Managed to wangle the the opportunity to get to the game. Wished for great periods of the match that perhaps I shouldn't have bothered my arse. As a high percentage of the players had the same thought.
Only change to the line up was 'work horse' Hughes for Snoddy. With Brad dropping back into the left back position.
Well....After the Lord Mayors Show? Tired legs? Couldn't be arsed? Or Wycombe just wanted to prove a point? I would like to hope it was the last but I am worried that it was a bit of all of the others. Leeds got the best possible start with a Howson strike after 4 minutes. The rest of the game (yeah that bad) Leeds struggled to get a grip of the game and were over run in midfield. Too many short/long passes. Too many passes that didn't get anywhere near another white shirt, frustration for most of the afternoon.
To be brutally honest we were lucky not to be beaten. Wycombe created more and made our defenders work harder. They were up for it more than we were. All credit to 'em. Is it another case of the away fans feeling short changed by their team? They get all revved up and play their hearts out against the team that is supposedly 'streaking away with it' and let the fans down when the stage is't quite as big.
That shouldn't matter a jot. Leeds should be overpowering these teams with ease. And it's this expectation that maybe 'gets' to our players. If they cannot handle the pressure NOW, what will they be like further up the league (if we get there)?
And Larry shuffled the pack again.
The worry for me initially was the absence of Paddy Kis. Eveything else I could just about get. Lucciano still a bit off the pace, on the bench and Volkes starts again.
The openinging few minutes turned out to be brilliant. Volkes has a weak shot that the keeper should have scooped up with ease, falls to the feet of Snoddy. 1-0 and Leeds in dreamland. A few decenting voices could be heard saying "Don't like it when we go infront THIS early". Ah well, better than going behind after 90 seconds.
I could see his point after the next 10 minutes and the showing of Capaldi at left back. His back pass to Casper almost proved very costly. He obviously hasn't been told how shite Grasper is at kicking.(More of him later)
We looked alright and made a couple of chances but as the half wore on we huffed and puffed and lacked any real control in the middle of the park. It was then the turn of the visitors to put our defence under pressure.
Most of the game the easy ball was the one into row "z" for our back 4. I was getting nervous as the game wore on.
Second half started for them like it started for us. Vampire Grasper came for a cross and fluffed his lines. A weak header crossed the line.
Beckford then had two chances to pull ahead. One on one with the keeper both times and as so often happens in games like these, he came up short. He has pace that when the correct type of ball gets played through he thrives and looks deadly.
Super sub Gradel came on for Kilkenny(Wha..?) and Becchio for Volkes. Immediate impact by both players. The over the top ball which required a flick on became more dangerous and Max scared the defence with his amazing disco feet.
A long clearance by Grasper, the ball headed away from Smithies by Beckford (Yeah I know!!) and Gradel beat the entire defence, twice then fired a hard shot across the goal to the far corner. The boy dunnit AGAIN. Rapture.
Then the downside of this game. Capser and his continual failure to deal with crosses. One time in the first half he did a 'superman' across the penalty spot, nowhere near the ball. Failure to deal with a yet another cross fired in by Hudds and yet another miss. 2-2.
Larry, please do SOMETHING. It is all well and good having the best shot stopper in the league, but bread and butter stuff is somehow beyond him. This always gets transmitted to the defenders, who in turn start to become shakey. A strong leader like Nails or Paddy shore up this weakness but with Lubo (who has done well lately) and Bromby, whom are both too quiet.
Or should I just shut up and look at the table?
Hudds did their homework on Leeds. Simple as. They will take points off teams around us. This is another bright point of today.
Another one of those games that could have been a stumbling block. We didn't start all that great but fortunately they didn't either. I think they suffered from what we did last term. Neat passes but no real threat to goal.
Saying that, Casper pulled off one save that made you think, "well he aint that bad, is he?" Then proceeded to live up to his other name 'Grasper Flappergran' by resorting back to form by not talking to the back four, not commanding his area and coming for and not quite getting crosses. But for that ONE save early doors the game may have swung in a different direction.
In the end our strength is depth is what told. The substitutions that came on caused Yeovil no end of problems.
Subs. Game changing and Larry take the credit for that.
Larry takes credit for seeing what was wrong and changing it. Not had a manager that could do that for AGES.
Bitterly cold afternoon where for the first time in years that there was SNOW on the ER pitch. Ken saving money? Broken? It was certainy cold enough.
The expectation from me was I would settle for a draw here. Southampton have been playing well lately and have a striker (Lambert) who can cause any team problems.
I should have had more confidence in the CB pairing of Kisnorbo and Nalor. They were a class above today. That with the complimentary pairing of Hughes and Bromby gave our defence a solidity that we haven't seen in YEARS. It would be fair to say that Hughes and Bromby has their best games for United. The former is making it difficult for a natural LB to displace him and the latter, hitting his best form in the white shirt. ( The goal mouth clearance by Hughes where he put his head in with the boots...Brave fella)
For all that we still struggled up front. Beckford his usual mercurial self. The Leeds faithfull just waiting for that glimps of magic in amongst the petualant complaining. Just didn't happen today. (more later on him)
The neat passing through the midfield, pushing the ball wide to Snoddy and the overlapping Hughes (not often though, sure he's been told that his priority is defence) The other wing, Snoddy swapped a few times with Howson. Most of the inventive wide play was done by the impressive Scot. Doyle (not his biggest fan) did all the quiet HARD work in midfield that helped make Killa look better. Not to take owt away from Killa, he is playing some of his best football of late and all credit for that goes to Larry. He is one of the players in this team that will easily make the step up and still look quality. His work rate has improved (that'll be his fitness) and the moaning has stopped.
Howson was quiet for most of the game. Once or twice I thought he was going to kick on and make an impact. A bursting run where he beat a couple of players and drove forward into the box. Like the good old days! That didn't happen enough. Larry still prefers him out wide though and he is third choice Captain.
Larry has a nack of sticking a square peg in a round hole and making it fit! Hughes being the best example. It does help that he has such a group of versitile and willing players. Again, that is HIS doing.
Lucciano and Beckford. Was asked why Becchio doesn't get the grief that Jermain gets when he goes down easily. This was all following on from the cheered off/not shaking the gaffers hand/sulk form Becks. IMO Lucy grafts more. He runs, chases down, throws himself into headers (wins most!) Beckford gets fouled and looks to the ref, gets nowt then stamps his feet. I know he is the only NATURAL goalscorer we have, I know he scored 34 goals last term, I know he scares defences shitless with his pace. That is why Larry has his work cut out on Monday morning.
Becks gets bullied too easily and should turn his frutration in another direction. He hasn't learnt that yet. He is one of the most frustrating players to watch. Part genius, part sulker. We need his goals. We don't need his petulance. I'm afraid that you will not get one without the other.
Blowing a gale and the prospect of another Norwich stylee game threatened to ruin the first game back at ER in over a week. Especially after the gowing plaudits after the Brighton game, I personally was quite looking forward to this.
Maybe that is why I felt (upto about the 87th minute) that it was a little like after the Lord Mayors Show.
The two factors that turned this game into another dismal display was the above mentioned weather and the fact that the 'O's packed the midfield with 5 players and we failed to cope with that. It forced our back 4 to revert back to 'Hoofball' bacause the midfield was so tight and in those conditions it turned the game into a lottery.
To be fair to Leyton, they closed down fast and put our players under pressure very quickly. Been mentioned in other places that if they can do this well against us why aren't they higher up the league? Cup finals spring to mind, and their fans should be really annoyed that they only raise their game against the divisions 'bigger clubs'.
During a prolonged spell in the first half they had decent possession but failed to capitalise. Their pacy number 25 looked to have the beating of Bromby every time he took him on. Pity for them that the resultant cross was met by no-one. Leeds had a brief spell of neat passing and a couple of efforts that made the oppo keeeper the busier of the two.
Where Larry got the "we could have been two down at half time" from I don't know! They did have the better of the first half but didn't really threaten.
Second half chewing out and resultant chopping around saw Snodders and Howson swop wings to see if we could shake it up. Nope. Subbs time. What I like more and more about SG is the fact that he can see what is and isn't working and make effective changes.
On for Hughes came a refreshed and pacy Aidy White. He looked to take on the defence and attack them with pace. He just has to be careful that someone is going to fill his position when he goes wandering up front.
Then came the deciding sub. Gradel. Energy and pace. His effort is catching and the tempo of the game picked up with his arrival. Becks looked more dangerous, their keeper started have to work a little more. From about the 70th minute we looked the more dangerous side.
As the game wore on it did look as if that the 3 points was a step too far. Even with the addition of Grella for Howson. (Another attack minded player, thats the Grayson mentality. And the armband got passed from Jonny to Becks!)
Then it happened. I was on my way down the stairs, stopping to watch as the clocked ticked down. Gradel has an ability to get the ball through a forest of legs and then follow it with his diminutive stature. Tight turns, quick feet and PACE. Scaring defenders. He pulled the ball through two defenders and jinked to his left. Then hammered a fast shot into the roof of the net with his left foot.
The North Stand in raptures, shades of Norwich.
It was these games that we would have lost last year. (pre- SG) we would have been lucky to draw.
Now, we KEEP GOING. The points earnt by the subs. The credit must go to the manager.
