Dirty Leeds (away) 7:45pm Wednesday 4th January (not on TV)

ASLEFshrugged

It's Monday morning, our next match is 58 hours away and I sense a certain reluctance to start the match thread.

I'm feeling lucky

Moyes changed things around, drop Soucek, went with a back three, etc. and we still lost. So what next?

Leeds are living up to the rep, they lead the PL with 13.1 fouls per game and have picked up ten yellow cards in the last three games

There will be blood...

Lukerz

Areola
Kehrer - Dawson - Aguerd - Cresswell
Downes - Rice
Bowen - Fornals - Benrahma
Scamacca

Fabianski, Ogbonna, Coufal, Johnson, Emerson, Soucek, Lanzini, Paqueta, Antonio

ASLEFshrugged

We've cloned Antonio?

IronHerb

ASLEFshrugged said:

We've cloned Antonio?

Hope not.

steve

Win,draw,or loss, I think ,but what do I know

Yeoldhammer

Areola

Coufal Dawson Aguerd Cresswell

Rice

Paqueta Fornals

Benrahma

Bowen Antonio

4-4-2 (diamond) Tell Rice to stick deep play the DM role only and to not get forward.

BubblesNeverDies

On behalf of Ham as I thought he would already have posted - Loss

Lukerz

I do struggle to see how another poor performance & defeat will allow Moyes to carry on, despite reports he still has the backing of the owners. As I said, I am happy for him to see out the season, but I’m not the one with money in the club. I’d find it surprising if they keep their nerve after another loss. That would be 6 on the bounce to bottom half sides (except Arsenal).

ASLEFshrugged

Oggy on whufc.com says he thought Rice and Paqueta played really well together as a midfield pairing

https://www.whufc.com/news/ogbonna-fans-have-shown-me-west-ham-bigger-everything-its-family

alderz

I would still like to see a proper 4-3-3. Rice showed for England that he’s very capable of playing as a single pivot, and I think we need to be utilising him that way.

I’d like to see two wingers tucked inside and staying close to the striker and running beyond him, with two centre midfielders who are actually good on the ball.

Ideally, I’d want one fullback who could attack properly, and one who would sit a bit deeper. But I’m not confident in either right or left back going forward at the moment.

What I want to see is:

Areola
Johnson - Dawson - Aguerd - Cresswell/Emerson;
Fornals - Rice - Paqueta
Bowen - Scamacca - Benrahma

But I have about 0% confidence that we would see a side like that.

buffybegood

I'm not against your side alderz, especially not the formation. Emerson needs to be tried as a LB; we have to move away from Cresswell, and if Emerson can't do a good enough job then we need to find someone who can even if it means Johnson there until we can recruit someone.

The most important thing though, imo, is we need to move the ball more quickly; there's no point slowly working our way upfield, letting the opposition get into their defensive formation, as we've proved time and again that we're not good enough to create decent openings against a defence that's set.

EXETERHAMMER

Fornals should play.

Kuchinghammer

This team is low on confidence. A first-half goal would change that. I'm also wondering what Johnson has done wrong. Did he oversleep and miss a team meeting or something?😴

steve

A first half goal ,so funny you crack me up

PrestonHammer

We did score a first half goal against Arsenal. Unfortunately Arsenal then went and scored 3 second half goals hahaha

Brother_Sledge

Like Buffy I would go with Emerson in Alderz' side and I have even less confidence of seeing it but could we not try swapping Benrahma and Bowen so that they can take their man on the outside and put in outswinging crosses for Scamacca etc.

OutcastLondoner

Brother_Sledge said:

Like Buffy I would go with Emerson in Alderz' side and I have even less confidence of seeing it but could we not try swapping Benrahma and Bowen so that they can take their man on the outside and put in outswinging crosses for Scamacca etc.

I really want Cornet back so he can provide those crosses. I think he showed a couple signs of this in his few appearances. Him on the left, Benrahma behind the striker and Bowen probably stick to the right. Not sure whether Benrahma has the pace as a straight RW, though he does at times seem a bit faster this season than last.

I don't really know why football has so many inverted wingers now. I don't think it's even that effective most of the time.

buffybegood

Injury updates in Moyes's presser (on OS):

Mick has had a bit of illness, which a lot of people have had around the country, but hopefully he's OK.
Kurt is doing OK, but he's not available for this game.
Nayef is getting himself back ready and is under serious consideration for this game. He picked up a virus and injury at the World Cup, but he's back training and building himself up.
He's really important. He's a new player that we've got to introduce to the Premier League.

https://www.whufc.com/news/live-david-moyes-pre-leeds-united-press-conference


No mention of Cornet 🤔🤔🤔

ASLEFshrugged

Interesting analysis

We put more crosses into the box than any PL team but haven't scored from them

Palace put the fewest and have scored four

https://www.sonofacorner.com/crosses-epl/

IronHerb

buffybegood said:

No mention of Cornet 🤔🤔🤔

Cornet is out for a while. Isn't he seeing a specialist in France at the moment?

Whitehorsehammer

Cornet was going to Paris for one last attempt at an injection, if that doesn't work he will have surgery. Lets hope the injection works, a fit Cornet would be very welcome at the moment.

buffybegood

Thanks for the updates on Cornet, last I saw was that he'd been making progress from his original injury, then had a set-back (possibly something different?), but then was making progress again (and getting closer to being available). Didn't realise he was nowhere near again 😭😭😭

Whitehorsehammer

Cornet had apparently tried other injections and got back into light training but each time it never fully worked. That's why the one last try in France, if it does work he could be back fairly soon.

Lukerz

I think we may revamp the side for this, because we need intensity to match Leeds. Must get energy in that midfield 3.

Areola
Kehrer - Dawson - Aguerd - Cresswell
Fornals - Rice - Lanzini
Bowen - Antonio - Benrahma

Bazshuayi

I cant think of a good reason to have Lanzini in a midfield against Leeds

Lukerz

He can pass the ball & he presses. I don’t think Paqueta has done enough to keep starting & is living off his supposed reputation. Downes could get a go instead of Lanzini.

BubblesNeverDies

ASLEFshrugged said:

Interesting analysis

We put more crosses into the box than any PL team but haven't scored from them

Palace put the fewest and have scored four

https://www.sonofacorner.com/crosses-epl/

Quality over quantity.

MrsGrey

Quality of crosses or quality of finishing?

buffybegood

MrsGrey said:

Quality of crosses or quality of finishing?

On the whole the quality of our crosses has been very poor this season imo.

claretandbluesky

I am wondering if a case be made for Paqueta being the weak link. He has a lot of ability but we have had a very limited return on that ability regard assists and goals. Would we be better off allowing his place to someone else like Fornals. I think it's a massive call for Moyes as he is dropping a Brazilian international but it's hard to build a case for his worth on the team and I feel were it Downes being afforded that many starts and putting in those performances he would have been dropped by now.

I dearly want him to start performing and providing the assists we know he can and even bringing a goal or two but there is little sign at present.

Fortuneseeker

candbsky, Is this yet another example of David Moyes not knowing which is Paqueta best position or simply not playing him in it?