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[Football] Ben White - Sings new FOUR year deal.



Seagull27

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2011
3,368
Bristol
For me, a lot of our problems start in the centre of defence.

We have been forced to play three at the back for two reasons. First, the need to accommodate Lamptey and the newly reborn Solly March as wing backs. And also, to some extent, by the arrival of Veltman at a price too good to turn down (which is Mrs Not Andy Naylor's approach to 'bargains' that we don't really need) and the return of White, which means that we have all these central defenders that have to be fitted in somewhere.

Playing three at the back solves both problems to some extent but has anyone else ever wondered whether it suits our personnel? I don't think it does. Dunk and White have both had their best seasons in a pair. Webster looks ill at ease on the left. White has to play somewhere but moving him into midfield has got in Alzate's way.

Liverpool get away with playing a back four but with Alexander-Arnold and Robertson high up the pitch because (until this season) they had pace in the centre and also Henderson sitting deep in midfield to cover breakaways. I don't think we could get away with that. Unless maybe White played the Henderson role and allowed Bissouma to get further forward.
Not sure I agree - I think Potter's aim was always to play 5 at the back. We tried it a few times last season but didn't have the players for it, so reverted to a back 4. I'd say we bought the players to fit the formation this year.

As for Ben White, I think the media attention over the summer has led many of our fans to have too high an expectation of him straight away. Let's not forget, he was an U23 player on loan at a Championship side last year. For him to immediately make a step up to being a Premier League regular, putting in mostly satisfactory performances (in 4 different positions) should be seen as an achievement - many youngsters in his position would have needed gradual introduction to the PL squad before being ready.

He's learning all the time and will continue to improve, so it's no wonder the likes of Man Utd are interested. In a couple of years he'll be a top centre back, but for now the fact that he's just "good enough" at this level is absolutely fine. I think we'll see him get better and better towards the end of the season.

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ttgg

Member
Aug 6, 2020
97
A bit to unpack there.

Why mention again that the pundit is female? It's completely irrelevant, or should be, shouldn't it? We're not discussing multiple pundits and need to clarify which one we're talking about. And if we did need to identify her, what's wrong with 'Karen Carney'?

When do pundits (female or male) ever really go into such a break down of their point?

That the Leeds fans (and Ben White) just heard 'did Covid help them get promoted?' is part of the problem. The club twitter feed have stripped her comments of context in order to make it look worse. In the context of the discussion and the break it becomes clear that she is making the same point many people have made - Leeds rely on a high energy heavy press that leads to players tiring in the latter part of the season as evidenced by the previous season. A point that Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank can be heard agreeing with ("Spot on"). Yes, saying 'covid helped' is a clunky way of expressing it, but the context makes it clear what she meant.

The BBC report is, I presume without a link, an article about the abuse she faced when the Leeds team twitter feed invited a pile on. So of course they're not going to give a complete and full sporting analysis. The abuse that resulted from the Leeds official account cherry picking and misrepresenting her comments was the story, not the accuracy of her punditry.

If you're going to try and defend her then at least do some research (see a pattern here?) and accurately record her comments.

She did not say "did Covid help them get promoted?" in the form of a question she made a statement "I actually think they got promoted because of Covid in terms of it gave them a bit of respite..."

You might also care to note that in the previous season to which you refer, Leeds running stats were better at the end of the season than at the beginning or middle
 


blue-shifted

Banned
Feb 20, 2004
7,645
a galaxy far far away
Burn should have pulled him down, but Dunk and/or Webster had to do more to close Lacazette down. Look at their positioning as he shoots......regardless of where they were beforehand, they’d got back (along with Veltman).

8d05a67ac8e3385ac219c1eaa98783ae.jpg

Real similarities with this goal and the Bogle goal for Sheff Utd and very interestingly it shows how we've been instructed to defend counter attacks.

The back 4 sprinted back (on both goals) to cover the space between defence and keeper. The thinking, being is that the main risk is a pass across the 6 yard box for a tap in and we'll accept the risk of a cut back resulting in a goal scored through a crowded six yard box.

This is sound logic to me. To score a goal, the opponents need either a very good finish (which is what Lacazette did) or a large slice of luck (which Bogle got). OK it didn't work out for us, on either occasion, but I think we should keep doing it.

The reason the strategy failed is because in both instances the midfield were unable to get back to the cut back. This is where we can improve the strategy. Against Arsenal, Bissouma was caught upfield and Gross doesn't have the pace to get there.

This is where a specialist defensive midfielder, with clear instructions not to get caught the wrong side of the ball, could help us. Gross, if in the team, needs to play further up the pitch. At present I think White is the closest we've got, but i'm interested to see what Moder will bring us.
 


blue-shifted

Banned
Feb 20, 2004
7,645
a galaxy far far away
And i'm not sure that picture paints Davy in the best light either
 




Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
If you're going to try and defend her then at least do some research (see a pattern here?) and accurately record her comments.

She did not say "did Covid help them get promoted?" in the form of a question she made a statement "I actually think they got promoted because of Covid in terms of it gave them a bit of respite..."

You might also care to note that in the previous season to which you refer, Leeds running stats were better at the end of the season than at the beginning or middle

I was quoting the poster, and trusting to them having accurately quoted her, but the fact it was paraphrased isn't that important. It doesn't really change anything. It's still taking a part of her overarching point in isolation away from the context of the overall point to make it sound worse than it is.

Running more doesn't mean they weren't more tired. Eddie Izzard ran 29 marathons in 29 days. Do you think Eddie had the same energy when running the 29th marathon as when running the first? Yet each marathon was the same distance. Tiredness does not necessarily mean less running. Also, winning teams tend to run less, they tend to have the ball more and pass it around, forcing the losing team to chase the ball, so the fact they ran more when losing more isn't that surprising.

We can't know for a fact that the break helped. This pundit, like quite a few people, believe it did. When you look at their record without a breaks the previous season, look at Bielsa's Bilbao and Marseille. There is a pattern with his teams of starting strongly and fading. The year there was a break there was no trailing off. It's not unreasonable to therefore think the break helped them.

I'm not gonna argue it's conclusive proof, it's not. But it's not exactly a baseless accusation that doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Unless you take one part of the comment and strip it of all context, of course.
 


BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
22,699
Newhaven
I was quoting the poster, and trusting to them having accurately quoted her, but the fact it was paraphrased isn't that important. It doesn't really change anything. It's still taking a part of her overarching point in isolation away from the context of the overall point to make it sound worse than it is.
.

Her who is her? Maybe use her name :)

You replied to my post #6568 in post #6599, my post had a screenshot of her quote.

You are tying yourself up in knots and way overthinking all of this trying to defend her, I’m glad someone has pointed that out.
 






Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
Her who is her? Maybe use her name :)

You replied to my post #6568 in post #6599, my post had a screenshot of her quote.

You are tying yourself up in knots and way overthinking all of this trying to defend her, I’m glad someone has pointed that out.

We're talking about one person who happens to be female. Referring to the person by pronoun is perfectly acceptable. It's not comparable to pointing out a particular and irrelevant characteristic. But I'm sure you know that.

My argument is completely unaffected by whether I use your mangled paraphrasing of the partial quote, or an accurate version of the partial quote. It has still taken the comment out of context of a perfectly acceptable footballing opinion to try to make it look illogical and insensitive.
 


ttgg

Member
Aug 6, 2020
97
I was quoting the poster, and trusting to them having accurately quoted her, but the fact it was paraphrased isn't that important. It doesn't really change anything. It's still taking a part of her overarching point in isolation away from the context of the overall point to make it sound worse than it is.

Running more doesn't mean they weren't more tired. Eddie Izzard ran 29 marathons in 29 days. Do you think Eddie had the same energy when running the 29th marathon as when running the first? Yet each marathon was the same distance. Tiredness does not necessarily mean less running. Also, winning teams tend to run less, they tend to have the ball more and pass it around, forcing the losing team to chase the ball, so the fact they ran more when losing more isn't that surprising.

We can't know for a fact that the break helped. This pundit, like quite a few people, believe it did. When you look at their record without a breaks the previous season, look at Bielsa's Bilbao and Marseille. There is a pattern with his teams of starting strongly and fading. The year there was a break there was no trailing off. It's not unreasonable to therefore think the break helped them.

I'm not gonna argue it's conclusive proof, it's not. But it's not exactly a baseless accusation that doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Unless you take one part of the comment and strip it of all context, of course.

Not sure the Eddie Izzard argument is really valid is it? Did he run further in the first 90 minutes of his 29th marathon than he ran in the first 90 minutes of his first marathon would be a more direct comparison surely?

Everyone seems to agree that Leeds running stats are pretty impressive. Well here's one for you...have a guess in which game this season Leeds players have run the furthest?

And perhaps to finally put the is Karen Carney a "well-informed" pundit question to bed...she and JFH also talked about Jack Harrison's contribution and how Leeds would have liked to have done a deal in the summer to keep him (she said "I think Man City want him back"). A little bit of research and they both would have known that Leeds have a contract in place to buy him at the end of this season, one which was carried over from last season
 






BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
22,699
Newhaven
We're talking about one person who happens to be female. .


The penny hasn’t dropped has it? Whoooosh :)

You gave me a lecture earlier about referring to Karen Carney as “female” when you knew who I meant.

Stop trying to be such a smart arse because you are not impressing me, I don’t actually think you are as smart as you think you are anyway.
 




Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
Not sure the Eddie Izzard argument is really valid is it? Did he run further in the first 90 minutes of his 29th marathon than he ran in the first 90 minutes of his first marathon would be a more direct comparison surely?

It's an example of how energy does not equal running distance.

Everyone seems to agree that Leeds running stats are pretty impressive. Well here's one for you...have a guess in which game this season Leeds players have run the furthest?

"Tend to" I didn't say "always do". There are plenty of examples of teams going two or three up early in the first half, sitting back and letting the other team pass the ball around and ending with more possession despite losing. My point was that, again, running lots doesn't mean someone is tired, and thus doesn't disprove the idea that the downturn in form was due to tiredness.

And perhaps to finally put the is Karen Carney a "well-informed" pundit question to bed...she and JFH also talked about Jack Harrison's contribution and how Leeds would have liked to have done a deal in the summer to keep him (she said "I think Man City want him back"). A little bit of research and they both would have known that Leeds have a contract in place to buy him at the end of this season, one which was carried over from last season

I'm not sure this is entirely on topic either. I've not argued KC is "well-informed".

My argument is simply that believing Leeds benefited from the break in the season is not a baseless opinion borne of ignorance, that the argument against it given by the other poster was to compare before the break to after the break whereas the argument requires comparison of with a break and without one. That the reason the full argument behind that opinion is not in reports is that the reports are focused on the abuse KC has faced rather than about whether or not her (and a lot of other football fans) opinion was right or not.
 




BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
22,699
Newhaven
My argument is completely unaffected by whether I use your mangled paraphrasing of the partial quote, or an accurate version of the partial quote. It has still taken the comment out of context of a perfectly acceptable footballing opinion to try to make it look illogical and insensitive.

71723C4C-79E7-4B8E-BF89-4994496C632E.jpeg
 


nwgull

Well-known member
Jul 25, 2003
14,533
Manchester
5 in 5 in the Europa League.

Sounds impressive until you look at their group opponents he got the goals against. Rangers (top), with Standard Liege (3rd) and Posnan (4th). When Rangers are winnning that group without losing a game then you know that it’s Championship standard at best.
 












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