Oscar: How we doing guys? ALTV joined by a very special guest today, Beren Cross from Leeds Live. Thanks very much for joining us mate.
Beren: Oscar, thanks for having me mate.
Oscar: Well mate we have to start off with the game last weekend, 1 win in 7 now it’s the kind of form we don’t want at this stage of the season but it always seems to happen at this time of the season so what were your thoughts on Saturday?
Beren: Yeah, I think obviously the match analysis is dominated by the referee and Nakhi Wells' goal shouldn't be given. Immediately from the reaction of the players there was enough there for a debate to be had over whether it was a goal or not. It changes the game completely. With QPR going in front, we've actually done something on the website (Leeds Live) today that shows no team has picked up fewer points from losing positions than Leeds. Unfortunately once Leeds fall behind, which has obviously been very rare this season, if they do go behind it's been very difficult for them to win matches from that point. The first goal changes everything Kiko didn't have a lot to do, although in the first half QPR did have threats through Bright Osayi Samuel and Eze, second half whilst we didn't really test the keeper a lot. Although QPR never got through to Kiko, the match was there for the taking and it followed the similar pattern of quite a lot of the campaign missed chances. And of course the Bamford penalty and Phillips red card really put the boot in.
Oscar: I just want to pick up on a few things you mention there, the first one to talk about is the lack of points won from losing positions do you think that links to the lack of options on the bench at the moment?
Beren: Very very good point, you can analyse it until the cows come home, you could also mention the pressure of playing for Leeds. We worked out the average age of the bench was 20, having so many 20 year olds on the bench really isn't what a title winning/promotion side should have. It's clearly one our problems really this small squad. Look at Eddie when he was here, in the autumn he was able to come off the bench and change quite a few games, which in the end he contributed to us winning 5 extra points.
Oscar: Yeah, directly from his goals.
Beren: Just from his goals. it clearly is a factor.
Oscar: Obviously Patrick Bamford is the natural target but Helder Costa and Jack Harrison have missed chances too lately, Harrison missed a huge one on the back post vs QPR. Missing chances is an issue and has been an issue for a while. With that particular issue, I think everyone’s fed up with it now. I’m sure you are tired of writing about it and we are tired of talking about it. Do you think the solution is now the January transfer window bringing in other solutions and potential options?
Beren: These players have been in the top 3 for about 95% of the last 18 months, they're vastly over performing from what they've done elsewhere in their career. This year it feels differently obviously we are ticking over with the same points per game ratio but only doing it in maybe 3rd or 2nd gear. But then all of a sudden on Saturday it felt like there wasn't a 4th or 5th gear, they do look a bit tired and leggy. It goes back to your point maybe it's now time but they need the right type of player, they've got 10 days between games. Bielsa has given them a bit of time off as we speak, they will return towards the end of the week and prepare for the Tuesday game. Oscar, I think at the end of the day we all know what we want out of this window.
Oscar: Marcelo Bielsa in the last two post match press conferences has directly mentioned individual players directly referring to Eddie Nketiah a couple of times. Quite unlike Bielsa to use an individual player as an excuse (to an extent) for the recent results?
Beren: As you say it's quite rare for him to mention individual players, we might ask about individuals and he will then talk about them. Like you say he has brought up Nketiah quite a lot. It's 19 days since West Brom (Eddie's last game), post match thoughts from him then there wasn't any real surprise he was going back to Arsenal. Bielsa has this habit, once he’s aware of a fan bases thoughts on certain issues (the striker situation in this example), he seems to sort of start ruminating on things like this. Look at Eddie Nketiah, he didn’t play enough and the result of that is he gets called back to Arsenal. Bielsa is bringing that up a fair bit in conferences but it’s clear what happened.
Oscar: Going into this window a lot of rumours flying around at the moment, Che Adams dominated the first half of this window now Andre Gray is being mentioned. Can I push you at all have you heard anything at Leeds live?
Beren: So the Che Adams one hasn't gone away, Leeds are still interested in him, there are still various conversations going on. Obviously it's a very very difficult month to do business. 3 parties have to agree: the buying and selling club and of course the player. It's an incredibly high pressure environment. There's a very small pool of players who are available, it's a difficult one. Almost everyone in the Championship wants a new striker.
In respect of James last season, in the aftermath of that Victor Orta and Angus Kinnear have said that will never happen again. They were very hurt by that, that's a scar, they'll be well aware that can't happen again. There does have to be a cut off at some point on signing Che Adams. Southampton may well be stringing Leeds along, Ralph Hasenhuttl as you've said has gone on the record more than once saying he doesn't want Adams to leave. His Stock (Hasenhuttl's) is very high at the moment. It's very unlikely the Southampton board will go behind his back. It would be a massive necessary risk but as with everything, money will talk, at least we hope it will. Adams from my understanding isn't off the table just yet but there will need to be some movement, there really really needs to be some movement at the back end of this week. The Millwall game is January 28th, they'll never put a target date as such on the (Adams) deal though. They had this last year with Swansea though, the negotiations went on and the deal fell through. I would rather them than me, it's a really tough month.
Andre Gray does seem to be moving around in the background I know that they made enquiries to Watford in the Autumn, either way for Watford it wasn't up for debate at that time as they had a managerial change at the time. Nobody can ignore the fact Andre Gray hasn't played very much at Watford, under Nigel Pearson especiallu. It's also known Gray is on well over £50,000 a week there.
Oscar: Could it cause an issue in the dressing room if Andre Gray walks into the team on a significantly higher wage than the rest of the squad having contributed nothing to Leeds’ position in the table thus far?
Beren: Worthwhile point making, at the end of the day we are never going to be professional footballers so will never know if it's an issue or not. Publicly amongst players it won't be, especially if that person is scoring goals. I'm sure if a deal is there to be made. People like Victor Orta aren't going to be put off by the possibility that maybe one or two people don't like it. I think it's a worthwhile argument, I suppose it depends on whether Gray comes in and how the breakdown of the deal works. I.e. the proportion of wages we would pay. I think surely if they can get a player of Andre Gray's quality it wouldn't matter but I will emphasis Che Adams is the priority. The Andre Gray deal would have some distance to go if that was going to happen.
Oscar: Is there any other areas in the squad which Victor Orta is looking to strengthen that you know of? One thing that was clear vs QPR was the lack of central midfield options.
Beren: We obviously report what we find out, I would agree with you I would look at the centre of midfield with Adam Forshaw and Tyler Roberts out but at the moment there is no suggestion they are going to go for a central midfielder. Elia Caprille arrives one we are already aware of then there is the winger Ian Poveda we reported it 10-11 days ago.
Oscar: That would've been the Sheffield Wednesday game?
Beren: Yes. At that stage they were very very confident as is the case in modern football a player of his age and quality a few other clubs are interested as they will when a player of that quality comes available at a low price or for free even. City are looking to offload him but as a 19 year old it's his first big move so it's going to define the first part of his career. It's not easy but Leeds are positive.
Oscar: Is Elia Caprille coming in as cover if Kiko Casilla is suspended?
Beren: Caprille is a back up to Meslier, Will Huffer has got a long standing injury which isn't going away. The other option is Kamil Miazek but they want a bit of competition for him. Time will tell
Oscar: Is there any news on any outgoings potentially?
Beren: Good question, it's such a small squad already. There's certainly no noises about any established first team players moving out. As the club would have to replace them, off the top of my head are the obvious ones that stand out are Eunan O'Kane and Ouasim Bouy. We've heard nothing on them no one really knows why the Bouy deal ever happened. Not a quick recovery for O'Kane but he may well get a loan move this window. Being honest though if you are an EFL club, would you take the risk on that loan move after his injury? |t may well be that he doesn't move until the summer as it stands.
Oscar: With Che Adams being the preferred target obviously it’s a difficult question to answer but is there a feeling there that he could be genuine competition to Patrick Bamford like Kemar Roofe last season? It always felt like in the first half of the season with Nketiah that he was the clear second choice and never really looked like getting starts in the team.
Beren: It's a very very good point when it first came out we were looking at Che Adams it was a strange one to me. Why would he want to come down a division to possibly sit on the bench, it really baffled me at first. Does Adams look at Leeds as an aspirational club who as it stands are about to go back to the Premier league. I do take your point, Bamford went 10 games without a goal and didn't get dropped. If he has got the right personality and right characteristics he will look at it as a challenge which will of course drive them both on.
Oscar: I guess we saw that with Kemar Roofe to an extent, from last season as a centre forward, started as a main centre forward. Unfortunately both got injured at the same time, so it was difficult to tell who was truly the first choice between them. It'll be interesting to see is Bielsa sees him as a starting player.
Beren: Adam really ticks all the boxes, Bielsa likes him, obviously Orta likes him and even back in the summer when he was the one player in the Championship who really caused us problems and did the double over us. He was an absolute nightmare for Jansson and Cooper at the back. Even back then before he even played for Leeds he was somebody that was of a very high quality player at that level. If you look at his attributes he just seems like the perfect fit, he can hold the ball up, he's got the finishing ability, he can press and there's lots of reasons we are interested in him.
Oscar: So the feeling is in this transfer window that there is one big marquee target and that’s Che Adams? Goalkeeper and Winger options sorted in Caprille and Poveda.
Beren: Yep thats absolutely correct
Oscar: Is this Leeds team on track in your opinion or is there anything major you would change in the wake of our recent form?
Beren: It is a difficult one with the bench as it was on Saturday, Alioski was the only senior option. The Phillips red card is a nightmare he's now suspended.
Oscar: That's probably worse than the result
Beren: He's arguably our best player. To be honest, there's not a lot I would change, my general feeling is try not to look at it as a whole, 4 points clear of 3rd. Even as recently as a week or two ago we were a lot of points clear, every team is going to have a bad run like West Brom, I find it quite heartening to look at them. They are having a blip, Fulham as we know are capable of picking up bad results. Brentford dropped points at Huddersfield. When Leeds' form is off people have selective memories. There's so much football to be played, more players could be coming in, players to come back from injury, so much football to play yet it's hard to call.
Oscar: Injury news is a big topic and current squad members Adam Forshaw and Tyler Roberts are two players I’m sure fans would want more clarity over in the sense of how major their injuries are is there anything you can update us with Beren?
Beren: Roberts we saw training at Thorp Arch prior to Arsenal but since then Bielsa has said he doesn't know when either player is back. Douglas (side strain) and Berardi don't sound too bad. Berardi may play alongside Copper vs Millwall. White is taking Phillip's position as a CDM for now.
Oscar: I can't thank you enough for agreeing to come on the channel. Make sure guys you do check out Leeds Live, fantastic source of high quality journalism, high quality information.
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Joe Mewis
A great read that, in depth and informative. On the back of the Millwall result, it will be interesting to see if the lads can continue on there winning ways and hopefully we will see some more of the lads (Roberts, Douglas, Berardi) returning from injury in the not too distant future, to further strengthen the squad. Always believe. MOT.