From out of nowhere, The Mighty Whites recaptured their mojo, and with slick, confident passing, and a certain swagger not seen at Elland Road in recent weeks, easily saw off The Canaries in this play off second leg.
Just as importantly, they didn’t sit back and rely on their 4 goal lead, but kept up the pressure on a disheartened Norwich.
Well that seemed to go well. We know how good our crowd is and tonight we were on a different level. Could easily have been 6 or 7 goals. As a bonus that should put the Ashley Barnes debate to bed. He’s a thug. Tonight he looked an old thug.
Wembley awaits - I’ve never seen LUFC or Rhinos win at Wembley or Cardiff. Maybe this time?
BBC and local paper report that Wagner has been sacked. Decent guy with an impossible job.
Let’s hope the real culprit finally sees the light and cuts short the three year handover.
On 17 minutes I seem to recall. Other end of the ground to me but didn’t the bully flop like he’d been hit by a bus in an attempt to get one of ours sent off? He certainly got a proper send off when he left the field.
I think the no-man’s land thing applies to most teams though. Most teams are unsuccessful most of the time by definition and the margins can be so fine that almost all have extensive experience of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and multiple examples.
Anyways, commiserations on the loss. The speed with which Wagner was dispatched suggests other plans have been afoot for some time. Sad state of affairs when finishing in a position which denotes a successful season is deemed a failure and yet getting into the EPL could be so financially devastating as to render you uncompetitive for years or permanently. Some stark figures laid out by our owners on the latest episode of Welcome to Wrexham in terms of what it cost to get to L1. What it will now cost just to stay there. What it then costs to get into the Championship and also to stay there. What it costs to skid the EPL and stay there. I was horrified by the L1 figures to be honest. The other figures don’t bear thinking about. Certainly reinforced my view you’re a very well run club as, based on the maths you should be around £180m in debt at this point.
Loved both play off games. Very obvious to me that neither Barnes nor Rowe were anywhere near match fit but Wagner had run out of options. The fact he didn’t take Barnes off spoke volumes. Zero squad options. Incidentally, the dogs abuse Barnes took from Leeds fans had nothing to do with anything much on the night. There is grand history there. Look it up.
Tactically Farke took a huge gamble with the high line. It all rested on the 1st goal and unfortunately if there was a Norwich villain then it was Gunn. Clearly responsible for 2 of the 4 albeit understandable given the pressure. Once the 1st was in then Wagner was screwed. Attack and you get caught on the counter. Sit back and Leeds will just swarm with no need to penetrate. There was a middle way but few teams can pull that off. Wagner tried but it looked exactly like it does when other teams are losing against a high line i.e. you look like you’re neither attacking nor defending; lose your own crowd etc. Looks like you were battered but really the margins were much tighter and the manager whose gamble came off 1st takes all.
This was Leeds playing like Notts County under Luke Williams. Once people sussed how to counter it the wheels came off big style. Leeds fans should take note. Farke tries that in the EPL and Leeds will be murdered. Does it in the final and he’ll need that 1st goal again or Southampton will run riot.
Thought Southampton got it right. Played their game; stayed patient; got the break; took confidence from it and got the job done. Great stuff. Overall I think I want Saints back more than Leeds.
You’ve got to let your dislike for Farke go. I realise he’s not the 2nd coming & Saints may well beat us but his tactics v Norwich were absolutely spot on. 2 clean sheets. 4 goals. Exciting football. Crowd 100% involved in the game.
Interesting scenes at St Mary’s. Sunak dressed by his PR team and Saints fans attacking the away support from the pitch.
Don’t know if anyone else has tried to get a Wembley ticket but my experience, the debacle is trending on Twitter, has been horrific. Good luck if you’re trying.
Congratulations to Oxford for winning the L1 play-off. They were on top for the whole of the game. Bolton were poor. They didn’t seem to have their game-plan, even when in possession in the first half. Thought that Evatt would change things around during the HT team talk but the second half was little different. Bolton fans will be massively disappointed.
Very pleased that Josh Murphy had a great game. Was the star turn when we won the FA youth cup but since leaving Norwich has found it very hard. Hope he’s finally found the right club.
Saints are staging the ticket sales - we’ve got 35000 or so. Online only, with a couple of exceptions - probably including Rishi, after all he is a local
Today was ST holders who’d been to two away matches, followed by those who had been to one.
Tomorrow is ST holders - where I would fit in, and so on.