green + added the players we have signed I think we'd be in the top 6 right now.

It has been our problem for years, we have had PLENTY of quality players at this club but we sell them too easily and never build a squad last year it was Wood and Taylor before that Cook, McCormack, Snodgrass, Gradel, Becchio, Clayton, Howson, Beckford.

We never give ourselves a chance to build a team constantly making ourselves start from square one every transfer window because we've got rid of the only quality we had. That will big our big test in the summer both Saiz and Jansson are on long contracts and we have no reason or need to sell them time for the club to grow a pair and put the club first not the individuals.

totally agree joel , but i will be amazed if either of them, will still be here next season , because radrizaani will put profit before the team all day long . has you have already said we have seen it happen on a regular basis for years , this team is going to need massive investment to compete for promotion, and it simply wont happen under this guy that is crystal clear already

[LeedsFTW]

If we sell Saiz and Jansson it doesn't matter who we buy as we'd have to buy basically an entire first 11 to be contenders for promotion. Much like this season, if we'd kept Wood, Bartley (I'm aware he was loaned) and Green + added the players we have signed I think we'd be in the top 6 right now.

It has been our problem for years, we have had PLENTY of quality players at this club but we sell them too easily and never build a squad last year it was Wood and Taylor before that Cook, McCormack, Snodgrass, Gradel, Becchio, Clayton, Howson, Beckford.

We never give ourselves a chance to build a team constantly making ourselves start from square one every transfer window because we've got rid of the only quality we had. That will big our big test in the summer both Saiz and Jansson are on long contracts and we have no reason or need to sell them time for the club to grow a pair and put the club first not the individuals.

I agree with the above, the only thing I would add is that if the club do receive silly money offers to sell, at least have a really good quality placement signed up, not some last minute bargain basement buy/loan.

[WTF11]

I agree with the above, the only thing I would add is that if the club do receive silly money offers to sell, at least have a really good quality placement signed up, not some last minute bargain basement buy/loan.

B0ll0x, because whoever owns us they NEVER reinvest!

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

If we sell Saiz and Jansson it doesn't matter who we buy as we'd have to buy basically an entire first 11 to be contenders for promotion. Much like this season, if we'd kept Wood, Bartley (I'm aware he was loaned) and Green + added the players we have signed I think we'd be in the top 6 right now.

It has been our problem for years, we have had PLENTY of quality players at this club but we sell them too easily and never build a squad last year it was Wood and Taylor before that Cook, McCormack, Snodgrass, Gradel, Becchio, Clayton, Howson, Beckford.

We never give ourselves a chance to build a team constantly making ourselves start from square one every transfer window because we've got rid of the only quality we had. That will big our big test in the summer both Saiz and Jansson are on long contracts and we have no reason or need to sell them time for the club to grow a pair and put the club first not the individuals.

Pretty much agree. Whilst I think we have bought some good players, Bartley was the hole that was left that wasnt filled and has had with hindsight possibly the biggest effect on the squad, though to be fair the owner apparently tried to sign him permanently. If players leave the to progress the aim should be to replace with at least the same but ideally better quality, but that is no easy challenge. Whilst we are in this league players will always leave for the prem so it will remain a challenge.

defenders and defensive skills are undervalued in analytics at the moment but that mind set is rapidly changing; hence Bartley being such a big loss (and Ayling being injured).

[Marley past ghosts]

Pretty much agree. Whilst I think we have bought some good players, Bartley was the hole that was left that wasnt filled and has had with hindsight possibly the biggest effect on the squad, though to be fair the owner apparently tried to sign him permanently. If players leave the to progress the aim should be to replace with at least the same but ideally better quality, but that is no easy challenge. Whilst we are in this league players will always leave for the prem so it will remain a challenge.

defenders and defensive skills are undervalued in analytics at the moment but that mind set is rapidly changing; hence Bartley being such a big loss (and Ayling being injured).

the two main reasons leeds never replace players who leave, with players of equal ability is because they wont pay the wages to attract better players to come here, and the transfer fees are always way out of the budget they are actually prepared to spend , that is why we always end up getting a cheaper and less talented replacement .

the bottom line is you should not be selling your better players on a regular basis anyway , if you are intent on promotion , because you are simply going back to square one every season and constantly rebuilding the team.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

the two main reasons leeds never replace players who leave, with players of equal ability is because they wont pay the wages to attract better players to come here, and the transfer fees are always way out of the budget they are actually prepared to spend , that is why we always end up getting a cheaper and less talented replacement .

the bottom line is you should not be selling your better players on a regular basis anyway , if you are intent on promotion , because you are simply going back to square one every season and constantly rebuilding the team.

Agree with the principle and I think in recent seasons that might be right. As someone else said elsewhere are wage bill has increased significantly this season and Hernandez and Jannson are supposed to be on a decent wedge and Lassoga has a hefty wage, so maybe that is changing a little but I accept we are not going to pay prem league wages. Possibly moving in the right direction.

that said you don’t have to pay huge wages to have a team that plays good football. Brentford invest in youth and have a few sprinkles of bought talent combined with youngsters but play decent attacking intelligent football - would be happy to see us play consistently that way.