Four weeks of John Carver's reign has made Kevin Blackwell look a half decent manager. Yesterday's performance against a no more than mediocre Stoke side was the absolute pits, but there is something more wrong with our club than who the manager is or wether we play 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 4-5-1. Whatever is going on behind the scenes is causing players who are good to perform like donkeys and there is no cohesion or team ethic in the way we are playing. The ultimate example of this is Derry. There is no doubt he is a good player but he hardly put a tackle in yesterday and didn't make a meaningful pass. Another example is Healey. No excuses this time about him being played as a winger and out of position and yet time and time again he fails to reproduce anything like his NI form. The Kop's singing of "You're not fit to wear the shirt" was totally appropriate yesterday and though I didn't join in because it doesn't help the players I sympathised with the point of view. Only Gary Kelly did enough to justify his wages, his performance, effort and commitment shining out like a good deed in a naughty world. A quick word about the referee who was probably the worst I've seen in all the years I've been watching football. Having allowed the Stoke attackers in particular to get away with grevious bodily harm all afternoon and making a series of bizarre decisions, he finally gave us the most ludicrous penalty you'll ever see. When the home crowd sing "You're not fit to referee" after their side have just been given a penalty tells you all you need to know. Where do they get these jokers from?
Sullivan - can't remember him making a save Beaten at the near post from 18 yards for the second goal 4 Kelly - only decent performance of the day 7 Butler - not good individually, no captain's leadership, the cause of all the bother? 3 Killgallon - struggled to cope with Stoke's tactics, not helped by the referee. £4 mill for him? Snap their hands off if anyone's daft enough! 5 Wright - if Crainey was the problem, he's not the answer. marginally better defensively but not as good going forward 5 Douglas - given his limitations he wasn't as bad as the rest. worked hard and at least looked like he cared about playing for us 6 Westlake - struggled all day 5 Derry - largely anonymous 4 USless Arsehole - watched him carefully for the good things he does that I miss because I think he's a twat. One mazy dribble that took him past er nobody actually and a clever little backheel were the good things . The bad things were too numerous to mention. How he continues to keep his place is one of those little mysteries of life that make up the fabric of our amazing world 0 Healy - perhaps he was tired after his midweek exertions 4 Horsefield - didn't do a lot before he was injured (again) 4 Cresswell - worked hard and showed some good touches not bad considering it was his first game back after a long injury lay-off. crunched Duberry with a late tackle, much to the delight of the Kop. His return to full fitness is one thing to look forward to at least 6 Blake - tried hard, some neat touches, shame about the penalty but it was a good save and justice was done 5 Stone - still looks a class act at times with his awareness of the play and his use of the ball but the legs have gone really 5 We've never been lower than the second division but brace yourselves folks because if Cudly Ken doesn't do something pretty quickly that's where we're going. Do we have an assistant to the assistant/caretaker manager? All in all, a pretty depressing day. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist oh alright then :-)
