Has the Premier League lost the plot?

The Premier League has just got too predictable

A few years ago, I would watch the Premier League, if it was because Leeds were in the league or just because it was the best thing to watch on a Saturday or Sunday if I wasn't going to Leeds, however I don't watch the Premier League anymore, this is for a few reasons.

First of all, it's just too predictable, OK you get the odd surprising and interesting result, we got 2 at the weekend in this league with Wigan 2-2 Tottenham and Newcastle 0-6 Liverpool. However compare this league to the Championship where you can beat the top team 3-0 one week and lose to the bottom team 5-0 the next, that's why I'm more of a fan of the Football League.

Another reason is because the players when I was watching the Premier League week in, week out were passionate about the club they were playing for. These included the likes of Alan Sheerer and Roy Keane (even if he didn't show it some times) When I was only frequently watching it, there were considerably less of these types of players, but some still existed. These included the likes of Mellberg and Hypia. Now though there are even less, I struggle to name 1 at every club. You still have the likes of Steven Gerrard and Brad Guzan. You have some who would claim that they would stick by the club, but have proven if they don't get what they want, they're out, these include the likes of Wayne Rooney. The lower down the leagues you get the more passionate the players are towards their clubs.

My penultimate reason is its lost all of its personality, when I was younger, there were great fights and players in the Premier League, you had great fights such as Keane and Viera, personalities such as "Psycho" Pearce and such hilarious blunders such as the Viera and Henry penalty against Man City. In recent years you have had events such as Phil Brown giving the team talk on the pitch and Jimmy Bullard's celebration the year afterwards. But in recent years, we haven't seen anything that is even on a par with these characters or events. Mario Balotelli being an exception.

Finally, the Premier League (and all top flights) are dominated by money, sure you could pick out Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, but the best example of this is Manchester City. A few years ago, Man City were a mediocre mid tabled side, but in 3 or 4 years, their fortunes were turned with their new owners and they were Premier League champions, we need to go back to a time where clubs were on a financial par. This is why I personally welcome financial fair play, we also however need to bring back salary caps for fans and clubs sakes. The consequences of not bringing Fair Play in is devastating, as once the Man City owners get bored, they will sell, they don't spend their own money on the club, they borrow most of it from banks. This would leave City in a pile of debt and cause them to potentially drop out of the Premier League and maybe even go and revisit League 1 and League 2.

I bring this up because the Premier League is over its head thinking it's the best league in the world. UEFA are even thinking of docking it a Champions League spot meaning only 3 teams will be able to qualify from England. I will be writing another blog in the near future on what the Premier League and the rest of football in England can do to solve this problem.

That should be coming up in the next week. A preview for the Leeds vs Watford game will be up on Friday, you can follow me on twitter @AJWoodward29 and keep up to date with this blog @LUFCWorld

The Diaries of A Leeds Fan - Leeds 1-2 Brighton

Today all started when I woke up at 7am, I was struggling to get to sleep the night before, my dad told me that he was working and therefore I could take his season ticket and go to the match instead of him. This would actually be the first game I would see with Brian McDermott as the manager and of course the first time seeing the new kit in real instead of just in pictures. When I got on the train to go to Leeds, it was odd, I would normally be with my dad talking about the match, but I was just on my own, so I started to play FIFA. I got to Leeds and went off to Elland  Road straight away. I have to admit, since first seeing the home kit and like I said on this blog calling it a "monstrosity" It has grown on me, and the chances are that I will be buying one once I can.



Super Diouf converts to make it 1-1
Click on the image to watch the penalty

Now the match, I got in with plenty of time to spare (unlike most times I visit Elland Road) and it was an even start to the match. I was starting to think about the football we were playing was much better than the football we were playing under Warnock. Just after that thought had crossed my mind. Bad defending meant Buckley broke through and gave Brighton a one goal lead. Then to make matters worse when Austin was running for the ball, it seemed from my view that Barnes just fell towards to ground holding his face with no assistance, however when looking at it again, it was clear that there was contact, the referee gave him a straight red, this was a yellow card offence as it wasn't on purpose but still could have hurt the player. It seemed like Barnes was going down  constantly to get a Leeds player sent off. If so then he shouldn't be playing football as this is just pure cheating. However Brighton weren't as engaged for this match as they were for the Blackpool one, Leeds didn't look like they had had a man sent off. So at half time it was 1-0, this however was due to some major refereeing mistakes by Graham Scott, in the second half a few more bad refereeing decisions were to take place before after a corner, El-Hadji Diouf was blatantly pulled to the ground for a Leeds penalty. It was a deserved straight red card for Calderon who had only just come on. Diouf converted, I recorded it whilst looking away. Whilst I was making sure that the clip had actually caught the penalty, I heard a huge chorus of boos from the Leeds fans around me, I looked up to see Diouf walking off the pitch, according to BBC it was something he did towards the fans, according to Sky, it was something he said to the linesman, you make your own mind up over what actually took place.

Afterwards, I was only sickened even more after correctly predicting that Leeds would be returning to heart break hotel after Ulloa scored in the 88th minute. This thing seems to happen to us all the time. It is starting to get a bit annoying. Hopefully we'll be seeing less of this next season after McDermott has been given the time and money he needs to turn this clubs fortunes around.

After the match, I decided it would be nice to clap the players whilst taking their lap of "honour"

I waited then after it was over looking in the club store at the new kit which I should soon be buying and other various items.                                             

 

That is it, there will be a blog up on Tuesday about has the Premier League lost the plot. There will be a preview for the Leeds vs Watford game on Friday and the review on Sunday, and the Leeds United season review up on Tuesday 7th May. That is all the blogs I know that I will be doing up to now until the new season preview which will start on Wednesday 19th June when the fixtures for the new season come out. You can follow me on Twitter @AJWoodward29 and keep up to date with this blog @LUFCWorld

Leeds United vs Brighton and Hove Albion - Npower Championship Preview

Leeds United host Brighton in the penultimate game in the Npower Championship with Gus Poyet making his return to Elland Road after once being assistant manager to Dennis Wise. Leeds go into the game having lost all play off hopes after a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham, they are currently positioned 13th (W16 D10 L18) compared to Brighton who only need a win to secure a play off place are in 4th (W17 D18 L9) However for a while automatic promotion places have been now out of reach. Looking at the two teams in their last 6 games, Leeds have picked up 6 points (W2 D0 L4) compared to Brighton who have picked up 10 points in their last 6 (W2 D4 L0) and undefeated in their last 7. No prizes for guessing who the favourite is. The last game in particular as Leeds had a tough 1-0 defeat to Birmingham, a side who have been down on their luck all season, compared to Brighton beating Blackpool, a side who were expected to be up there at the start of the season and have the joint best player in the Football League (according to FourFourTwo) by 6-1.

Looking at the team news, for Leeds Brian McDermott have injury concerns over Rudy Austin and Adam Drury ahead of the game, Austin has a slight knee problem and Drury is struggling with his back. However but players are expected to be fit and ready for the final game of an abismal season at Elland Road, Lee Peltier came back from injury after coming on as a substitute and could be back in the starting line up on Saturday. McDermott has two options of either keeping the same two of Tom Lees and Jason Pearce in central defence, or recall the skipper to play alongside one of the two. Steve Morison is also pushing for a recall. David Norris is sidelined after surgery on his knee and forward Davide Somma has suffered another blow in his career last week as he now requires an operation to resolve a cartilage problem.

Gus Poyet can play the same squad as the one who batterd Blackpool last weekend, Craig Mackail-Smith and Will Hoskins remain the only players out of the squad after four players made successful returns last week. Including Ashley Barnes who returned from a 7 game suspension after remarkably attempting to trip up the referee against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium. Wingers LuaLua, Buckley and right back Bruno all made returnes in the Blackpool game as well as Barnes. Keeper Tomasz Kuszczak had a clash of heads in the second half and will be expected to play aginst the club who attempted to loan him whilst he was at Manchester United, as much as he wanted to come to the club, Sir Alex wouldn't let him go with the clubs being rivals, however if Kuszczak dosen't play, then ex Leeds goalkeeper Casper Ankegren could be in the mix (I would like to see him back at Elland Road)

My predicted line ups are

Leeds United: Formation (4-4-2)
1. Kenny
25. Byram
4. Lees
5. Pearce
15. Warnock
7. Green
8. Austin
18. Tonge
21. Diouf
44. McCormack
11. Varney

Brighton:
1. Ankergren
3. Greer
14. Calderon
20. Upson
2. Bruno
4. Hammond
11. Orlandi
21. David Lopez
26. Bridcutt
30. Buckley
9. Barnes

My prediction is a 1-1 draw for the game. Leeds will be wanting to bounce back after the Birmingham defeat but Brighton will still be strong and not let Leeds through easily. A post match review will be up on Sunday. You can follow me on Twitter @AJWoodward29, and keep up to date with everything on this blog and everything Leeds by following @LUFCWorld

The Suarez Biting Saga - My Views

Suarez is the Premier League's answer to Dracula

When I first saw this on Twitter (as I wasn't actually paying any attention what so ever to the match) I couldn't actually believe it had happened. But when I was listening I did then hear the commentators talk about it on Super Sunday. This came as a bit of a shock having not followed Suarez's career before joining Liverpool. I knew he was a vivacious character (if you want to look at it that way) but still wouldn't have seen this coming. However the story was only going to become more shocking and odd as the days progressed. After the match the same old manager technique happened as Brenden Rodgers tried (and failed) to point out something that a Chelsea player had done that had been worse than the Suarez incident and he managed to point one out, even though it was clearly not as bad as biting a fellow player like your a vampire. This continued with the Chelsea elbow incident however with Rafa Benitez "not seeing it" (make your own judgement) Souness and Redknapp (both ex Liverpool players and for good reasons proud of it) both slagged Suarez for what he had just done. When watching Sky Sports News later that night, it seemed the fans outside the ground thought he had done nothing wrong, well the minority did, most were able to come to their senses and see how bad a thing this was. After coming in from school on Tuesday, I turned on Sky Sports News and saw that Suarez had been banned for 10 games, in my opinion this was a good decision by the FA and finally shows that they do actually have the balls to take action where action is needed after it looked like they were incapable of this after the Callum McManamman incident in the Wigan vs Newcastle game. Liverpool unsurprisingly had something to say about the issue saying that he deserved a ban, just not that long a ban, it almost seems like they don't know fully how they feel. The FA have made an example of him and that is exactly what they should have done. This means that he has been banned for 18 games in his time in England for these extreme cases. We all remember the Evra racism incident. Liverpool and Suarez can argue all they want but in my opinion this ban is fair and I hope to god that the FA don't make a fool of themselves and back down to Liverpool who seem scared to not back Suarez in the risk of losing him
Though this isn't the full story. As Suarez did the exact same thing whilst playing for Ajax bit Otman Bakkel in 2010, even though the referee didn't see the incident according to the Dutch FA, he still got an 7 match ban.

There will be a blog up tomorrow with the Leeds United vs Brighton and Hove Albion preview, you can follow me on Twitter @AJWoodward29 and keep up to date with this blog @LUFCWorld

The New Leeds Kit and Salem Patel in Bahrain




Sam Byram in the Leeds United home kit 2013/14
Love it or Hate it?

When I was looking on twitter earlier today I came along this monstrosity which I thought was just a prank until I realised that A: It was with official players
B: It was by Leeds United's official twitter account
This almost made me start to cry. I always remember last year looking on Historical Football Kits when someone was reviewing this years kit saying "Macron have gone overboard with this design" Well to be honest, this is overboard. If any other club had came out with this design then I would be rolling over laughing and saying how bad it is to any of my friends who supported that club. Now I know that I will probably get the same banter back at me having abused a few kits of teams my friends have supported in the past in this way, which sort of makes it fair. However I do remember thinking this last year and still buying the shirt after I liked it more when I saw the kit for real. I'm only hoping to god that the same impression on me this year and if not then I will have to hope to god that the away kit is better as I rarely miss out on buying a seasons Leeds kit. Though if all the kits are really bad then I will probably miss out, it'll save me money anyway.


On another subject (because I'm fed up of moaning ) I was watching the Bahrain grand prix and before it started there was a interview with Lewis Hamilton. Whilst watching the interview I noticed a person in the background wearing a Leeds shirt, so I took a photo to put up on Facebook and Twitter and thought nothing more of it. Until later that evening when I was on Twitter and I saw a tweet from Salem Patel. There was a photo of him on Twitter with Sebastian Vettel doing a Leeds salute (if only he could have got Vettel to do it) with him wearing what looked like the exact same clothes as the man in the interview it didn't take me long to make the connection that it was the exact same person. Another reason that I bring this up apart from to make this blog longer and for other random reasons is to show how passionate the new owners of Haigh and Patel are, you would have expected it from David Haigh being a Leeds fan all his life, but Salem Patel hasn't but now already looks like one. If you think of all the Leeds owners before him. You would have never seen them in Leeds shirts truly supporting the club (even though Risdale sung Marching on Together with the fans)

There will be a preview for the Leeds United game against Brighton and Hove Albion, you can follow me on Twitter @AJWoodward29 and the blog's page is @LUFCWorld.