The culmination of the 2012/2013 season brings the inaugural Yeboah Constrictor awards, giving you the chance to rate and slate the Leeds players this season. Voting will be open for a week and the winners will be announced next Sunday.
Dead rubber games are for the most part boring and devoid of action, this game between two mid table teams lived up to the hype. Mathematically Leeds still had a chance of making the play-offs but its has been a season of 'what ifs' for both teams who took to the field in a sunny Birmingham. As it was, the Blues ran out 1-0 winners with a goal from Hayden Mullins, his second of the season which secured the victory. The game was drab on the whole as neither keeper was troubled greatly. Future England international Jack Butland tipped a McCormack free-kick on to the bar and Luke Varney failed to hit the net with a half chance. The blues rarely troubled the Leeds goal, as it was, a long range Redmond effort was parried into the path of Mullins who duly bagged the winner. As it so often is with these end of season games, there are things which are more interesting than the match itself, the first of which was the leakage of the Birmingham scout's report shown below. So, were the Birmingham scouts right? Well, to start with they've got the front three nailed down quite well. Varney's aerial prowess came to the fore last weekend as he scored to headers to give us the win against the Wendies. Secondly as McCormack showed against Sheff Wed and Diouf showed against Burnley, bot are capable of dropping deep and becoming the provider. Next, Rodolph Austin, who is dangerous on the break, but the long range shots he takes from midfield hit the back of the stands more often than not (his goal against Burnley was only his second this season). The two full backs get forward well and at times this season, Byram has been our best attacking outlet, however, I feel that he sometimes lacks the composure to make the chances count. Composure is something that Tonge has in spades yet they got the fact that he is slow spot on. They also say he is a good passer which is true and it makes you wonder why under Warnock, we completely bypassed a good midfield in order to turn the opposition around quicker. For their attack, they highlighted our slow defence, which isn't the quickest, but when you have Ravel Morrison and Nathan Redmond most people are slow. One person which I wouldn't describe as slow would be Stephen Warnock who was a first team regular at Villa up until the beginning of the season and as the official site crowed to us all when he signed, he did get picked in England's 2010 world cup squad. They also say Sam Byram is a poor defender. I would disagree on this point, this season, he has come up against the likes of Lennon, Jarvis, Bale, and Zaha and has kept them quiet all game. Particularly in the Spurs game when out of 90 minutes Bale only managed to get past him once and he is a man who regularly makes fools out of Premier League defenders. Finally Paddy Kenny won't come for crosses and they are right to an extent, as his main skills in my eyes are his shot stopping and his distribution. The second thing which I wanted to put forward were the fans who again showed that while we may not have the best team we have one of the best fan bases and a video was put up post match of Leeds fans singing their hearts out at half time. Leeds is also the man boob capital of England and t From all here at Yeboah Constrictor, we salute you. Leeds secured their Championship status and the league being the ridiculous one that it is, we still have an outside chance of making the play offs as a 1-0 win moved us into the top half.
Brian McDermott's boys attacked from the off, displaying a passing game that left the Leeds fans purring. Luke Varney spurned a number of chances and should have scored what should've been quite an easy chance for a man in his form. Behind him, McCormack again ran the show, creating space with intelligent runs and his play on the ball was a joy to behold. In midfield, Austin was back to his Yaya Toure best, capping a good display with a fine finish and if I'm not mistaken JPearceDog managed to play ok at the back, despite only his x button working on his Xbox controller. Despite Leeds' early dominance, both teams went in level with neither goalkeeper having much to do. The second half began well as Diouf was fouled by Shackell and Grant saved well as Varney directed the resultant McCormack free kick on target. Much was made of Charlie Austin before the game, who has a good record against Leeds, however, he was forced to miss the game due to an appendix operation. Step up Leeds United's Austin who timed his run well to meet a perfectly weighted pass from El Hadji Diouf to slot the ball underneath the helpless Grant. Leeds continued to press and had a number of chances to double their lead, yet the football was a damn sight better than the tripe we've been servd up recently and the players actually looked like they were enjoying themselves out on the pitch. In the last 10 minutes though, Leeds took their foot of the gas and both Ings and McCann had chances to equalise for Burnley but Leeds held on, securing their sixth 1-0 win of the season. Another positive was the introduction of Davide Somma, who entered the fray in the 84th minute and he will be doing everything he can to secure a contract extension in the last four games of the season. A good start under Brian McDermott has gone some way to vindicating GFH's decision to get him in early; despite him not being the overwhelming fan's favourite. Luke Varney's post Sheffield Wed comments were telling in that McDermott was a calming influence on the team and that the lads didn't feel under as much pressure to get the ball forward do quickly. While it will take time for McDermott's style of play to be implemented, it is clear to see that the players respect him, just look at the transformation of Diouf in the past two games. So, 3 games left, 6 points off the play offs, THE DREAM IS STILL ALIVE! MOT |