The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Wednesday 27th October) - Lacklustre second half performance sees Leeds out of Carabao Cup
Good Morning, It's Wednesday 27th October, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road….
Lacklustre second half performance sees Leeds out of Carabao Cup
Second half goals from Calum Chambers and Eddie Nketiah were enough to dump Leeds out of the league Cup, but they didn't have it all their own way. The Whites more than held their own during the first 45 minutes and could have been two-up at the break. James latched onto a long through ball, found himself one on one with Bernd Leno, but couldn't find a way around the German shot stopper. Harrison too had a fantastic opportunity to break the deadlock, but his half volley (following a corner) produced a great save from Leno.
Leeds lost their way after the break, and soon went behind. Leeds were unable to clear their lines, following a corner. Chamber's first touch of the ball since coming on as a substitute looked like it had produced a World-class save by Meslier, but upon closer inspection had crept over the line. Twenty minutes from time Nketiah made the game safe for the Gunners. Cooper's headed back pass seemed to hover in the air for an eternity before the former Leeds loanee nipped in, chipped Meslier and tucked the ball into an empty net.
Should Leeds have signed Nkehiah last Summer
Leeds had the opportunity to buy Nketiah during the Summer for 12m, but snubbed the chance. Whilst Bamford is our preferred choice, not having a replacement goalscorer in our squad in case of injury or fatigue is surely ludicrous. The 22 year old has always been a predator in front of goal, as he has proved for his Country, scoring sixteen times in seventeen appearances for the England U21's.
Leeds gave up after conceding first goal
Phil Hay insinuated that Leeds all but gave up following going behind at the Emirates last night. Calum Chambers broke the deadlock with 35 minutes still remaining to salvage something out of the game, but the Elland Road journalist more or less believes that the visitors were just going through the motions!
It seemed to Bielsa that Arsenal’s first goal had all but nailed down Leeds’ 2-0 defeat, game over in that instant. Nonetheless, a home team who looked vulnerable prior to half-time morphed into a team who were allowed to go through the motions, without any significant input on the part of Mikel Arteta. Leeds had a reason to fight with the quarter-finals at stake but Arsenal got their claws into their underbelly and did not let go. There were two more subs from Bielsa later on, Sam Greenwood and Crysencio Summerville for Rodrigo and Dan James, but the “freshness” he sought from them was not about to turn the night. It was already a case of playing out time.
Bielsa takes responsibility (again)
Marcelo Bielsa was quick to take responsibility for poor substitutions, and misreading the game following the clash at the Emirates last night.
Of course I’m describing intentions. I make myself responsible for the effect of (the substitutions). We wanted to fortify our offensive game in the second half and we didn’t manage to achieve this. The reading of the game and the solutions I opted for were not the correct ones. Clearly the differences between the first half and the second half were there.
Can anyone suggest a game when Bielsa has made substitutions that have positively effected Leeds?