Leeds (A) - verdict

[Deutsch Wolf]

Kane
Sterling
Aubameyang
Jimenez

They are the only four Premier League players to have scored 30+ goals in all competitions since the start of last season.

 

[Derby Wolf]

Thought Neto was brilliant tonight, Podence was more eye catching with the shots and near assist with Saiss but Neto got us up the pitch a few times and it was his clever pass that nearly led to going in 1-0 at HT. He was blowing the last 10 before he came off but I think he had a great game.

Raul tried to do a bit much, tried to dribble it through three defenders one time and on another chose a pass which absolutely wasn't on. Not everything has to be a work of art as his winner proved.

A big word for Boly who is looking much, much more like it. That Somedo is still rough round the edges with regard to our system answers it was form rather than position.

Kilman was superb. Really mature display against a very aggressive opponent and very composed distribution. Potentially we have Saiss,Kilman and Marcal capable for LCB then Boly, Dendoncker and Hoever for RCB.

Shame for Saiss, beautiful strike. Forensically it was probably the right call even if it wasn't the right call for football.

I think Leeds were a quality side, they had a right go but like Sevilla they had lots of possession and crosses but I didnt have a fear of conceding everytime they came at us. We've kept a clean sheet and won which is more than Liverpool and Man City can say respectively. With more work on the training ground there's probably another 20-25% to come from us, to that ebd we can't not be delighted.

 

[Boozad]

I don't think Semedo was as bad as some are making out. Yes he let a lot of crosses in but he was being doubled up on a lot of the time, you can't close down two. He did some good stuff as well. I'm still thrilled we've got him, he'll be a key part of the team in weeks to come.

A very good win overall, Leeds have given games to both Liverpool and Man City so far and they're certainly no pushovers. We defended brilliantly and our second half performance was giving them a dose of their own medicine, we just played our ususal way in the first half and reserved our energy meaning they didn't have it left in the tank second half to cope with us. They never really troubled us bar the one Rodrigo chance chance that he put straight at Rui.

The whole defence played exceptionally well (good to see Boly back to his reassuring best) and Kilman deserved ho MotM, an excellent display. Moutinho and Donck were class second half and Neto and Podence had very good games as well.

 

[WolfmanOz]

Very happy with the result.

Despite Leeds dominance in the 1st half they didn't really look like scoring, half-chances at best. The best chance in the 1st half fell to Podence.

In the second half we were far more on our game and could have had 1 or 2 more. Again Leeds only had a couple of half-chances when they were chasing the game.

We're still not at our best but the signs must be looking good, especially if Nuno can get more time into the new recruits.

Kudos to Kilman - fine game - it's his shirt to lose now, and hopefully can get a decent run of games to solidify his place.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

The good the bad and the ugly

First half was bad. We were second to everything. Great defensively mind you but created the square root of zero. Second half was good. More intensity , pressure and got a bit of luck with a winning goal.

Ugly. Podence has caught Jota disease and goes over like he has been shot every time . Its becoming tiresome and he is better than that. Semedo is playing like Bognor Towns right back not Barcelona. Come on matey get with the programme. Youre a 35Million player, start showing it.

If we finish 5 points ahead of Leeds we will have had a very good season. They are a decent outfit.

 

[AndyWolves]

Rope-a-dope aye it

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Rope-a-dope aye it

I wish it were like that. We could have been a couple down at half time. Leeds were slicing us up like soft cheese at times. But we weathered it and Rui was untroubled mostly. Dont be surprised if they get something in the return fixture. They are definitely capable. Good pace and movement and it caught us flat footed. Once they were tiring in the second half we showed what we are capable of ourselves. Its the best 3 points of the season.

 

[Johnny75]

Leeds didn't tire in the 2d half.

We played better using better one touch passing, Raul turning up and holding the ball up 2nd half and played Donck higher up the pitch so we were competing and winning 2nd balls.

 

[Tredman]

Yes I thought that our CMs seemed to be higher up the pitch in the 2nd half. Our CBs seemed to bring the ball out more too.

 

[pacamac]

Ugly. Podence has caught Jota disease and goes over like he has been shot every time .

You not think that's by instruction? All our attacking players do it and stay down especially when the game management needs a break.

Its pretty clearly an instruction the clue's always our other players reactions their team mate looks like they're dying but the just crack on getting a water break or pleading a case to the ref.

Like it or not we've become one of those teams that uses little things like that to our advantage.

 

[pacamac]

Our CBs seemed to bring the ball out more too.

Was clearly part of the plan, I watched without the noise so could hear the a lot of the instructions. Remember one point Kilman had the ball went forward and could clearly hear Coady screaming 'carry on, carry on'.

 

[Tredman]

Was clearly part of the plan, I watched without the noise so could hear the a lot of the instructions. Remember one point Kilman had the ball went forward and could clearly hear Coady screaming 'carry on, carry on'.

Yes I also watched without the fake noise (its shit and just adds to the unreality of the football) and in second half it was clear Coady was pushing them all forward. Both Kilman and Boly (and Coady at one point) did it. Interesting for both goals that they came from a CB in the second half passing the ball to a forward. More of that is needed if this system works - both Coady & Kilman are good passers, but more improtantly have the ability to give themselves space.

 

[Boozad]

Leeds didn't tire in the 2d half.

We played better using better one touch passing, Raul turning up and holding the ball up 2nd half and played Donck higher up the pitch so we were competing and winning 2nd balls.

Never said they tired, we just upped our intensity and moved forward. They were so used to playing 100 miles an hour in our half that they couldn’t adjust and press us further back as our passing and ball retention higher up the pitch undid them.

It was purely by design as is always with Nuno. Carry on like that though and he might be gone by Christmas apparently.

 

[pacamac]

Overall a very good performance and win.

Ok the first half wasn't great to watch but even then we shut Leeds (an in form Leeds at that) out and defended well (second clean sheet on the trot after a 4-0 loss something I'm sure would have been high up on the priorities).

2nd half looked a lot more assured and we deserved the win. People can say the goal was lucky maybe so but we were also really unlucky not to already be 1-0 up after Podence was mm's offside (is that what its really come to! They're ruining football aren't they).

Slight negatives:
Semedo doesn't really look like the upgrade on Doherty many said he was at the moment....early days though hopefully he'll grow into it.

While Saiss can certainly 'put a shift in' anywhere was pretty clear in the first half he's not a LWB hoping Nuno doesn't go down the square pegs for round holes Mick route (not knocking Mick but the club and our squad are at a totally different place now if we're spending millions on two LB's they should be good enough to play there ahead of a CB/defensive midfielder)

Considering he'd only been on a few minutes Traore still seems to be knackered when it comes to tracking back yet full of energy when he can go forward.

Postives:

Captain Fantastic - Another great performance from Connor Coady. Lads gotta be full of confidence after these past few weeks!

Kilman's coming of age - Great performance from the young man that comes as no surprise to anyone who saw him in the Europa games etc last season. (Feel sorry for Saiss likely lose his place in the team for being versatile)

Neto worked his socks off and looks to be getting sharper and sharper.

Podence - certainly had/created our best chances. Looked really lively all night (till he came off)

The midfield - in the second half seemed to push up more, hope we see more of that.

Fitness - Much has been made about Leeds fitness but we matched that right till the end.

And we beat them horrible Leeds cunts!

A good win away from home against the medias new darlings (that doesn't upset me much remember it was us just two years ago don't sweat it) and more importantly a very good and in form Leeds team. Can't ask for more.

 

[YoungWolf]

That’s a seriously impressive win.

First 15 they absolutely slaughtered us. Their intensity was ridiculous, combinations in wide areas to get behind us for cut backs constantly but then Nuno changed the shape back to a 343. Still don’t get the Neto in midfield thing, but glad he saw sense to change. Once we had that shape, Neto and Podence could press support the wing backs better and we had the numbers to defend in wide areas. From then on we started to stem their flow even if we didn’t get going in an attacking sense til just before half time.

second half our defensive line was much higher, we pressed Phillips and the full backs and suddenly we were able to dominate the ball. Moutinho and Dendoncker both had really good games I thought, but particularly in the second half. When the goal eventually came was hard to argue we deserved it but we definitely had some luck on our side which we will take

I still don’t think we will be at our best physically for a good month or so, we are playing catch up and it’s showing but we are getting the results currently which won’t leave us behind like we were last season.

Neto was my MOTM but the whole back 3 were also excellent. Saiss is doing an excellent job filling in that role on the left too. Semedo wasn’t as bad as people made out I felt but had some shaky moments in the second half which nearly resulted in a goal for them. Glad he got through the full 90.

 

[AndyWolves]

I'm not quite sure we deserved to win that. We created a few decent half chances and got a very flukey goal. First half we were nowhere and it was the usual backs to the wall and defend deep tactic, which is fine provided you don't concede but means the ball is more likely to be in and around our penalty area.

Second half was better from us and we got the win.

Leeds are very intense in all of their play, it remains to be seen if they can keep that up all season.

I still think we're in Europa league mode of trying to conserve energy in the first half so I'm hoping to see that change.

Ever the optimist we've got a few weeks now where Nuno can get some serious time in on the training pitch without any breaks so hopefully we'll start to see improvements to how we play.

 

[Langers]

I think we deserved it. We weathered the 1st half storm (not spectacularly, not particularly attractively but we restricted them to a grand total of zero clear cut chances) and controlled the game far better in the 2nd, and again restricted them to less than one clear cut chance.

I wasn't impressed with the number of stray passes from us in the first half which was a tough watch but over the 90 minutes, I think a Wolves win is fair.

 

[AndyWolves]

If Jimenez shot had not been deflected in this verdict thread would be very different.

Results have a big influence on percieved performance

 

[Langers]

If Jimenez shot had not been deflected in this verdict thread would be very different.

Results have a big influence on percieved performance

Quite correct but I would still say the same as I did previously. We defended very well, Rui had very little to do and although we weren't at our best, we did okay and deserved to win.

No doubt more people would bemoan the VAR call if it had finished 0-0! (The decision was correct though, frustratingly...)

 

[BGreenWolf]

If Jimenez shot had not been deflected in this verdict thread would be very different.

Results have a big influence on percieved performance

If Podence had been millimetres further back, it would be even more celebratory. We can only judge on the performance and result that we actually got.