Well that was everything we wanted and more. That was as good a performance and result as we have had for years, especially for the opening game of the season. I can still recall £1m Luke Murphy getting a last minute winner v Brighton in front of a full house and a brilliant end to the Bates years. That game and owner soon petered out so I am trying not to get too carried away today but ........
As I posted earlier I was really up and buzzing for this one , there is just something so special for the first game of the season in the sunshine. My optimism lasted all the train journey with my son, and the first twenty minutes in the pub but it was a case of "what will Toe think?" a proper Leeds fan who manages to make our own RW look optimistic and happy. We were not to be disappointed as Toe proceeded to tell us that we had kept all last seasons shit and that the two decent additions (Douglas and maybe Bamford - big question marks in his view re Bamford) and his prediction (following on from last years 15th prediction) was for relegation, yes actual going down. Any team with Cooper, Phillips and Berardi had no chance- we could not dissuade him from this relegation even when we pointed out that Warnock had got promoted with Peltier and Bamba in the first team. The announcement of the team that would start -ten of last years failures plus Douglas did nothing to help in our argument that MB was the man So with Toe putting a bit of a damper on things we had a early visit to the ground - time to find my Bremner statue brick and a pint in the ground. The lads on the bus did cheer us up a bit with a great song that did a countdown of "3 3 1 3- ooooh Marcelo Bielsa, ooooh he came from Argentina, ooooh he has a f*cking handgrenade, ooooh 3 3 1 3 " ( he once pulled a hand granade on disgruntled fans) Anyway the atmosphere around the ground was brilliant - a real wall of noise. A good homage to Paul Madeley wiht the SS holding up placards that read "Eleven Pauls" as per the song So after all the nonsense the game kicked off and we were brilliant , from the 1st to the 90th minute, from 1 to 11 we were great. Everyone had bought into the MB philosophy and did what he had asked, all the time being roared on by a crowd that believed in the new vision and the new future Stoke and their fans did not know what hit them - we were on top of them from the kick off, closing them down, chasing every ball , getting stuck in - all behind a backdrop of ER being electric and raising the roof. Without the ball we never game them a second to settle - with the ball , we passed and moved with a skill and fluidity that was missing for years. Pre game my mate, who is friends with a Stoke fan told me how their message boards were full of how they had a Premiership quality keeper, defence and midfield, and how thankful they were that they had kept Joe Allen, the 'best midfielder in the Division' Well not today - we carved them open almost at will -Klitch so impressive that it made me wonder what Christianson knew about football ! In fact at half time my son showed me something on the BBC website that said " If Klitch forces poor Joe Allen any further back he'll be in 2016 and playing for Liverpool again" We really were that convincing Our great play was rewarded when Saiz - the fulcrum for all our play - beat two players and put a lovely ball through to the onrushing Klicth who finished with an equisite chip. Football as it should be played.We totally dominated and tore them apart - their one move of note a speculative long range shot from Ince *your Dads a c..t and so are you' that hit the bar. A move totally against the run of play We got lucky just before half time when a shot from Pablo went under the keeper and into the corner of the net (When Butland came out for the second half in front of the Revie stand he was met with chant of "shit Jordan PIckford, youre just a ,,,," to be fair he laughed and clapped us So 2 up at half time - could we keep it up ? Well yes we could - a scramble in the box led to them getting a pen (could not see who or why) that they scored to bring them back into it - or at least in theory. A minute later yet another great move ended with a lovely cross by alioski that they headed behind for a corner, Douglas showed what he was about as his corner was met by Cooper who glanced home - two goal cushion restored MB took off the impressive Kilich for Dallas who messed up a great chance as we continued to dominateCrouch came on and his height caused a few problems but BPF was up to it and we saw the game out A brilliant and desreved 3 1 win against one of the favuourite and done with style and aplomb If this is what the season holds it will be a good one - we were excellent and all the fans went home delirioulsy happy Long mayi it continue Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedslist/ RIP Jimmy WAC-COE
