Even being pedantic about league position doesn’t
alter the facts.. positions 3 to 6 were only 6pts apart and then there was a
big gap to 7th. Given a normal last few games of the season (ie
playoff positions weren’t completely set) then we would have finished 3rd,
and Watford 4th. That still leaves
20 teams below them. The point was that their brand of football is
statistically proven and hard to play against, Im not saying Leeds Utd couldn’t
have played against it, they clearly did twice throughout the season.. I said
that playing against such a statistically effective system is difficult at the
best of times, ie had our players all performed as well as they could, but as
they didn’t it was no surprise we lost to it.
Look, you and others are using this
result, and Leeds inability to beat it, as a
reason that Blackwell should go. His team took 4 from 6 points off that side
and that system, so what is your point?
My point is that it doesn’t matter
who is manager of a football side, if the players either ignore direct
instructions, or have a collective off day, you cannot blame the manager for
that. If we had played to the best of our ability and been outclassed, then
you may have had a point because that would point to fundamentally flawed
systems and inferior players.
You also must have been watching a
different game to me, Derry was probably our
best player.. was effective all over the pitch. Gregan also had a decent
game. Do you really expect the bloke to pull the ball down and play a nice
simple pass when on the end of a long throw/long punt forward? He made some
timely blocks/interceptions, was good in the air etc. Have you never heard the
adage that if in doubt, get it out? Row Z is better than a poncy infield pass
that gets intercepted or leaves the midfield isolated. His clearances,
generally, went upfield before going out, in other words he tried to get as
much distance on the ball as possible.
I just wonder what you lot would have
reckoned on McKay had he been on our side all season. He is the same sort of
player as Gregan and Butler.
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of John Sykes
Sent: 22 May 2006 16:12
To: [email protected]
Subject: [LU] What next
Its not always
easy playing against teams like Watford, if
it was they
Wouldn't have
finished 3rd. Its almost impossible if half your players
Freeze/panic on
the big day.
Watford moved
into third place almost as the season ended......Leeds
was in third place almost to the end...so that argument doesn't cut it.
As some of you have argued for weeks about Gregan, I saw him yesterday at his
worst.....and Derry wasn't much
better. Seemingly playing only one striker until virtually the game was
over, just didn't cut it either.
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