Disco Stu

Firstly, I hope all is well for Tyler. I think his return is a great opportunity for us. I always got Jack Grealish vibes from him (not just because of the socks 😅). I'm hoping to see some first-team appearances for him this season.

That was an excellent rick-roll.

Personally, I'm concerned about who can comes in to perform Che Adams' role when he's unable to play or rested. Most of our attacks go through him. We need an alternative player capable of outmuscling opposition defenders, challenging for headers, holding the ball up and laying it off... The typical 'back to goal' work the head of our attack needs to be capable of doing. I don't see Mara capable of doing that. Perhaps Aribo could play that role for us but it isn't his best position and I want us to play our players in their best positions. We need another centre forward. I see Mara, Armstrong and Aribo as the players the centre forward lays the ball onto.

Garner to Everton has been wrapped up apparently.

And they haven't even had any players sent off 😁

I think we're going to have a lot of games like today if we don't sign a striker. United looked very average today and we didn't punish them for it.

Really pleased for Ballard! 👏

As long as he wasn't dropped that's the important thing. We've seen in the past Adams get randomly dropped after a good performance so I'm glad there was a valid reason this time.

Interesting that Leicester will be expanding their stadium. There were a lot of empty seats in the home section today.

Adams is definitely good enough and should have started. Same goes for against Tottenham. We've scored 5 goals this season and he's had involvement in 4.

Very solid defending today with a back four. Deserved the clean sheet and would have got one if not for a well taken free-kick from Maddison. ABK looks like a beast. Djenepo had possibly his best overall game for us. If we can get our selections right from the start in future, we might be able to win some games comfortably this season.

Adams should be undroppable after that!

Brave tactical switch. I don't think it was necessary.

I'm nervous now 😂

Book Aribo but ignored blatant Vardy dive in the first half.

Walker-Peters really is quality.

Should have started.

Such a shame we have to wait until we fall behind before changes come in.

So far, I'd say Djenepo has actually done very well at LB.

We desperately need Adams. He's the link between midfield and attack.

There's nobody to hold the ball for us when we kick forward.

Longball and we're not even playing Adams.

KWP carrying an injury? Getting a pre-match massage in the tunnel.

I thought Adams did enough to keep his place. I like Armstrong and Mara but neither seem the type to hold up the ball and win battles.

Steady on. There are lots of factors that alter the course of a match. How the opposition dugout manages their game is one. I'm sure Leeds will feel they could have managed their game better having been 0-2 up on 70 minutes. Unfortunately, I don't think we had as good a first half performance as Leeds. They exploited the space created by our centre half's moving wide and also kept more possession which is golden in hot conditions. The individual performances were generally good but the formation didn't allow us to throw many punches and at times we were long balling straight back to Leeds players. Leeds came out second half very aggressive and they seemed to catch us off-guard. Then, using the corner routine that they'd already tried 3 times prior, eventually found success on the fourth attempt. 0-2. This was the hour mark. At this point we should have changed our shape but we did at least introduce some fresh legs. 10 minutes later, we finally change shape and the contrast is immediately apparent (70 minute mark). We were much more aggressive against the ball, Armstrong did excellent to run with the ball and assist Aribo. We seemed to be playing as much more as a unit both defensively and attackingly. The introduction of fresh legs was effective against a Leeds side starting to tire and that also really helped us get on the front foot. Although the strategic changes should have come earlier in my view, Ralph did at least start introducing fresh legs to the team. He managed the game much better than Marsch did. I was surprised that Marsch didn't introduce any fresh legs to his team until the last 10 minutes given his pre-match press conference comments about knowing how to manage in hot conditions. Ralph got the better of Marsch in that regard. The last 20 minutes I thought we were excellent. Walker-Peters is comfortably our best player, Bella-Kotchop looks more than capable of playing in a back two with Salisu, Aribo is quality and Mara looks like he has something about him and his introduction seemed to lift the team. I've already praised their second half performance in this thread, it was clear the players really worked hard to claw that game back so full credit to all of them. I thought the strategic changes, when they came, changed the game positively so well done to Ralph for that. However, I must admit, my enthusiasm for Ralph jaded after the second 9-0 defeat. I remained firmly a supporter of him until I lost all faith at the tail end of last season. I've always admired his passion and commitment to the club but recently I've found his starting selections, formations and in-game management frankly baffling at times and our form makes it difficult to believe in what he's doing. One game, that saw us claw our way back from 0-2 down at home against a side where a draw should have been a minimum expectation, won't go a long way to changing my opinion. The starting line-up today was the wrong approach in my view. That said, I always back the team 100% when I'm in attendance and don't partake in negative chants. I've been a season ticket holder for 20 years and attend a handful of away games every season so I know how damaging a toxic atmosphere can be. If it was my call, Ralph would have gone at the end of last season and I would have thanked him for his service to the club, but it's not my call so whilst he's here, I hope he get's us playing like I believe these players can.