Barnsley - Leeds United 31st of December 2011

On the last day of the year Leeds will take the short trip to Barnsley in persuit of three points. It is a Leeds team and especially manager under pressure so the heat is really on now.

Barnsley have just visited Elland Road about a month ago and came away with a win, so hopefully we can do the same. Barnsley are in 16th and find themselves in the area where a good run can put them in the playoffs and a bad run can send them down, so I expect a hardfought game.

Leeds will have to do without star player Robert Snodgrass for the next four weeks after he has had his appendix taken out, the only positive I can find in this is that clubs might not want to sign him during the January window now? But for manager Simon Grayson, already expected to get sacked, the injury to Snoddy is a massive blow, I think he has been our player of the year by a mile, and expect us to struggle without him and his creativety and ability to win points on his own. Skipper Jonny Howson is also still out injured, and Tom Lees will take a late test before the game to see whether he can play - so yeah it is hard to stay positive as a Leeds fan these days.

I think Ramon Nunez will be given a start on the right wing tomorrow and I hope he can find the form he started the season with - apart from this the starting 11 will probably be easily guessed, though Alex Bruce have been recalled from loan and could feature, I think he should since our defensive efforts of late have been horrible.

Oakwell is the place where Scottish striker Derek Lilley - remember him anyone? - scored his only goal for Leeds in a 2-3 win, so lets hope we can take another win there tomorrow and why not guess on a 2-3 Leeds win again - Goals from Becchio (2) and Ramon Nunez.

To all of you reading my blog, thank you and have a happy and safe new year! MOT

Has Simon Grayson achieved what he can at Leeds?

After we lost against Reading I started thinking about Simon Grayson’s future at Leeds, not that the 0-1 defeat was the worst of the season at all, but I just couldn’t help wondering if someone new at the helm is a necessity if we are to get promoted this season.

There are many reasons that I fear his time is coming to an end, one is that he’s got some mad defensive flaws, off course this is also the players fault, but the manager picks the team, so in the end it falls back on him. No matter how hard we try we can’t keep a clean sheet, in the 22 games played in the league so far, we have managed a not impressive four clean sheets, and some terrible defensive howlers along the way. You can’t guard against horror displays like the one Paul Rachubka showed against Blackpool, but fans are allowed to expect better from the so called star players like Paddy Kisnorbo, who I feel have been by far our most disappointing player this season (read: http://kimba1980.blogspot.com/2011/09/is-kisnorbo-playing-because-of.html - I wrote this in September and my opinion hasn’t changed since). Simon Grayson seems to be tactically clueless, if we need to change the game he sends on two/three subs around the 65^th minute and then he hopes that does the trick, he does change formation every now and then, but the difference between our classic 442 and our 451 isn’t really a game changer he uses in the middle of games when we are in trouble. 

Another reason that I think shows that Ken Bates is losing confidence in SG is transfer windows, we don’t seem to spend, and I know that people blame Bates and call him cheap, which he might be, but I also think that he has no faith in Simons ability to find us the right players, most of the things SG signs is free transfers, which offcourse still includes money for player and agent or bargains like Lloyd Sam and Andy Lonergan – I can’t see Bates giving Simon £4-5mill. or maybe even £2mill. for a player no matter how much SG believed he was the one. I know it’s easier for a fan to blame a chairman for not splashing the cash, but I think it runs deeper then KB being cheap, I truly believe that he won’t trust Simon to buy a player that can get us promoted.

So reading this it might seem that I agree with people saying that Simon should get the sack, but actually I don’t, I can’t see another manager doing better for Leeds with our current transfer money, wage policy and players available, and I’m not sure any other manager, that we as fans would want, would join Leeds under the “leadership” of Ken Bates. So I hope and pray that results turn for Simon and the lads and that Ken Bates will show more faith in Simon’s business skills in January – Naive, I know, but all we can do is hope!

One thing I would like to see if SG stays is for him to show less loyalty towards the sold called stars when they don’t perform, I think it’s a joke that Kisnorbo has been allowed to play for two-three months now, while going from bad to worse in most games – Being a more no-nonsense manager would probably show both players, fans and chairman that he is no “Ken Bates dummy” and give him more respect, a thing I feel every manager needs to succeed. 

Leeds United - Reading 17th of December 2011

 Tomorrow will be Leeds Uniteds last home game of 2011 and we will be visited by our friends from Reading, friends because they let us take Alex McCartny on another months loan, he will however not be allowed to play tomorrow.
Reading is one of the teams chasing the playoff spots and find themselves in 10th, five points behind Leeds in 6th so a win could move us further away and off course defeat would bring them even closer.
A member of the Leeds United champions league team will return to Elland Road for the game, Ian Harte is still going strong and is expected to line up on left back - early xmas gift for Snoddy??

Leeds are without skipper Jonny Howson who is expected out for to or three months, a real big blow if you ask me. If fit i think Michael Brown will move in next to Adam Clayton in the centre, the other options include Danny Pugh or Mika Varynen in the centre of midfield.
In defense I can't see Simon Grayson sticking by Paddy Kisnorbo, he has not been up to speed since his injuries and I would love to see O'Dea partner Tom Lees in defence, but Paddy is a crowd fav and also rated highly by SG so we'll have to wait and see. One thing we know for sure is that Andy Lonergan will return for the game, his first since breaking a finger against Doncaster in October - I am glad to have him back, I do rate McCartny but will always prefer to have our "own" guy between the sticks.
I would also love to see Becchio and McCormack get a game together and hopefully start a succesfull partnership that can shoot us into the top 2 by the end of January and the much feared transfer window. Hopefully the lads can maintain the streak without defeats and start getting a few more W's in the stats.

I think Lonergan will get a clean sheet and Leeds will win 2-0 with goals from McCormack and Tom Lees.

Leeds United and the transfer windows

In my years as a Leeds fan, and especially the last 3-4 years I have wondered why our transfer windows seem to start in November/December or May/June and when the window really opens NOTHING HAPPENS. This winter is no different, we have been linked with a lot of players of various quality, next up probably Torres who is rumored to be sold during January? Loads of players have been linked away from Leeds as well, either in January or on free transfers in the summer – so what will happen?

Howson, Snodgrass, McCormack and Becchio are the four Leeds players that the media is heavily linking with moves away from the club, Howson is out of contract in the summer, Snoddy and Ross in 2013 and Becchio signed a new deal last year and are tied to the club until 2014. I don’t really believe that we will sell any of these players as they are seen as valuable if we are to gain promotion, if any I think that Ross might leave in a deal seeing Andy Keogh join the club on a permanent basis, a deal which I can’t really see good sense in, Ross is a goalscorer and Keogh is a worker, and we already have one of those in Becchio, but the difference between him and Keogh is that Becchio actually scores goals every now and then.

If we are to sign a player in the window I hope we can find a defensive midfielder to help Howson be able to get forward, a role he did ever so well in during last season. So instead of spending money on players who can’t strengthen the team, especially if/when promoted, I would love to see Leeds spent money on extending the contracts of the players that we already have, players who we can actually use when we get into the Premier League.

The Leeds pub guide! Part three

So it is time for another part of the Leeds pub guide, I've been busy grieving over the loss of Gary Speed, but felt that now was the time to write on!

The horse and trompet The Headrow LS1 6LR Leeds

A nice little pub in the middle of Leeds and actually one of the last places we found SKY Sports on the screen. The beer are pretty cheap, £2.45 for a pint of Carlings, and on mondays even cheaper (£1.79), there is a decent selection of beers and also quite a few cask ales.

There is also food served and it tasted pretty good, even if it took a little to long to get it served.

My rating (out of ten)
Beer selection: ******
Food: ******
Service: ******
Atmosphere: ******
Prices: ********
Jukebox/music played: ******

Yates's 24–28 Boar Lane LS1 5DA

http://www.weareyates.co.uk/leedsboarlane

Let me start out by saying that this pub have got some ridiculous offers on food, actually it is grotesquely cheap to eat in there!

The pub is split in two with a lower and upper floor, upper is mainly for eating and below people party before going out.

The is 11 different beers and every day they have different offers on those aswell so the place is certainly worth a visit, we practially ate/drank in there every day.  The prices on beer and food varies from around £1.50 for the pint on sale and £3 for a complete meal, so if you've spent to much shopping, this is the place to dine.

Yate's is a chain of pubs so you can probably find one in each big city in England.

My rating (out of ten)
Beer selection: *******
Food: ********
Service: ******
Atmosphere: *******
Prices: **********
Jukebox/music played: *******

The Grove Inn, Back Row, off David Street, off Water Lane, LS11 5PL
http://www.thegroveinn.com/

This was without a doubt my favorite pub of the ones I visited on my last trip, a bit small and with many smaller rooms attached it semmed a bit weird the first time we arrived. But after spending a few hours i there we fell in love with the places, a bit of darts, the fire in the fireplaces or the owners dogs running around? Don't know what it was but it just felt like a real old english pub like you saw in tv series in the 80's (in the best possible way).

A pint of Carling cost me  £3.35, but the real treat in this places was the selection of cask ales, they had everything you could imagine, and the barman even let me try a few out before deciding which one I wanted - while taste trying we had a great talk about the vikings and other historical themes, simply brilliant!
This is the first place I will visit the next time I am in Leeds. It's a bit hard but I encourage you to try hard - located between the Hilton and Bewley's hotel, most people will pass it on their way to Elland Road.

My rating (out of ten)
Beer selection: **********
Food: N/A
Service: **********
Atmosphere: **********
Prices: ********
Jukebox/music played: ********** Actually deserves more *'s!

That is all from my pub guide, we did visit more pubs, by either we didn't stay long enough or Søren was to drunk to take notes. I hope that people going to Leeds will find this helpful and visit the pubs that I rated! MOT! 

Leeds United - Millwall December 3rd 2011

Saturday will be another emotionel day for fans of Leeds United, our first home game since Leeds legend Gary Speed sadly passed away last sunday - I am hoping for a bumper crowd a ER and even more for a great goodbye salute to Speedo.

Our opponents are rivals Millwall, known to be complete morons and famous for waiving Turksh flags and singing anti Leeds chants, but hopefully they can behave and help us give Speed one last cheer.
Millwall are in 17th and hopefully we can push them further towards the relegation zone and in the same moment start a good home record. The main player to keep and eye on is Darius Henderson, who is their topscorer with 8 goals, but apart from him there is not much else about Millwall to worry about.

Leeds showed everyone that they belong in the top 6 with a great 4-0 away win in Nottingham on wednesday and hopefully we can now kick on and get into top 2 before x-mas. Both Howson and Becchio got in the goals on wednesday, and I think Simon Grayson will play the 451 again tomorrow. Andy Lonergan is still a doubt, but back in training so hopefully we will soon see our nummer 1 back in the team, and apart from him there is not to many injury problems to report, SG will probably pick the same 11 that did ever so well on Wednesday, if he chooses 442 he will swap Michael Brown with McCormack I guess.

The most important thing about Saturday will be the half time goodbye to Gary Speed though, Gary McAllister, Gordon Strachan & David Batty, Speedo's midfield collegues from the championsship winning side will be at ER to say goodbye to their friend, so another emotionel day to follow for the fans inside and outside of Elland Road.

Hopefully we can win another one for Gary and I predict Leeds to win 3-0 with goals from Becchio, Snoddy & McCormack!

I hope everyone inside Elland Road will do their best to give Gary Speed the "sent off" he truely deserves! RIP GARY SPEED - WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU!