I watched it on Satellite in a pub in Alty. Missed the 1st 30 mins but was enthralled by the match. Was this the same team that played so disjointedly at Villa Park.

Leeds pressed hard but we held them reasonably well - Given made 4 or 5 top drawer saves but we deserved the run of the ball.

Goma was awesome, Acuna up and down the middle all the time. Bobby tied up the loose ends and when they got pat him Speed was about.

Barton, Solano super solid on the right and Quinn equally so on the left without the width that Solano gives Barton. Gallacher ran himself rotten and young Shola won far more than his share of high balls.

Pity somebody must drop out when Al and LKD reappear.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2001

Answers

On the answers page.

PS Fans were just as good - especially the big lad with no shirt on.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2001

A note about the fans. On 606 tonight on 5-Live, a Leeds fan phoned in. I think he had travelled a long way to see the game. Spoke of his disappointment etc, but went on to say words to the effect :-
I have to say the Newcastle fans were superb today
to which Littlejohn(?) replied
Yes the Newcastle fans are always fantastic at away matches.

Nuff said.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2001

Josh - UB Stard. Why didn't U tell me? Still, we'd have lost if I'd watched it.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2001

Screach

I thought you were going - the Old Mill has Norwegian C+ and shows a Live match every Saturday. I only saw NUFC.COM saying it was on @ lunch time and the pub weren't certain until 3pm coz Derby v City might have been on - it was Live on Supersort but they couldn't get that.

I saw the Manure home are there as well. Only hand raised in a jam packed pub when we equalised - oops.

I'll bell you next time we're on if I can. There's a website somewhere with the schedule on.

Sorry

Josh

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

Nee probs Josh - I was only winding you up! As it happens, I actually had more important (well, her indoors thought so) things to do - like show prospective buyers roond the hoose.

But aah'll be interested for the future if I'm not at the game itself. ANyway - time for a beer sometime.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

Right, my thoughts (just back off train from Leeds) Given - sensational and actually got into a bit of showmanship a la Harper. Was delighted to win. Goma - awful first half; Viduka all over him. Absolutely great in second half. Hughes - great. Got lumps kicked out of him but appeared to be looking after himself. Bartinho - very good. Absurd attempt at backheel which almost resulted in Leeds goal but much better than of late. Quinn - quiet match but seemed comfortable. Lee - my man of the match. Closed down countless Leeds attacks. Speed - as Lee only not quite so good. Nobby - wonderfully taken pen and good movement. Ameobi - good movement. Acuna - the absolute dog's bollox. Gallacher - ran his arse off. All in all, three points well-deserved. They had more possession but our midfield won the battle and limited their threat. In fact the very reverse of what happened on Wednesday. A word about our fans - brilliant. Non-stop singing, dancing in some cases, really getting behind the lads and some great, witty abuse of the Leeds players. The fans won the day, too. All isn't well at Elland Road, though - the Leeds fans were really angry about the performance and O'Leary looked furious. Scary journey from station to Elland Road, though. Can I just add that I still hold by my view of the other day that this team needs investment?

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

Not that bothered, but I wonder what's happened to Leeds? They look a shadow of the Team that did so well last season.

In both our recent games I've felt they are playing at a much slower pace than last season, and actually look a tired, uninspired team. They've played a lot of high pressure games if you include their CL games, and could be plain knackered - something I feel has contributed to some of our poorer performances recently.

The impending Court Case could be affecting the team somewhat. I also wonder if O'Leary may be losing the plot, and damaged the team spirit by dropping players like Harte and Smith, and bringing in big-name, highly-paid players like Viduka, Ferdinand, Matteo and Keane. Most of the players developed together through the Leeds Youth system, or like Bowyer and Radebe, they've been their a long time now.

I've always felt that O'Leary was fortunate to inherit a good squad of players and a well managed Club, based on the groundwork done by Wilkinson and Graham. He is relatively inexperienced, and may be in the throws of screwing it up.

Let's hope so.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

Agree with your comments about Leeds Clarky, Leeds fans have good right to be concerned about the commitment of their players. Take our third goal as an example, Luax2 beat Radebe in the air then simply took the ball off him on the deck then broke upfield to set up Shola ( via Bassedas,Quinn and a delightfultoch from nobby) a lot of their players simply aren't performing....didn't give a stuff yesterday though, just wish we could play them every week.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

Agree with most of what's already been posted, though for me Clarence (the cross-eyed chiLion) most definitely deserves Man of the Match status. A better example of box to box play I can't recall in a b&w shirt ever since the General quite a few years ago now. Not to say Acuna was faultless - like most of his midfield colleagues there's still bite lacking from some of his challenges, but all in an absolutely fantastic performance and result. Goma recovered well enough after a torrid first half losing out on everything to Viduka. Quinn and Barton were solid enough when in position, but occasionally still get horribly drawn away from where they need to be through ball-watching (eg. space for the Bowyer shot/Shay wonder save). The Leeds fan sitting nearest us in Easts Leagues club was understandably gutted, but I gave up talking to him when his main point was how spawny we'd been ! Truly a day to savour (or night for us lot down under)

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

I do not agree with Lonly, I think our man of the match was Acuna.

I think Given did OK but was no better than Harper. He missed 1 cross completely and stayed on his line a couple of times when he should have come out.

What a load of bollox have been sprouted about Lee and Speed. They were average at best. True they may have played better than they have recently, but they were still ordinary.

Barton was crap. OK he did not give the ball away as in previous weeks, however he was never where he was supposed to be. In the first half in particular all their attacks which gave them the dangerous half chances came down our right. If he had been doing his job, Goma would not have been pulled out wide and they might not have scored.

Time and time again, the missed chance, the other shot across the face you could see the Leeds player standing waiting and then Barton either standing looking or come running in late 3 seconds behind the play. He was unfairly criticized for the attempted "back heel". He was trying to cover and the ball was passed behind him. He was doing all he could to deflect it away. Going forward was a different matter. He was always looking to get involved and offer another option. It may appear that I do not like him, it is just that as we won people over look the down side of the game. He should be defending first then attacking. Not the other way around. He did not defend well this week.

Goma did well the whole game against Viduka. When he was beaten by him to cross for the goal, Goma got the challenge in and won the ball, it bounced off Vidukas legs behind Goma and then Viduka was always in the drivers seat. Make no mistake, Viduka has the best first touch of any striker in the PL at the moment. He is fast, not blistering and has strength to hold off players and to hold up the ball. He is good on the air and his brain is as quick as any. Although he is not scoring his lay offs etc set up the others. I think we should have bought him for the 6mil. Goma got the better of him as the game wore on.

Hughes did not play well, but he was not meant too. He was meant to snuff out any threat from Keane. The times Leeds were most dangerous were when he lost him. As a result of the pressure on Keane and Viduka we did not play out from the middle of the back line as we have done in our better games. This was one of the best performances our CBs have given all year.

Quinn again had a solid game. He has shown he can defend and attack. I am prepared to cut him some slack at the moment as he has only played a couple of games. He is not used to where the other players like the ball etc. He is as good as any LB we have played this season and better than most. He is not out of depth in the PL.

Solano had one of his average games at the moment, which was brilliant. He is currently in the middle of a purple patch.

The 2 up front were average. Nothing too special, however that in itself is a bonus. One has only had 1 game in 3 months the other only 19. For most of the game they were well held by the Leeds defence. This was because the service they were getting was the long ball type. When we started running at them it was a different story. I would have changed Gallacher 10 minutes earlier. However I think YBR wanted to push him to get him 100% match fit.

Acuna as has been said before did everything. I think it was a case of him doing everything well and some things a little better. Next season if he continues at this level will see the PL player of the year trophy coming his way.

Nothing to say on the subs as they did not have time to settle and at that late stage were on to play under instruction of YBR.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

>>I do not agree with Lonly, I think our man of the match was Acuna.

In which case, guster, I charge thee that you DO in fact agree with me. It obviously just pains you too much to say it in public ;o))

Otherwise I pretty much agree with your player assessments, though think you're a little harsh on Bobby Lee and perhaps a tad generous on Quinn's performance. Was still feckin great to watch mind !!

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001