That's as good as we can play IMHO

And you can't argue if they keep up that level of effort & performance because I think it's our maximum right now considering our squad. I much preferred Sibbick & Mowatt in the middle - I thought Sibbick actually looked like a footballer there v him at full back. I thought Brown looked ok & keeper looked ok too. We worked hard, got in behind a few times and created some opportunities we should've done better with. But Leeds were never out of second gear.

Probably controversially, I reckon this squad looks worse than what went down last time out. We have four (!) full backs who aren't good enough for this level (excluding Sibbick…). Cavare looks incredible one minute then awful the next. We have our first change winger who's put a stone on in 3 years & is possibly as unfit as I've seen a Reds player barring Mido & one recognised striker in Woodrow who does what all of our best strikers have ever done when playing in poor sides which is drop further & further deeper.

All you can do is as them to perform to their max each week & hope we do ok but that squad as is I'm convinced will get relegated unless we see **** loads of improvement at in pretty much every position.

BTW - Thiam needs to be let go. He must be a pet project of someone because it's a disgrace to see him in the shape he is. Bigger than Jennings by miles.

 

Not been today as I was holidaying further up north, but I’m alarmed by the strength of the criticism of Thiam. I’ve never shared the view that he is unfit, and I’m certain our manager wouldn’t entertain him if he was. He has also shown the only bits of genuine quality I’ve seen from a Barnsley player this season (excepting Woodrow’s goal the other week). Perhaps he gave a daft free kick away (only going on what’s been said), but does he really deserve the vitriol?

 

Fair assessment and I agree that currently this squad is worse than the one that went down. Some will improve some won't. We could yet stay up but it's going to be a long old slog of a season. The point on Woodrow dropping deep is key. At our absolute best we look like me might score. We also look like we will concede. Not a good mix.

 

In all the time he has been here he has only ever showed bits of quality. On the whole in most games he plays he is poor, often a passenger. Never seems to have the energy to last more than 60 mins. Doesn't track back and scores very few goals. Decisions making and passing are awful.
As a sub he can come on and cause a few problems. Sadly they are normally for us.

Nothing personal or nasty in any of this from my point of view. He could well be a lovely fella and doing his very best. He just hasn't cut it at all in my humble opinion.

 

I'm criticising purely on the basis he's not fit enough to be a professional footballer. The other game he came off the bench, did one sprint & was knackered. Same goes today.

 

I remain convinced he’s won a raffle

 

I couldn't agree more. He probably has - 3 year contract where he's played an average of about an hour per game. I'd fancy that prize.

 

Wonder what first prize was

 

The squad is weaker than the one that went down last time imo, its thread bare we have one recognised striker in woodrow, our average today was 23.
Having said that we played better today than any game in that relegation season the football was consistently awful to watch. We created clear chances today against a good side.

Cavare played alright today I thought sometimes he is frustrating does something great and then passes a easy ball to the opposition.
Jordan Williams not so well.
Thiam was disappointing I agree no need to give that free kick away and he isnt fit enough to play the pressing style but bigger than Jennings nah.

 

Wilks is overweight too. He’s either carrying too much weight or lazy because he doesn’t close down play fast enough imho

 

I’m surprised. Stendel must be looking the other way then. As I said previously, I don’t share your opinion regarding his fitness. But you are obviously entitled to it.

 

You aren’t going overboard with your criticism then...

 

I don’t know why you think that post is controversial in relation to your comment on the strength of the squad. It’s spot on. It certainly is unusual to get promoted and then weaken a squad for a higher Division, but that’s what we’ve done. If you add that to our bizarre signing policy then we’re going to have problems.
I thought the team gave it’s all today and were probably playing as well as they can. However, i don’t see energy and application being good enough, even in a Division as weak as this one. If young lads are losing games every week I don’t see them bouncing back and not being effected by those defeats.

 

I'll qualify my comments by saying that it was the 30th minute before I got a stream to work. The biased LUTV commentators seemed to think that for most of those 30 minutes, Leeds had struggled to combat our high pressing game. I only saw brief spurts of both the high press and some adequate passing. The rest of the time there was plenty of effort, but we gave the ball away too easily. I'm actually surprised we played as well as we did. The team we started with contained three right-backs, two right wingers and next to no decent support for Woodrow. How could the powers-that-be think this squad would have sufficient strength and depth?

 

I don’t want to agree about Thiam because he’s a nice lad & I want to see him do well but I think he’s running out of chances.

You can forgive him a bit in his first season, coming over here playing in a faster paced league than he’s used to but it’s a month into his third season & he doesn’t look much fitter.

Different reasons why they haven’t succeeded but it reminds me of Hedges in a way, there’s talent there because they show it occasionally but it’s few & far between & you can’t keep a player forever in the hope that one day they’ll become consistent.

I don’t really mind Woodrow dropping deep when he’s playing in a front 2 like today if his strike partner is the one running beyond the centre backs, the problem is when Woodrow’s doing it when he’s the lone striker.

I think there’s an obvious comparison between this side & the one we had for the first half of the season the last time we got relegated in that they’re pretty well organised but are lacking in the final third.

We certainly don’t have as much quality as the side in the second half of that season which had McBurnie & Moore in it. If you put either of them into this side & have that extra bit of competition & quality off the bench then we’re a much better side going forward.

It’s frustrating watching us rebuild again for the 3rd time in 5 seasons, I reckon most of the new signings will come good, I see potential in most of them but it’s getting a bit boring now, if we end up in a similar situation in 2 seasons time with another rebuild on the cards I think a lot of people will run out of patience with the clubs strategy & I can’t really blame them.

What’s more frustrating is a lot of us could see the issues coming & said that we either needed to keep Moore or sign a player with similar attributes to cause opponents defences problems & the club didn’t do anything about it. Last time we weren’t sure whether it was ours or Swansea’s fault when the McBurnie deal fell through. This time round the fault lies entirely with us.

At least with Brown & Woodrow back we had a bit more about us going forward & it’ll be interesting to see how they get on against weaker opposition than Leeds but I think we’re crying out for a striker who can win headers & hold a ball up, just need to try & stay in contention for survival & address the issue in January.

 

Come on. You could use his arse crack to hold your pint.

 

I like thiam but at present he would be no where near the first team selection process, until he gets himself fit and the mstch fit.
His first touch is probably the best at the club but his decision making is poor (confidence?), at the moment Chaplin gets in every time before him but i wouldnt be chucking him away, we need to work on him as he has a skill set that can be used.....when fit.

 

I felt we played well against Fulham, Charlton and Wigan too to varying degrees but we look feeble in front of goal.
We have enough about us playing like yesterday to be away from bother this season. Just need to take the chances.
Nowhere near as doom and gloom as some suggest.
And whilst I’m not sure Thiam is good enough right now at this level I think some of the remarks in this and other threads are a little pathetic.
I enjoyed our performance yesterday and feel increasingly optimistic.

 

We were better against Fulham.

 

Have to disagree with some of that tbh.
Imo we’ll play better when we’ve gelled a bit more and some of our players are back to match fitness especially Dougall ,
We played well today as we did against Fulham so obviously we raised our game but if we can get going against the not so glamorous games it’ll boost our confidence .
The only downside I can see is if we don’t pick points from them and we go on a slide out of sight then the confidence may go and with such a young side could be hard to regain .