Tag Archives: LUFC

Leeds United: New home kit revealed

Macron and Leeds United have revealed the new home kit for next season, which features a baffling stripe down the centre of the otherwise all-white strip.

Modelled by Rodolph Austin below, the shirt has received a very negative response from Leeds fans on twitter.

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The shirt goes against what fans have been demanding for months, which is a standard all-white kit. It can be said that it is very easy to design a good Leeds shirt, but also very easy to ruin one completely.

In the future, it would be worth noting that little is needed in the way of incremental improvement. Leeds fans will likely purchase an all white shirt over and over, as long as it is nice.

It feels ludicrous saying it, but even a return to the 2010/11 home kit would be a vast improvement.

Follow Amitai Winehouse on Twitter (@awinehouse1)

Leeds United: McDermott’s subs imperative to victory

It’s one game, but in one half, Brian McDermott showed an ability to read a game and alter it on the fly that his predecessor never did. The three changes McDermott made in the second half were imperative to the turnaround against Wednesday today, and whilst the first two led to two goals, the third may have been as important, possibly imperative to us holding on to the lead.

Diouf’s introduction at half time was useful, in that we hadn’t really created much in the first half. We now had two technically gifted players in the front four, with both Diouf and McCormack able to provide. Moves forward suddenly seemed to flow far better, and where there had been no penetration, we carved open a slow Wednesday defence repeatedly.

I was concerned about potential threat on the counter, with Diouf unlikely to track back and offer any support, which is one of the reasons he only played a handful of games out-wide in a flat midfield four earlier in the season. Varney is more effective further up the pitch, so I was concerned we had shifted into a full-on 4-2-4 early in the match. This concern was nullified with the introduction of White for Morison, who had a game to forget. With White and Diouf on the wings, with Diouf and McCormack swapping between the deeper lying striker position, we looked solid. Of course, the most important aspect of this switch was that it released Varney, who went on to get the two impeccable headers, winning us the match.

The third change McDermott made was the introduction of Michael Tonge for Stephen Warnock, which led to Rodolph Austin being moved to centre-back, a back-four of Byram, Austin, Pearce and Drury. Whilst it could have been seen as an oddly attacking swap to make at 2-1 up with Leeds holding on to the lead, Pearce had clearly been struggling with the angles all-match, misjudging high-balls repeatedly (leading to Wednesday’s goal in the first half). This is not a criticism of Pearce at all, merely an understanding that he’s a left-sided centre back, and that playing on the right of the pairing meant he had to alter his game entirely. After Pearce had been restored to his natural position, and despite the fact we had struggled massively towards the end, giving up chance after chance, with Austin and Pearce at centre back, we looked safe once more.

All in all, three exceptionally effective substitutes.

Follow Amitai Winehouse on Twitter (@awinehouse1).

Leeds United: Brian McDermott appointment set to be confirmed on Friday

With a relegation battle on the cards should results not improve, Leeds United have moved swiftly to appoint former Reading manager Brian McDermott, according to The Guardian.

McDermott, who replaces Neil Warnock at Elland Road, will apparently be unveiled at a press conference on Friday, ahead of a key Yorkshire derby against Sheffield Wednesday, which sees both teams looking for a crucial three points that will likely guarantee safety and another season of Championship football. With Warnock’s attempted promotion push fizzling out into a lacklustre second half to the season, and ultimately giving the club concern about continued Championship status, the former manager was ousted following a 2-1 defeat at home to Derby County.

The appointment of the ex-Reading boss comes at a time when questions have been raised about the future of Leeds United under current owners GFH Capital. With negotiations supposedly ongoing over a sale, the appointment of the highly-rated McDermott and a new set of owners prior to the end of the season would bring blue skies over Elland Road for the first time in a decade.

Follow Amitai Winehouse on Twitter (@awinehouse1).