Still Not Good Enough - Leeds United 0-1 Leicester City - Sky Bet Championship Review

"Leeds should be feeling optimistic about this" Peter Beagrie said before Leeds and Leicester kicked off. I didn't agree with this opinion. Leicester had won five on the bounce whilst Leeds had lost their last four. So how Leeds should be optimistic was beyond me. After a few terrible performances Brain McDermott woke up and smelt the coffee, he finally knew that the 3-5-2 formation wasn't working and went back to the tried and trusted 4-4-2 and it clearly had an impact on the squad. Leeds were actually playing football. But this game to keep it brief was more about the chances that weren't taken. McCormack hitting the post, McCormack not taking the easy one on one chance against a weak goalkeeper and Kebe hitting the side netting. I could have gone on for quiet a while. Leicester had the most possession in the match but it was all Leeds. Kebe who was expected to be the next best Leeds player to get us promoted was all over the place, he couldn't do anything at all and the defence was still in a deep sleep. I could go on about this topic for ages which is what I seem to do best, but Leeds deserved to get something out of this. Leeds could be in the bottom half tonight and probably will and could be 7 points off the play offs and probably will. After 87 minutes it was once again bad defending that let David Nugent get a goal, a mediocre striker who doesn't have much talent, but in all fairness still has more than our defence put together.

Schmeichel was never good at Leeds, still isn't great today

So how do Leeds move on, I could say there are a number of reasons that could boost Leeds towards the play offs. However the answer is simple, investment, the sooner Leeds United and GFH realise that, the sooner we can push for promotion.

There will be a blog up on Monday which will look at Ipswich Town's visit to Elland Road. Follow us on twitter @LUFCWorld to keep up to date with the blog.

Leeds United vs Leicester City - Sky Bet Championship Preview

After the pure embarrassment of last Saturday. We have to get up and go again as Leeds United welcome Leicester City to Elland Road this Saturday. Going into this game, Leeds United are 11th in the league with 35 points whilst Leicester top the table with 54 points. Looking at the last 6 games, Leeds have got 5 points in their last 6 (W1 D2 L3) whilst Leicester have 16 points (W5 D1 L0)

It's been a tough few weeks for Leeds fans after a few humiliations. Leeds will be hoping to bounce back tomorrow, but don't get your hopes up, Leicester lead the table and are in the best form in the Championship. The partial takeover by Sports Capital might lead to new signings but there will be no new additions for the game at Elland Road. Leeds will be without striker Matt Smith who is suspended following a somehow unsuccessful appeal by Leeds. If it was any other team it would have been successful, more to come in a future blog (maybe, not so sure yet) Kebe and Stewart could make their home debuts against the foxes whilst Ross McCormack will lead the team out after Rudy Austin told McDermott he no longer wants to be captain. Leeds have lost their last four games on the bounce shipping in 12 goals at the same time. If they lost at the weekend it would be the first time the club have lost five games in a row since December 2008, which cost then manager Gary McAllister his job.

Kebe and Stewart will be hoping for much better than last Saturday

Kevin Phillips looking for a positive start

As for Leicester, forward Kevin Phillips could make his debut following him signing for the club earlier in the week whilst Sean St. Leger and Tom Hopper are out due to injury. The foxes should be expecting a win at Elland Road, and why not? With the form they're in and the form Leeds are in this looks like a certain win for the away side. But the Championship is unpredictable and anything could happen.

The last time these two sides met was in a goalless draw at the King Power Stadium. Leeds are unbeaten in the last three meetings. The last time these two sides met at Elland Road was a 1-0 win to Leeds.

The match is on Sky Sports 1 HD from 12pm (midday) There will be a post match review up on Sunday. You can follow us on Twitter @LUFCWorld to keep up to date with every blog.



Reading vs Leeds - Sky Bet Championship Preview

Leeds travel to McDermott's old team Reading in the next round of Championship fixtures, Leeds go into the match 6th with 11pts (W3 D2 L1) whilst Reading are in 9th with 9pts (W2 D3 L1)

It's been a while since a did a blog due to various problems but having got them out of the way, I can now concentrate on this once again. First lets look back on the Bolton game. To be honest it wasn't the most entertaining game I've been to this year, the goal coming in the 6th minute by Varney

Looking at the team news. The good news for Leeds is that McDermott can add Byram to his squad after he has now fully recovered from a hip injury and could replace Peltier who limped off against Bolton at the weekend due to a groin problem. Apart from this McDermott has a fully fit squad.Former royal Noel Hunt should be starting up front with Varney who scored the winner at the weekend.

For Reading, they will be without main striker Pavel Pogrebnyak who is suspended. Blackman is set to replace, right back Shaun Cummings and winger Gareth McLearly could both return, McLearly being the guy who seems to always be able to score against the whites and Wayne Bridge is in line to start after coming off the bench to play against his former club Brighton. Leigertwood and Roberts are close to fitness but shouldn't be playing against Leeds tomorrow.

I'm going to go with a 1-1 draw, we've had a great start to the season but Reading will be a tough opposition for us so it would be more than hard to get a win.

That's all for this blog, sorry it's a bit short but I was rushed for time, there will be a post match review up tomorrow on this website, you can keep up to date with the blog on twitter @LUFCWorld and follow me personally @AJWoodward29

Leeds United vs Sheffield Wednesday - Sky Bet Championship Preview

Leeds host Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday at Elland Road tomorrow. Leeds go into the game after a goalless draw with Leicester at the weekend, meaning they are currently 8th in the League (W1 D1 L0)  whilst Sheffield Wednesday have lost both of their games this season to QPR and Burnley, both by a score line a 2-1 which is why you can't blame them if they believe they should have got something. They are 20th in the league (W0 D0 L2) However tomorrow all league form flies out of the window due to the rivalry between the two sides.

 

Looking at the team news for tomorrow's game. For Leeds El-Hadji Diouf could play after an infected shin made him  miss the first three

games. There are no new problems for the whites but Byram is still side lined.

For Sheffield Wednesday, Johnson (tendonitis) and Buxton (shin splints) both returned to full training this week and are expected to be involved for the Owls. Midfielder Giles Coke could also return to contention after missing last week's home defeat to Burnley through illness, but defender Joe Mattock is not expected to play for another three weeks due to a knee injury. The Owls will also be without winger Jermaine Johnson, who sits out the second game of a three-match ban following his dismissal in the recent Capital One Cup defeat to Rotherham.

My Prediction for the match is a 2-1 win for Leeds, Leeds are the stronger going into the match but don't expect Wednesday to roll over.

 

That's all for this blog, you can watch the game live on Sky Sports 1 HD a post match review will be up tomorrow night. You can keep up to date with this blog @LUFCWorld or follow me personally @AJWoodward29.



Leicester vs Leeds - Sky Bet Championship Preview

 

After a win against Chesterfield in the Capital One Cup, Leeds travel to Leicester in the first of many televised games this month for the whites. Leicester were just able to overcome Wycombe in a 2-1 encounter away from home. It's still hard to judge any form but after just one game, Leeds are 4th in the league and Leicester 5th both after winning their opening games.

Looking at the team news for tomorrows game and Leicester now have a fully fit squad to pick from as Zak Whitbread and Ben Marshall are now fit to play after missing out on the Capital One Cup game against Wycombe through injury. For Leeds Rudolph Austin could return after his two match suspension ended against Brighton. No new injury concerns have come up for the whites and McDermott could call on El-Hadji Diouf after he was able to play 75 minutes of a friendly against Burnley.

Leeds have only won once in their last eight visits to Leicester, a 1-0 win in November 2011 being the only one, however the foxes have only managed a clean sheet in one of the last twelve against Leeds and since competing in the 2003-04 Premier League with each other, these two sides have been in the same league on seven occasions out of the last nine seasons including being in League 1 in 2008-09, the only seasons these sides haven't been in the same league after 2003-04 was in 2007-08 and 2009-10 when Leicester were in the Championship and Leeds were in League 1.

For Leicester, Nigel Person's men are trying to be the first side since Micky Adam's side of 2002-03 to win their first two opening games of the season. The last time they were able to do that, they won promotion to the Premier League. The last time Leeds won their first two games of the season was 2009-10 when they won promotion out of League 1. Leeds have only won away once so far in 2013, that was to Watford on the last day of the season. Ross McCormack is set to make his 100th appearance tomorrow.

That's all for this blog, this game is on Sky Sports 1 HD from 4:15pm. A post match review will be up either tomorrow or Monday (it will be announced on Twitter and Google+) you can follow us and keep up to date with this blog on Twitter @LUFCWorld or me personally @AJWoodward29.

Leeds 2-1 Chesterfield - Capital One Cup Review

Leeds hosted Chesterfield in the first round of the Capital One Cup earlier with the championship side being the obvious favourites to go through to the next round of the competition, but Brian McDermott might not be the luckiest manager when it comes to the cup as in the same competition last year his Reading side lost 7-5 to Arsenal whilst we were going on our cup run under Warnock.

It was a fast start for the whites with Leeds having a few attacks in the opening minutes, it however after the direction of play completely changed Chesterfield who took the lead with new signing Eoin Doyle proving why Chesterfield signed him in the summer, netting his first goal for the club, it was still Chesterfield who dominated after the goal but in another switch of the direction of play, Michael Brown was told to shoot by the Leeds fans and he did, scoring a screamer and getting the whites back level. Just four minutes after that and Poleon shoot went into the bottom left corner and Leeds were celebrating a second.  This didn't change the flow of play afterwards as it was still Chesterfield dominating, you can't blame any of their fans if they feel like they had a good chance of causing a cup upset tonight. Into the second half and Leeds seem to finally be taking control of the match with a few good chances. Chesterfield still had their chances though in the second half but Leeds were able to make them earlier four minutes of the game matter the most as they went on to win 2-1.

Brown celebrates his 25 yard screamer

So who do we want in the next round of the cup. For me it would be nice to have a fixture against one of the big clubs. Liverpool and Newcastle spring to mind as big clubs who we haven't faced recently in the cup. Last facing Liverpool four years ago in the Carling Cup (now the Capital One Cup) and Newcastle in a friendly 3 years ago)

The draw for the next round of the Capital One Cup is on tomorrow at 12:30 on Sky Sports News. Details for the draw will be announced on this blogs Twitter page @LUFCWorld were you can also keep up with what's happening on this blog. You can also follow me personally @AJWoodward29.

Leeds vs Chesterfield - Capital One Cup Preview

The Capital One Cup is back tomorrow night as Leeds take on league 2 side Chesterfield with hopes of progressing as far as they did last year and hoping to take on some of the big teams once again. Last year we were able to face teams like Everton, Southampton and Chelsea. It all starts tomorrow at Elland Road with like last year lower league opposition.

 

Both teams come into tomorrow's match after opening day victories in their respective leagues. Leeds got a late winner from Luke Murphy to give them a 2-1 win against Brighton, whilst Chesterfield beat relegated Bury 2-0 with goals from O'Shea and Richards. Leaving Leeds in 4th in the Championship and Chesterfield 5th in League 2, though we can't draw any conclusions as to where the sides are going to finish just yet.  

 

Looking at the team news, for the whites El-Hadji Diouf returns from suspension but Rodolph Austin still has one game left on his ban. Both players were sent off in the penultimate game of last season against Brighton. Leeds will asses Stephen Warnock after he was side lined part way through the Brighton match and Sam Byram still remains out with hip problems. For Chesterfield everyone is OK except for ex Blackpool defender Ian Evatt who lacks match fitness and is unlikely to feature.

 

 

Looking at the teams stats in the Capital One Cup, Leeds reach the last eight of the competition for the first time since reaching that level in 1996, that year they went on to the final but lost to Aston Villa. It is the seventh consecutive home tie for the whites in the competition. A sequence started in 2011 against Manchester United. Leeds have not been knocked out of the Capital One Cup by a team outside the top two tiers since 1994 when Mansfield, then of the 4th tier knocked the whites out over two legs.

 

Chesterfield have been knocked out in the first round for the last six times on the bounce and have not kept a clean sheet in the last ten.

 

My prediction is going to have to be a 3-0 win for the whites, because of Leeds and Chesterfield's performances in this cup in recent years, this should be a easy victory for the whites.

 

That's it for this blog, a post match review will be up on Thursday, you can keep up to date with this blog on twitter @LUFCWorld and follow me @AJWoodward29