Are we really boring to Watch ?

[whitestomper45]

Like me you started following this club in there hay days. So watching them like now days turns you off and my thinking is what has happened to this club. We have gone from greedy owners to corrupt ones and to crazy Italians. Now we are owned by Americans whose only interest is money. I don't think I will see the glory days again and hope that you do.

I started watching them mid 6ts jeez, we had the various London tags including boring, dirty. Often as a small squad (the norm in them days) involved till deep into many competitions. You would often be awaiting who was left standing/patched up for the team sheet. Then Don would try to grind out a result with what he had and hoping for a flash of brilliance from one of the senior lads. I doubt The Don would have survived too long if the requisite was based on todays fan demands.. MOT

[norfolk white]

Started in the early seventies, don revie ground out many results in a gruelling way sometimes, but we tend to forget back then it was only 2 points for a win, a draw often a decent result, today a draw feels like a defeat to me. Wilkinson era was regimental but effective, O’Leary was indeed exiting times, but bielsa’s era for me was off the scale, exiting, thrilling, it had everything and I loved it, if you want to be bored watch England, last night walker was near the 18 yard box free to cross and it ended up being boringly passed back to Pickford, yet it’s been classed as a professional result…bored me rigid.

[Monaco_Totty]

I started watching them mid 6ts jeez, we had the various London tags including boring, dirty. Often as a small squad (the norm in them days) involved till deep into many competitions. You would often be awaiting who was left standing/patched up for the team sheet. Then Don would try to grind out a result with what he had and hoping for a flash of brilliance from one of the senior lads. I doubt The Don would have survived too long if the requisite was based on todays fan demands.. MOT

Yep, WS, line between expectations & demands is blurred beyond repair now.
You wanna check out "banter" on Man U, Arsenal or Spurs Twitter - quite toxic most of the time. Even had City fans moaning about their owners not being willing to pay for Messi in the summer. 😳

Recall a Bill Shankly quote from his book, saying; "If you can't support us when we draw or lose, don't support us when we win".

Even had my Mum telling me she thought Oz sounded much better recently & was pleased to see him back but would like him to know, to "never walk out on a Leeds match" again (as that's a real big no, no) as it's All Leeds till the End. ☺

Talking All Leeds till the End ?

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

MT - I have watched Leeds at their very worst such as in the 1980s when the ground was crumbling, there was rubbish in the streets, the club had no money and the results were patchy at best. There were always glimmers of hope though and players that were ever given or grabbed for themselves latitude to take risks. Shez was the beacon of hope in those gloomy times.

Wilko was at times functional but players were allowed to take risks and we had players who could delight such as the wee man, Gary Mac, Speedo, Wallace etc.

Even under Colin we had the likes of Brechio and Diouf who took risks.

What is frustrating now is that a lot of managers just play a risk free system and if the players don?t adhere they get dropped. Solomon is a quality player but it?s like we want to clip his wings. I miss Rutter for the fact it was impossible to shackle him and so he took risks and did things that got you off your seat. Saw him v Valencia in pre-season and every time he touched the ball in the second half there was a buzz of anticipation in the crowd.

Now he has gone there seems to be no one that does that and is instructed to play safety football. We have a squad capable of taking this league apart it just needs to be empowered to do so rather than being constrained by the system.

[norfolk white]

Don’t you feel gnonto and Ramazani are exiting, my brother went to the Norwich v Leeds game recently, ( I refused to go as he could only get a ticket with the Norwich fans….err no thanks) and he said “ the little black dwarf terrorised the Norwich defence, they couldn’t get near him”…..his words, he meant gnonto.

[WTF11]

We are supposed to have, according to various posters on here and other footballing luminaries, the best squad in the division, yet there are a majority in this forum who would answer the question posed with a resounding "yes". We have suffered injuries to some players, but so have others, and yet we appear incapable of breaking out of the endless recycling, anally retentive possession-based monotony that characterises our extreme risk-averse squad mentality irrespective of who is actually playing (and who our opposition might be). We were gifted the goals against Plymouth, and instead of crushing the opposition, we sat back and for much of the remainder of the game allowed a VERY ordinary side to look "reasonable". Millwall was just too poor for words. We have squandered chances to win games through an almost total lack of ambition and energy. Were it not for the likes of Gnonto, Ramazani (I agree 100% with NW), James (when fit!), and Tanaka the team are almost unwatchable.

Why, given the undoubted talent and ability? Der Fuhrer. Do as you are told or you won't play. That is as clear as day and is almost entirely responsible for the paint-drying boredom of our play.

[whitestomper45]

MT - I have watched Leeds at their very worst such as in the 1980s when the ground was crumbling, there was rubbish in the streets, the club had no money and the results were patchy at best. There were always glimmers of hope though and players that were ever given or grabbed for themselves latitude to take risks. Shez was the beacon of hope in those gloomy times.

Wilko was at times functional but players were allowed to take risks and we had players who could delight such as the wee man, Gary Mac, Speedo, Wallace etc.

Even under Colin we had the likes of Brechio and Diouf who took risks.

What is frustrating now is that a lot of managers just play a risk free system and if the players don?t adhere they get dropped. Solomon is a quality player but it?s like we want to clip his wings. I miss Rutter for the fact it was impossible to shackle him and so he took risks and did things that got you off your seat. Saw him v Valencia in pre-season and every time he touched the ball in the second half there was a buzz of anticipation in the crowd.

Now he has gone there seems to be no one that does that and is instructed to play safety football. We have a squad capable of taking this league apart it just needs to be empowered to do so rather than being constrained by the system.

With regards Wilco.. a fairer comparison with Daniel would be his season winning what was the equivalent of the championship and look at the ins and outs.
Notably out went John Sheridan in came Vinnie Jones and Kamara?. Leeds we?re getting out of this league any which way?

[whitestomper45]

When writing from mobile apostrophe turns to question mark

[Monaco_Totty]

MT - I have watched Leeds at their very worst such as in the 1980s when the ground was crumbling, there was rubbish in the streets, the club had no money and the results were patchy at best. There were always glimmers of hope though and players that were ever given or grabbed for themselves latitude to take risks. Shez was the beacon of hope in those gloomy times.

Wilko was at times functional but players were allowed to take risks and we had players who could delight such as the wee man, Gary Mac, Speedo, Wallace etc.

Even under Colin we had the likes of Brechio and Diouf who took risks.

What is frustrating now is that a lot of managers just play a risk free system and if the players don?t adhere they get dropped. Solomon is a quality player but it?s like we want to clip his wings. I miss Rutter for the fact it was impossible to shackle him and so he took risks and did things that got you off your seat. Saw him v Valencia in pre-season and every time he touched the ball in the second half there was a buzz of anticipation in the crowd.

Now he has gone there seems to be no one that does that and is instructed to play safety football. We have a squad capable of taking this league apart it just needs to be empowered to do so rather than being constrained by the system.

True to a degree & I kinda miss those maverick types too but such confident player are ones who have more than just the technical & tactical skills though.

Like Rutter who was confident by nature, those types are also willing to use their skills by taking risks without "fearing" what might go wrong.

The flip side to Georgies game was/is there are many factors that can influence such a player's confidence. Usually the form of themselves, team-mates or the opposition, even the score during a game, any recent long or recurring injuries & the type of goals that those types of players are set as individuals & as team players.

Take Rutter, who had to be managed for his own good as his confident playing style attracted injuries via over attendant markers which he openly discussed with his French counterparts & often carried niggles when called up or cried off in advance during his Leeds tenure.
Similar problems with all our wing players & wing backs too, who succumbed to carrying niggles into games, which again have to be managed appropriately depending on who we're playing & who else is available.

I enjoy watching maverick players but its not always easy to blend them into team patterns nowadays as mavericks may not be able to anticipate or react to opposition actions which can make it difficult for them to make quick, well informed decisions regarding movement off & on the ball as well as having the tendency to be drawn to the ball & leaving gaps in tactical formations with teammates on the ball or indeed off it in today's game of faster pace.

I could expand but in essance modern coaches now do prefer players who run hard so don't give them creative freedom as much, for sure. Again stats will be pro fluid possession & sat watching many games behind my brothers goal even I know who should be where & who makes runs there before he releases the ball to the ones that dictate each set rehearsed plays.

Quoting Bill Shankly (again) "Football is a simple game based on the giving & taking of passes, of controlling the ball & of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple".

Shankly also said regarding football mavericks , "Football is a simple game made complicated by people who should know better".🤔

A retired Shankly said of Tony Currie the Leeds maverick afer a game at Anfield circa 1976
"I bet that fella lives in a bungalow" with connection to Currie's work rate off the ball.
So maybe that is why Farke & other club counterparts shy away from such talent today via following the mantra trend of keeping possession, rightly or wrongly ?

[WTF11]

They don't "shy away" from such talent, they just don't know (or have the confidence) how to use it to best effect. Said previously, Gnonto, James, Tanaka and others could be phenomenal if only those responsible for fielding them had as much managerial talent and less fear of failure.