Well folks, it’s Cup football week and sadly, it’s the same old, same old AGAIN.
You may be asking why I would think anything different would happen this season. After all we’ve got a gruelling run up til Christmas of non stop long aways and we’re down at the bottom of the table, lower than our opponents, Wolves, so why would it be any different from any other season? We need to concentrate on the league surely, because we have had so many injuries at the start of the season and our players are exhausted after the intensity of the summer’s international tournaments. Right?
What’s that?
We don’t have an imminent terrible run of long aways? No one told me that after Spurs there was going to be a 6 week break for most of the team because of some tournament? Really? 6 weeks more or less of no games? Has anyone told Leeds United about this?
But surely our opposition on Wednesday were better than us and we wouldn’t stick a chance?
What???
Are Wolves below us in the league? Wolves don’t even have a proper manager? That one has passed me by. Nah, that can’t be right. Wolves have got a worse record than us since the start of the season? Eh? But haven’t we had a horribly depleted team full of injuries because Murderball and Bielsa is too much for them? Bielsa got sacked in February?
WHAAAT?
On paper we should have won that game on Wednesday. The Wolves fans were thinking that they were going to have their arses well and truly whopped before the game.
What did we do?
We lost.
But “nevermind guys, it was a good performance, and we were really unlucky”. “They were a far more experienced team. The young guys played really well”. I think Ayling, Harrison and Klich might have had some experience getting us promoted to the PL, or did Take Me Home get that wrong? Mind you – they were playing in their right positions for most of that time.
These are the line ups
And these were the subs. Pay extra attention to the two Wolves subs who got played, shirt numbers 77 and 81
Vastly more experienced team? You are having a giraffe.
This was the subs bench at the Citeh v Chelski game
Do you notice anything different?
I admit, they have bigger squads, but how many of those players will be representing their country in the Slavery World Cup too and have been having that extra pressure on them? Citeh have Brentford and Chelski have the newly resurgent Bar Codes tomorrow. But they still put out a decent bench and Conti played Kane, even though he’s had his work cut out since Son has been injured.
In summary, we had an unusually winnable game at Wolves on Wednesday.
Unusually, there were plenty of tickets for the game on Weds, because it wasn’t a massive “glamour tie”, so parents and kids hoping to see their heroes, were able to get tickets. Judging by the number of unfamiliar faces I saw on Weds, there were quite a few there who had been lucky enough to get a ticket, that don’t normally go away.
Unusually, the game came on the back of a bit of a good run. Despite people on the day of the Liverpool game actually saying they wanted Dyche, after our win, it was all BRILLIIIANT again. Even though Liverpool were less than ordinary and are still suffering from the departure of Mane to the Bundesliga.
Even betterer, we then go on to beat Bournemouth, after overturning a 3-1 deficit, with …. wait for it ….. substitutions which changed the starting formation! A novel idea if I ever saw one. How refreshing it was to see a corner being taken without two grown men whispering to each other like characters in a Jane Austen book. Honestly, sometimes I think all it would take would be a couple of ribboned bonnets and corsets, Colin Firth to come striding out of the North East Corner in his undies, topped off with Emma Thompson overacting, and it could be Pride & Prejudice or set piece Sense and Sensibility. Oooh Mr Darcy!
So SkinnyJeans has been catapulted, as they say in the USA, from zero to hero. The inspired subs of Willy “he’s not ready for the PL until at least January” Gnonto and Greenwood have propelled us to a massive 12th. 15 points already and only another 24 points needed to secure us PL safety ( I hope). Over a third of the way there, and it’s not even Christmas – with a game in hand.
With Wolves and Forest thankfully having a truly terrible start, we are sitting pretty on top of the 6 remaining relegation fodder teams, PLUS we have that game in hand. So what was wrong with at least trying to get a couple of cup games in, and maybe get a decent home draw to make some money in before Christmas? A full house a ER in the run up to Christmas would have got Leeds some money in from all the kids wanting extra tat in for Christmas. They could have sold a load more of those mass manufactured Xmas jumpers made in the sweatshops in the Far East, and probably raked in a bit more in food and drink to boot. Maybe add a few more £75 memberships and a few more onto that season ticket wait list. £££s or should it be $$$?
What’s wrong with gaining a bit of winning momentum? Three wins in three?
But he just couldn’t do it though. And the keyboard warriors all just went along with the narrative of “let’s stay focused on the league”.
What have our miserable failings due to fielding weakened sides done for us in the last 20 years? I can forgive Bielsa to an extent because his job was to get us promoted. Apart from the last season where the Board probably were wanting him to get dumped out of the domestic cups sooner, to give them an excuse to give him the boot quicker.
What have our early exits achieved in the last two decades?
Jack all. Apart from managing to piss off every fan who dragged their sorry arses (when they could get tickets because the ground-hoppers were desperate to tick a box) to the likes of Histon, Sutton, Newport etc.
“First it was the League Cup and before so very long”
Well at this rate, it will be another 50 years before we get to Wembley in a Cup final. Realistically, how else would we get into Europe again? We can’t match the moneymen in the Top 6 for a Chumpions League spot. A win in the Cup could get us to playing Sc*m in the heady heights of the Europa League Final. If we could be bothered that is. This season we could have done a bit more, but same old, same old.
What is wrong with a bit of aspiration? What is wrong with a bit of pride in yourself and passion for the game?
Where would the world be without people who dare to be different, break away from the shackles of normality and put their heads above the parapet? You’d like to think that there are parents and teachers out there who inspire and encourage the young to better themselves. When I was little, it was drilled into me to not just accept stuff without question because I was told to do it. That to simply follow the crowd and accept what was going on wasn’t good if it felt was wrong. I was taught to fight for my beliefs and challenge those who would try and convince me otherwise.
Not to be though, and the keyboard warriors just toed the line and defended everything. And when they couldn’t defend it anymore, they just started with the name calling and insults.
If there is anything that annoys me, it is those Entitled super-fans who feel that they are “more Leeds” than others. No one is any better than anyone else. We are all just Leeds. In some people’s heads though, some are more Leeds than others.
These are the ones who without any thought or consideration like to chuck insults around to anyone who dares to disagree with them. They have no accountability for their actions or comments, and are just as likely to be screaming for the managers / boards (delete as appropriate) heads one week and then claiming them to be the best thing since sliced bread the next. There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind, but no doubt the ones for example who were sending death threats to players a few seasons back and claiming that none of them were fit to wear the shirt, were all at ER at the open top bus thing celebrating along with Amazon when we got promoted. Similarly the ones wanting SkinnyJ out before Liverpool, probably posted that hugging heart emoji on the video of his post match interview pledging their undying allegiance to him.
Some idiot was laughing at people who went to the game (stupidly) thinking we would win. This fool clearly has no idea that there is a cost of living crisis going on, where every penny counts. And clearly has no empathy for any poor parents who have forked out hard earned money to take their kid to watch their heroes play football. Only to see that disappear in a cloud of complacency and apathy. It is still difficult to get time off work, it is still difficult to get an away ticket. Unless of course, you have the luxury of having enough money to do whatever you want. But you’d think if you did have all that, you’d be a little bit mindful of people less fortunate.
The only thing that riles me more than these imbeciles, are the ones who deliberately stand in your seat at away games and refuse to move on when asked. The ones who “are Leeds United and we’ll stand where we want”. Pushing old people and kids around so they can stand with their mates on their big day out until we start losing. Then they skulk off down to the bogs to do whatever it is that they do in there. The ones with complete disregard for anyone else who actually just wants to watch the game. Because they think that everyone should be like them or they ” aren’t proper Leeds fans”. Even though some of us have been going to games before these were managing to get through the night without wetting the bed.
We turn up. We watch the game. We celebrate if we win and moan when we lose. It is just how it always is. We pay our money, we have a right to disagree. No need to take the p*ss out of people who just want to see us win, because ultimately, surely that’s what we all want, isn’t it?
Here’s to a FA Cup run in January. Fingers crossed. Unless it is the same old, same old