I think the only justified reason to swap Byram and Firpo is the concern over Byrams fitness.
Farke mentioned he felt a slight hamstring pull last night so wouldn`t be surprised if Firpo steps in.
Messlier made a couple of decent saves last night after his wtf moment in the first half.
Solomon like you say looking sharper and if and it`s a big if he stays injury free he will turn out to be a great loan signing.
Be good if we could get Ferguson from Brighton to play up front but doubt he will drop down.
Saying that I doubt Brighton would want to strengthen another PL team.

what was mesliers wtf moment?
not that ridiculous backpass he had had to clear?
ampadeu replaces Rothwell.
firpo always first choice LB

The through ball that he didnt commit to and Struyk had to clear off the line

tcouldnt disagree more. thought he could have stood up longer but he was simply narrowing the angle.
he was never getting there first at all

That was the one he was coming out for the ball then stopped then went low and Struijk came to his rescue.
To think otherwise as Tad clearly does is living in cuckoo land.
Even picked up by the commentators.

but I don't have an agenda. he even got slated for not saving a penalty by some on here.

as you say. cloud cuckoo land

Rothwell would feel pretty pi**ed off if he was dropped on his current form to shoehorn Ampadu back into the team. We also lose the only consistent deliverer of a dead ball in the team. I wouldn’t want to go another 170 corners before we score again. As for Firpo / Byram, I don’t see it as that clear cut. A fully fit Byram gets in the team for me. Firpo is not a great defender and I’m happy when we’re on the front foot for that reason. He also doesn’t run in behind defences like Byram does, it can get a bit condensed when Firpo pushes up but doesn’t actually go past opposition defenders. It doesn’t help that we play with an inverted winger down his side. I think Bogle, despite his early critics, is the better example of an attacking full back.

Aye up mate.
I`ve been living in cloud cuckoo land for years, it`s not too bad


I know I come across as having an agenda where Messlier is concerned, same with Bamford and Harrison before that.
But I`m only commenting on how I see it which I`m sure to many is a bit bizarre.
Anyway I`m missing the Blackburn game as on my travels to Norwich so I won`t be having a go at anyone this weekend.

Totally agree. i wouldn't change that midfield in a million years. Midds away or Sheff U away might be tempted to put Ampadu in there but apart from that i wouldn't change it.

Whilst Ampadu is quality and our club captain.
He shouldn`t come straight back in unless Rothwell or Tanaka get injured or need a rest or we give him 20 minutes or so as a sub.
It will take him some time to get match fit after such an injury and it might not be until the middle/back end of January before he is ready anyway.
Good situation to be in though for Farke.

Sheff utd and Sunderland game going well -one red card each and 0-0 at half time

Poor that today. Worst performance of the season imo. Farke was livid with Firpos performance in particular.

We need a good number 10 to come in January if it’s possible… need a bit of magic outside the box, someone who can win a game for you when it’s not quite ticking, someone who can unlock a defence with a great ball around the edge of the area.

There`s some talk of Firpo leaving in January.
Maybe his head is elsewhere?
Hamer would have been the answer at 10 I feel.

And a proper centre forward. There are too many teams prepared to sit on the edge of their box against us because they know we can’t just throw one in there and have someone on the end of it. We need a real, consistent presence in the penalty area. Goal less in 3 of our last 4 away games now.

Yeah that away form isn’t good enough, was similar first half of last season.

Aaronson got bullied yesterday which dealt us real harm. James had a rare off day, Piroe was non existent.

If we’d got Hamer we’d have walked the league imo. He’s exactly what we need. Sharpens the focus in January these losses. We’ll bounce back but it could be going smoother

You're never going to have the perfect squad. There's enough in this squad already to win this league comfortably. Every defeat under Farke seems to be a carbon of the last one. Perhaps making some tactical adjustments for games like yesterday would help? Aaronson is 25m international with UCL experience, and Piroe is the top championship scorer since 2021, any team in this league would love to have either of them, so there are no excuses.

some good points, some usual tripe whenever we lose but ignored when we win.
3rd game in 6 days ,
abysmal refereeing and guess what, they played really well.
I think some people like us losing just to moan. same people who never post when we win. we will lose games, so will others. we need a player or two in January but I'm confident we'll bounce back.
and no food or drink yesterday as the Internet was down. poor day all round only saved by the magnificent. as usual, shed seven

That`s a fair point. Some of the signings including Aaronson, McKennie and Piroe on the face of it looked good although whilst Piroe puts in a poor performance now and then his goals scored and assists are very impressive and a s a squad player he isn`t that bad.
Aaronson though wasn`t very good when he was at Leeds before and didn`t do a right lot on loan either.
Like I`ve said he will create occasionally and he will score occasionally. But for me his overall performance is nowhere good enough for this league which is a very physical league to play in.

Piroe is the most over rated player to have worn our shirt for many a year. He’s been awol in so many games this year and just bullied a few poor teams at home. He was dropped by Farke a few times last season and wasn’t deemed good enough to be our starting centre forward in August. He was dreadful again by all accounts yesterday, as he was against Millwall, Swansea and Bristol, all the last four away fixtures. Aaronson is as weak as water. If this squad was comfortably good enough to win this league they wouldn’t have been goal less in 3 of the last 4 away fixtures. At times we are impotent, as we were at the back end of last year, and that’s why we are still in The Championship. We are still too one dimensional against certain teams and that’s why we will be in the dogfight again. We are in a good position at the moment, but we are kidding ourselves if we think other teams would cherish the likes of Piroe and Aaronson.

If someone speaks tripe that’s your opinion. Just wonder who you think likes us to lose ? Also, you’re wrong about 3 games in 6 days. We’ve actually played 3 games in 7 days, the same as Sheff Utd. All Championship teams have a similar schedule and ultimately play 46 games, many times 3 games a week. We have failed to score enough goals in the last 4 away games and that’s nothing to do with fixtures. Three blanks in 4 away games tells it’s own story.

Not seen much tripe posted on here when we lose. Most of it is well balanced, that’s not to say I agree with it all, we all have different opinions.

For me we’re still the best side and of course we will lose, it’s a bloody tough league. We were poor yesterday and credit to Blackburn.

We’re a good 10 short of winning the league comfortably imo , they wanted one but didn’t get it done, Farke said the same. Aaronson gets bullied too often. Can’t always have everything though we’ve got to keep going and get better on the road

Most of the tripe is from social media. The fan base has been increasingly miserable and fractured ever since Bielsa left. Everytime we have a bad result there's a meltdown.

I have on going debate with some on here who suggest every game Leeds play its a cup final for every other team - that is tripe.

Leeds lost on Saturday because they didn't play well enough - even their own players suggested as much.

Fans cannot expect the team to play at the same level every game. This is a competitive league and all teams will lose games through the year. Last season was exceptional and Leeds were unlucky to come up against Leicester and Ipswich in the same season.

Farke is not an expansive coach but he does win far more games than he loses and fans can either accept that or not. Much is said of Piroe's inclusion yet Joseph has hardly covered himself in glory when included. At least Piroe does score some goals.

Scoring goals was highlighted at the start of the season as an issue - this team needs 10-15 scoring opportunities to convert a goal. This will continue until Farke changes the way the team develops its attacking strategy.

Much is made of 3 games in 6 days - given the strength and depth of the squad Farke has available Leeds should be better placed than any side in the Championship to cope with this.

Will they get automatic promotion - not unless they find a way to convert the chances on a more regular basis and find a way of changing the approach when away from home.

I have said from the start that unless we get one or two quality signings in we will be in the play offs.
The fact Farke is saying he is expecting a quiet January worries me as we have been shouting from the rooftops we need a10.
I think the difference between the two teams on Saturday was that we played 3 games in a week and they played 2 which tipped it in their favour.
My thoughts before the last 3 games were played and posted on here was that Sunderland would start dropping out of the top 2, Sheffield would move top with us second.
Trust Leeds to let me down