Chez

AMN is lacklustre. He could have shown a little more bite, but McKinnie is decent so perhaps didn't want to dive in, Diallo then has two. Not his fault. I honestly can't work out what Bednarek is trying to do. It's like he is trying to defend the near post, but then he turns side on, almost trying to not to deflect it in perhaps. Weird. Bazunu is the worst keeper I have seen at this level at blocking things close to him. I can appreciate the odd one goes in, but pretty much every one gores through him. He's like the polar opposite of Forster. However, I don't just want to moan about those two. The rest of the side was fucking bollocks. I thought JWP played well, and Lavia looked as classy as always, but the rest?

A game where we absolutely marmalised them, but if they had taken their two guilt edge chances at the death, could have got away with a draw. Even Norwich, a truely shit premier league side, were able to create a couple of decent opportunities. We couldn't even do that today.

describe it to me if you don't mind? I cant face MOTD when we lose. I thought the blame was entirely down to AMN and maybe Mara for their casual defending. But who should have been marking Firpo? Could Bednarek and/or Bazunu really do anything to stop it?

they do their best. It's just that their best isn't good enough. Leeds are terrible. We made them look good. I watched some of their recent games and they were not good enough to cope with the pressure put on them by opponents, but against us they had so much time, and were so comfortable as a result.

We are the shittest team in the league and not just because we have the players the forum hates, it's also because the ones the forum doesn't hate aren't all that either. We ain't getting 18 more points. We have scored just 19 goals in 24 games. Only Wolves and Everton have scored less, while only Leicester, Forrest and Bournemouth have conceded more. Can't score and can't stop conceding. What a terrible combination. Without JWP's free kicks, we'd already be pretty much down.

So a tackle wont be your season's major highlight then?

It was exactly the kind of performance we were getting under RH for the last 25 games or more. It demonstrated our lack of quality throughout the side, which is why we gave the ball away, couldn't beat the press, created nothing and offered pretty much no threat at all.

Can't say I was terribly impressed with Onuachu either, although clearly he is reliant on someone putting a chance on a plate for him, because he ain't going to create anything himself. But our midfield doesn't seem to be good enough to get behind teams or create enough crossing opportunities. And when we do, the crossing is crap. I think there was a one good opportunity for Onuachu in the first half when we played the ball over the top and it looked like he was in, but sadly he wasn't because he was too slow and the chance was gone. When Mara came on he was too loose with the ball, trying to be too fancy. He kept trying it and there was a couple of nice bits of skill and turns to be fair, but still nothing was created. Very frustrating. We some how look even less threatening than ever. How is that possible?

Sulemana was even worse than his Chelsea display, which was bad. Haven't seen any criticism of him so far. £20m and he has been completely invisible for two games. Got to do much more.

Who was it down in the bottom corner (AMN or Diallo) that was so casual, letting Harrison find Firpo with ease? Fucking killed us.

Brutal. I wonder how much injury time they end up playing?

Yeah, I was thinking that. He's never 23 or 25, deffo 24.

Very good points (there was the Mraa chance too). I guess I just don't want to get my hopes up too much that what we saw will be replicated from now on it. If it is, then we have half a chance of staying up. At this point I don't see anyone else offering us a better chance than Selles.

I'm happy if we give it to him for the rest of the season. He seems confident and capable. The previous two managers have tried pretty much every formation and failed to get a tune out of the players, so returning to the 442 (or 4-2-2-2 of you prefer) makes sense and he knows it as well as anyone. I wonder how we would all have felt if we had turned to him as the manager after Ralph. With Grey and Wigley both being disasters, I suspect there would have been a fair bit of apprehension. With hindsight, he simply could not have done worse than Jones, but we obviously all hoped for better than Jones.

yeah, the Barnsley website here (2022 information) says the top tier is 2008 tickets. 803 for the lower. https://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/news/2022/august/leeds-further-allocation/ I've not been to Elland Road since they moved the away fans to the John Style stand. If the away team just sells the top tier (I assume that has been the case with us of most occasions), do they sell the lower tier to home fans?

seem fair. There aren't any other `outstanding' candidates anyway are there?

I don't want to put too much of a dampener on the whole Selles is our saviour thing (it's great to have something positive to talk about), but Chelsea did still dominate us in the second half and we had to ride our luck to get the victory. On another day, that luck may have been out. They didn't score, and some good defending was the reason for that, but I am not sure we had a lot of `control' of the game in the second half and if the cross to Mount is six inches lower he has a free header inside the six yard box. Preventing that opportunity wasn't down to good defending, it was just our day. That said, it's players that play the game. All the manager can do it pick the right side, give them the tactics, motivate and make good in game decisions. He seemed to get all those things right. We certainly looked an awful lot better in the first half and that victory has brought us some hope, but maybe see how we do in a few more games before we give him the job full time. He can't do worse than Jones, but let's see if he can put out the right team and tactics to beat Leeds. If players make mistakes we can then argue whether that was down to the manager picking the wrong guy or the player just being human and doing what they always do - make errors. Question: Why didn't the board appoint Selles after Ralph? From the outside, he always seemed like the natural successor and a number 2 just waiting to become a number 1. Why didn't they believe in him?

According to footballgroundguide.com: "1,566 seats in the upper tier and if required then a further 1104 seats can be provided in the lower tier, making the overall allocation 2,670."

that fact he lasted 18 months and 66 games at Watford is pretty impressive these days.

Very hard to predict those other games. We have struggled to beat teams, so none are going to be easy, home or away. Our form and performances have been terrible, but if it improves (let's say we beat Leeds, confidence will start to come back) then games like Leicester will appear winnable, rather than daunting (as mist have recently). One game at a time. Leeds is huge. Win it, we join the pack and we get on a run. Lose and we are back to square one - relegation bound.

I thought we transitioned to a five at the back non pressing side over the summer?

I thought there was a Zagreb fan on here saying that left wing was his best position rather than left midfield? Maybe I got that mixed up. I have to say he hasn't impressed so far in the games he has played. He doesn't look like has any pace, dribbling skills or much physicality. He reminded me of Ely to be honest. I was hoping he would be brimming with confidence and look to go at fullbacks, but instead he looked very timid and just passed it rather than make something happen. That said, I was surprised he was dropped from the match day squad completely. I guess the other players could argue `why am I not being picked when he is not doing it?', but they have all had plenty of chances. Players can take a little time to settle in, so I am hoping he finds his feet and we see what he is made of. But he has to earn a pace in the squad/side by impressing in training. If he isn't doing that, then that's down to him.

Spurs winning. Handy. Feel dirty cheering on sides like them, but needs must now.

If we are playing 4-4-2, what exactly are the other options on that left side? AA is no midfielder, Alcaraz plays more central, Edozie is a winger, Aribo doesn't run, so that leaves Djenepo.

We do well when teams turn over possession to us, be it forced or just because they are playing badly (maybe as a one off or due to their own poor form). The press has been terrible since we started messing around with formations and personnel. Perhaps returning the familiar formation and using players like Armstrong and Ely we can get that press working again and force Leeds to make mistakes. Sumelana can then give us a threat or the break and Onuachu can get in that size yard box and score the goals we need.