Thoughts from Wembley

[WTF11]

It?s been as good a season performance and results wise as we could realistically have hoped for.

To be safe with three games to go so no end of season stress is a very un Leeds feeling.

For whatever this faults Farke has done what was asked of him and so have the players. Ampadu has shown he belongs at this level as have Struijk and Bijol. Bogle at times has been great and some of the other signings have been fantastic for us.

It will be an interesting summer for sure with plenty of ins and outs (such as Joffy, Meslier, Wober etc).

MOT

I keep asking the same question, but without any rational answer from anyone, so I’ll try to illustrate why I find the level of “contentment” so baffling;

Context;

In the first few months of the 25/26 Premier League season we were dire, winning only the games against Everton and Wolves up to the end of November. Then comes the game against City on the 29th, with a second half performance that must have sacred the pants off the opposition. We then beat Chelsea, draw against Liverpool & Brentford, and beat Palace just before Christmas. Then regression, with wins only against Fulham and Forest between the end of 2025 and the third week of March 2026!

As a kind of “sloppy seconds” we the win against Scum and Wolves in mid-April, and Burnley a couple of weeks ago.

So, from the 29th of November until the end of 2025, a few short weeks, we put members of the top 6 to the sword, or drew against them in such a fashion as to give ANY other opposition sleepless nights. The flash in the pan at Old Trafford serves only to accentuate the contrast in play for the rest of the season.

Why (apart from PL survival which I’ll give you is worth celebrating) is everyone so “satisfied” with a start and end to the season that acts like flabby pair of thick white bread slices, either side of a rip-roaring steak sizzler of a set of performances?

A single result, bit like the second half at City, followed by the doldrums, could be explained, we just weren’t good enough. Bu that wasn’t so, we did it once, twice, three time, four times, and then seemingly embarrassed that we had shown how good we could be, we slink back under the swampy damp blanket of caution-first play. Why?

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

We are up to 14th and most likely will finish there or 15th but safe well before the last game at the season.

For all the period after the Everton result on the opening game the team turned it around and most of us are disappointed not to be at least 6 points better off (poor finishing, time wasting or cheating by the other team or dodgy decisions - such as palace).

There is the core of a decent mid table team here and Farke has shown (whatever other faults) he can keep a team up. The player recruitment has looked better and better the more the season has gone on. Even Perri has shown what he can do.

The signings of Stach, Gudmunson, James, DCL and Bijol have turned out to be great. Nmecha and Ofakor have played their part too as had Bernoew.

Struijk, Rodon, Darlow, Tanaka Ampadu and Gnonto have all shown they can perform comfortably at this level.

It doesn?t mean there isn?t work to do or decisions to be made but it?s a great platform to build on.

Of the current squad the only obvious ones not loaned out who seem destined to go are Piroe, Cairns(age), Meslier and Byram (age).

The table doesn?t lie and we are safe before the end of the season and it is deserved.

[WTF11]

We are up to 14th and most likely will finish there or 15th but safe well before the last game at the season.

For all the period after the Everton result on the opening game the team turned it around and most of us are disappointed not to be at least 6 points better off (poor finishing, time wasting or cheating by the other team or dodgy decisions - such as palace).

There is the core of a decent mid table team here and Farke has shown (whatever other faults) he can keep a team up. The player recruitment has looked better and better the more the season has gone on. Even Perri has shown what he can do.

The signings of Stach, Gudmunson, James, DCL and Bijol have turned out to be great. Nmecha and Ofakor have played their part too as had Bernoew.

Struijk, Rodon, Darlow, Tanaka Ampadu and Gnonto have all shown they can perform comfortably at this level.

It doesn?t mean there isn?t work to do or decisions to be made but it?s a great platform to build on.

Of the current squad the only obvious ones not loaned out who seem destined to go are Piroe, Cairns(age), Meslier and Byram (age).

The table doesn?t lie and we are safe before the end of the season and it is deserved.

So another non-answer as to why we can beat Chelsea, Palace, Scum and scare the pants off Liverpool AND City, but finishing just above the relegation places (quite possibly by a single point given the remaining games), is "good enough".

I stand by my earlier prediction, retain Farke and we will be back here in 12 months , possibly in a worse position.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Not saying we retain him but just saying enjoy the moment.

This?s league is bonkers in terms of beating other teams but we seek under Farke to do best when teams attack us apart from Arsenal.

[WTF11]

Not saying we retain him but just saying enjoy the moment.

This?s league is bonkers in terms of beating other teams but we seek under Farke to do best when teams attack us apart from Arsenal.

This is what I don't understand..."enjoy the moment". All that implies is that we ignore the dire performances in the early part of the season AND the dropped points following that stellar few weeks at the end of 2025, simply because we survived (literally more by luck than good management) in the PL.

NO! Tolerate that we are where we are I can just about live with. Enjoy mediocrity and consistent poor performance from a squad that self-evidently can do (much) better, you and others can do so, I expect that "much better".

[WTF11]

And the biggest issue with large numbers of fans "enjoying the moment" is that it cements in the psyche of our owners their already-held belief that they can get away with mediocrity because it's the best the supporters expect.

We might poo poo the supporters of "the big six", but their displeasure at poor performance tells (Spuds, Chelski, Scum, Spam, even Liverpool, have all felt fan fury often leading/contributing to managerial sackings). About time the same happened at LS11.

[Rev72]

Think we should all be careful what we wish for and I am still on the fence with Farke.

Fully expect him to be retained for next season , players are definitely playing for him.

Next season could be a decent season for us providing we are at the levels of this season , look at what is coming up from the Championship , its a real chance to build and possibly have a mid table comfortable kind of season.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Shame you can?t just enjoy the moment.

[MrsORichSenior_]

So another non-answer as to why we can beat Chelsea, Palace, Scum and scare the pants off Liverpool AND City, but finishing just above the relegation places (quite possibly by a single point given the remaining games), is "good enough".

I stand by my earlier prediction, retain Farke and we will be back here in 12 months , possibly in a worse position.

ok WTF, reasons to be cheerful one, two and three as the song goes..

for starters Farke conceded his possession based deployment and used our available personnel into providing much needed muscle to compensate which has allowed us to sit deeper and aggressively contend for the ball and when getting it back utilising our squad players natural pace to move the ball forwards with zest.

this allowed Farke to be able to get Okafor into the lineup to play alongside Aaronson allowing them to play narrow which created space for DCL which allowed our two superb intelligent regular wing backs to have more width to exploit.

this pattern created chances and for me therein lies our problem as nobody could consistently net the ball and for me that is where DCL, as good as he is, has to be more brave and decisive if he wants to remain our main striker although when we have played with two number nines up top he does appear to be more wired and sharper, so this summer a smaller nine with nimble feet will be an avenue we will go down as several players in that mould are being scouted to my knowledge already with a remit for a smoother transition between recruitment policy and on-field tactics to gel quicker.

so my response for your specific reason for why Leeds have misfired is that fitness to key players in our squad depth plays its part as the pl requires more flexibility within its players, more so now than ever with demands on physicality which Farke to his credit has managed well in my judgement.

the fitness aspect has hampered us, particularly with Okafors fitness which has been an issue all season with his hamstring being continually worked on throughout with further added complications to his adductors and now calves I understand from Brian Deane, who is involved as a sports consultant working for a sports lawyer involved with legal and consultancy services to several professional football players, agents, clubs and managers nowadays.
obviously DCL is very carefully looked after which has also been the case for Stach recently, not surprising as when he is out we also suffer more as he does win his majority of aerial duels attempted when were under the cosh and obviously offers welcome goals as well.

but full credit to all the lads for putting shifts in during the demanding schedules and into quickly adapting to the pl 25/26 trend of adopting bias towards man to man pressing which Ampadu excels at with the added bonus of his composure which helps settle our team consistently which was so important into bedding in our newer signings in my judgement.

that is my humble opinion drawn from folks behind the LUFC scenes presently and past and the many Meanwood Whites fans I am affiliated with who travel week in who i correspond with and in conclusion all will admit that all is not perfect but the future is brighter, but as ever recruitment now is key.

MOT

[Ozwhites]

ok WTF, reasons to be cheerful one, two and three as the song goes..

for starters Farke conceded his possession based deployment and used our available personnel into providing much needed muscle to compensate which has allowed us to sit deeper and aggressively contend for the ball and when getting it back utilising our squad players natural pace to move the ball forwards with zest.

this allowed Farke to be able to get Okafor into the lineup to play alongside Aaronson allowing them to play narrow which created space for DCL which allowed our two superb intelligent regular wing backs to have more width to exploit.

this pattern created chances and for me therein lies our problem as nobody could consistently net the ball and for me that is where DCL, as good as he is, has to be more brave and decisive if he wants to remain our main striker although when we have played with two number nines up top he does appear to be more wired and sharper, so this summer a smaller nine with nimble feet will be an avenue we will go down as several players in that mould are being scouted to my knowledge already with a remit for a smoother transition between recruitment policy and on-field tactics to gel quicker.

so my response for your specific reason for why Leeds have misfired is that fitness to key players in our squad depth plays its part as the pl requires more flexibility within its players, more so now than ever with demands on physicality which Farke to his credit has managed well in my judgement.

the fitness aspect has hampered us, particularly with Okafors fitness which has been an issue all season with his hamstring being continually worked on throughout with further added complications to his adductors and now calves I understand from Brian Deane, who is involved as a sports consultant working for a sports lawyer involved with legal and consultancy services to several professional football players, agents, clubs and managers nowadays.
obviously DCL is very carefully looked after which has also been the case for Stach recently, not surprising as when he is out we also suffer more as he does win his majority of aerial duels attempted when were under the cosh and obviously offers welcome goals as well.

but full credit to all the lads for putting shifts in during the demanding schedules and into quickly adapting to the pl 25/26 trend of adopting bias towards man to man pressing which Ampadu excels at with the added bonus of his composure which helps settle our team consistently which was so important into bedding in our newer signings in my judgement.

that is my humble opinion drawn from folks behind the LUFC scenes presently and past and the many Meanwood Whites fans I am affiliated with who travel week in who i correspond with and in conclusion all will admit that all is not perfect but the future is brighter, but as ever recruitment now is key.

MOT

I'm sure everyone appreciates the effort you go to with these detailed responses, Mrs O...but you are wasting your time. There is only one opinion that interests him. He must have been a real blast to be with during work team meetings!

[WTF11]

I'm sure everyone appreciates the effort you go to with these detailed responses, Mrs O...but you are wasting your time. There is only one opinion that interests him. He must have been a real blast to be with during work team meetings!

I’m not asking for opinions, just a simple answer to what I thought was a relatively simple question. Obviously not so simple, and no-one has given a straight answer.

So, going back to the game against City in November 2025. Had it not been for an injury time goal, we would have drawn at the Etihad, despite being 2 down at half time.

There were some Leeds changes made at the break, but primarily towards the tail end of the half, the only half-time changes were DCL for James and Bijol for Gnonto. So then we go after City in a way that simply wasn’t evident in the first half, at all, and get back level.

Why were we so different in the second half (and subsequently playing the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool Palace etc)? More to the point, given the skin-of-the-teeth survival in the PL, why did we revert to the style of play that brought two PL wins in the first four months of the season?


BTW, I refer you to post #50, where you ask more or less the same question.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

You may see things as binary but the world thankfully is a lot more subtle and nuanced.

[george_kaplan]

Just opinions, we all have em, like most on here we have a fair few years following our club, we have seen happy, happier and happiest of times over the years, and bad, very dark and rotten times.

This time no matter what or who’s views we are at a happy time…my opinion. For the young and very young a great and proud time.
Just enjoy our remaining games all have a brilliant summer then get down to another premiership season, imo again, we will be at a higher position than where we finish this time.

[MrsORichSenior_]

I'm sure everyone appreciates the effort you go to with these detailed responses, Mrs O...but you are wasting your time. There is only one opinion that interests him. He must have been a real blast to be with during work team meetings!

🤣 😂
WTF and myself have a perfectly balanced, paradox-free relationship developed over many long years as we
achieved a rare state of total harmony where both parties are always right in our mutual infallibility pact regarding all matters Leeds United.

MOT

[WTF11]

🤣 😂
WTF and myself have a perfectly balanced, paradox-free relationship developed over many long years as we
achieved a rare state of total harmony where both parties are always right in our mutual infallibility pact regarding all matters Leeds United.

MOT

OMG, you think that too??😉