PL Matchweek 7

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Ref was the coolest player on the pitch there. Little shake of the head too. Well played.

 

[PanniniClaus]

Terrific goal. Agree on the dive. Has to be a yellow.

 

[Blender]

Under does it again. What a pass by Maddison to Under, and a great little chip from Under to Vardy.

 

[hatterson]

That took far too long for VAR to check, but at least they got it right (not that it'll affect the game)

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Fun fact: 7 of the top 10 scorers are English (and 8/10 have been capped by England), which seems to me a very high number.

 

[Blender]

Leicester's counter attacking style really shredded Leeds. Leicester is always willing to surrender possession and bait teams into throwing players forward, because when they get the ball and counter they are really hard to defend.

 

[koyvoo]

At what point does Bielsa adjust his tactical approach?

If he doesn’t, could he be labeled as stubborn and unable to adjust tactics?

What is the prime initiative?

It’s still attractive to watch. For neutrals at least. I’m sure there at least some Leeds fans who feel that, as pretty as it is, there’s nothing fun about losing.

In a way they are fortunate that there are a couple real brutal teams in the league, because relegation one year often promotion is not fun. But I’d imagine the fans would still have street party at the end of the season- “We play so beautifully!”

Playing attractive football is great, but it ranks far below actually winning in a list of what’s important in this sport.

 

[Live in the Now]

At what point does Bielsa adjust his tactical approach?

If he doesn’t, could he be labeled as stubborn and unable to adjust tactics?

What is the prime initiative?

It’s still attractive to watch. For neutrals at least. I’m sure there at least some Leeds fans who feel that, as pretty as it is, there’s nothing fun about losing.

In a way they are fortunate that there are a couple real brutal teams in the league, because relegation one year often promotion is not fun. But I’d imagine the fans would still have street party at the end of the season- “We play so beautifully!”

Playing attractive football is great, but it ranks far below actually winning in a list of what’s important in this sport.

A. They aren't in the relegation zone.

B. Playing good football will help them attract better players than the teams they're competing with.

C. There's no way in hell those players would get results if they were playing a different way.

 

[Blender]

Yea I don't think Leeds can play a different way as currently built, as they put that squad together to play this style of football.

 

[koyvoo]

I know they aren’t going to be relegated, it’s an exaggeration to drive the point home.

I think winning could attract as many players as their play style would.

I’m not sure I agree that they’d be worse off in a more pragmatic approach, but the only thing there no way in hell is knowing that for sure. No one can say.

 

[YNWA14]

I dunno, Leeds are very effective in transition. I think they'd do well to try and set up more like Leicester; you can still be an exciting offensive team while being pragmatic. It's not catenaccio or Bielsaball. There are a lot of counter-attacking teams in the PL that are used to much better teams than Leeds attacking them...I dunno, I think they're going to struggle more as the season goes on but who knows. Either way their games are always entertaining so I'll tune in.

 

[koyvoo]

I suppose you can argue about the personnel not fitting certain styles, but on the issue of fun to watch, I’m having fun too. As a neutral.

Some of the more recent threads and post in the link below show exactly how much fun Leeds fans themselves are currently having.

| MOTForum.com

 

[Live in the Now]

I know they aren’t going to be relegated, it’s an exaggeration to drive the point home.

I think winning could attract as many players as their play style would.

I’m not sure I agree that they’d be worse off in a more pragmatic approach, but the only thing there no way in hell is knowing that for sure. No one can say.

Getting results didn't help Bournemouth or Stoke get better players. Pragmatism will only take a team so far.

 

[Blender]

I dunno, Leeds are very effective in transition. I think they'd do well to try and set up more like Leicester; you can still be an exciting offensive team while being pragmatic. It's not catenaccio or Bielsaball. There are a lot of counter-attacking teams in the PL that are used to much better teams than Leeds attacking them...I dunno, I think they're going to struggle more as the season goes on but who knows. Either way their games are always entertaining so I'll tune in.

They are definitely going to struggle as the season goes on I think. They don't have the talent to play this way in the EPL, and don't have the defensive ability or tactics to stop counter attacking from better teams.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Style doesn't get players, results and money do. Leeds benefitted from a lot of PR and Bielsa hero worship, I don't think a bottom third finish (which is definitely possible if not likely) won't attract a higher caliber player than they've already got. And if they do attract that player, it'll be because they stumped money and salary on it, not because Bielsa likes to attack.

Getting results didn't help Bournemouth or Stoke get better players. Pragmatism will only take a team so far.

It would have if they wanted to spend the money.

 

[Chimaera]

Compared to their size, Bournemouth spent money. Not very well, but they did spend.

 

[Blender]

Getting results didn't help Bournemouth or Stoke get better players. Pragmatism will only take a team so far.

Stoke's best finish their last stretch up was 9th, and they hovered around 9th-13th for 9 years before being relegated. Bournemouth also finished 9th one season, and were 12th, 14th, 16th, and 18th their other seasons.

I don't think I would call that "results".

 

[AB13]

Getting results didn't help Bournemouth or Stoke get better players. Pragmatism will only take a team so far.

Bournemouth played very offensive football though, they were probably the least pragmatic of any lower to mid table team during the past decade.

 

[Blender]

Bournemouth played very offensive football though, they were probably the least pragmatic of any newly lower to mid table team during the past decade.

Yea this is pretty accurate. Eddie Howe was widely praised for always trying to play on the front foot.

 

[bluesfan94]

Fun fact: 7 of the top 10 scorers are English (and 8/10 have been capped by England), which seems to me a very high number.

To be fair, it's really 14 who are tied for top 10 and of those, 8 are English and 9 have been capped.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Off the top of my head and without looking, I can't think of a typical marquee PL buy that Bournemouth made. Was Jordon Ibe their most expensive buy?

 

[Blender]

Off the top of my head and without looking, I can't think of a typical marquee PL buy that Bournemouth made. Was Jordon Ibe their most expensive buy?

Jefferson Lerma (£25m), Nathan Ake (£21m), Dominic Solanke (£19m), Arnaut Danjuma (£16m), and Jordan Ibe (£16m) are their top 5 most expensive transfers.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

To be fair, it's really 14 who are tied for top 10 and of those, 8 are English and 9 have been capped.

I miscounted and what I meant was 6/9 with 7 having been capped, rather than 7/10 and 8. Referring to the group before the cluster of 5 who have 4 goals each.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Jefferson Lerma (£25m), Nathan Ake (£21m), Dominic Solanke (£19m), Arnaut Danjuma (£16m), and Jordan Ibe (£16m) are their top 5 most expensive transfers.

To be fair, 2/5 definitely worked out and a third seems to be coming good. But Solanke and Ibe were so poor as to nullify the others.

 

[Blender]

To be fair, 2/5 definitely worked out and a third seems to be coming good. But Solanke and Ibe were so poor as to nullify the others.

The point was more though that their front foot style of play did not attract top talent. Compare that with Leicester City who have not always played the most attacking football, but have managed to build up a club that has managed to bring in much more talented players like Tielemans, Fofana, Maddison, Castagne, Pereira, Soyuncu, Ndidi, Maguire, Kante, etc.