Match Thread Everton v Leeds United - Preview, Match Report and MotM Poll

[Egil Olsen]

Leeds are a good team, but they also have clear weaknesses. The biggest challenge is their pressure game. It is the most intensive in the whole PL, + they use man marking. They attack quickly and vertically, and do so for all 90 minutes. The key for us will be to win 1 vs. 1 duels, in which case we will have plenty of room to attack in. I think Richarlison will score a couple of goals in this match

 

[maccavennie]

Another win will do very nicely. Keep ticking over on prep for the busy winter period and hopefully we are still in with a shout in the cup and competing in the league

 

[AussieToffee11]

Same team but Holgate for Mina and you'd think about Olsen in as a "rotation"

A week to fix the defense and hopefully stop a counter attacking leads.

--------------=Olsen
-----Godfrey Keane Holgate
Iwobi -------------------- Digne
----------Allan Doucoure
-------James DCL Richarlison

 

[Egil Olsen]

Embarrassing reading people on here talking about these as if they’re some top side. The name Leeds scares them due to our record against them in years gone by, mainly at Elland Road. In their last 3 games they’ve looked shocking.

They are not a top team, but have a style of play that can create difficulties for all teams. They are not like WBA who park the bus, hoping for a lucky goal. Leeds attack you from the first second, and do not give up regardless of the result. There will be lots of running and duels, and the players must be mentally prepared.

 

[MikeH72]

They are not a top team, but have a style of play that can create difficulties for all teams. They are not like WBA who park the bus, hoping for a lucky goal. Leeds attack you from the first second, and do not give up regardless of the result. There will be lots of running and duels, and the players must be mentally prepared.

To be fair to West Brom, they did attack us from the start and from what I’ve seen of them this season they play a similar style to Leeds with the high pressing/wing backs.

 

[Carloblues]

I would expect our first clean sheet since the opening day of the season here. Arsenal with 10 men for a whole half of football who are notoriously terrible defensively, held them at arms length fairly comfortably and kept them out.

Arsenal under arteta are actually decent at the back to be fair, it's going forward were they are lacking.

That being said, we should batter Leeds, I Kait don't think they are very good. A lot of championship players in that squad

 

[BlueToff]

Mad really because Godfrey's main strength was supposedly his ability on the ball.

I think he looks more of a CDM than a CB to me - looks nervous playing at the back think a bit further forward may give him the confidence to get on the ball a bit.

With that front 3 and fullbacks we dont necessarily need much creativity in the midfield it hasn't done Liverpool any harm up until signing Thiago.

Gomes/Siggurdsson only pass sideways and back anyway so hardly missing someone spraying balls around!

Well tbf I think it was an asset but his main strength is clearly pace - he's very quick across the ground in a sprint, showed that a few times yesterday.

 

[BlueToff]

To be fair to West Brom, they did attack us from the start and from what I’ve seen of them this season they play a similar style to Leeds with the high pressing/wing backs.

West Brom would have been a massively different game without that red - you're spot on that they got at us.

Not saying we wouldn't have gone on to win, like, but they saw we had clear weaknesses with pace.

That will always be the case while we have both Mina and Keane in the side. Turn them and you can get at them

 

[Egil Olsen]

To be fair to West Brom, they did attack us from the start and from what I’ve seen of them this season they play a similar style to Leeds with the high pressing/wing backs.

Haven't seen WBA very much, not a team that is tempting to watch. But based on the PPDA, there is a big difference between these two teams.

 

[MikeH72]

Haven't seen WBA very much, not a team that is tempting to watch. But based on the PPDA, there is a big difference between these two teams.

Not even gonna pretend to know what this means, all I know is what I’ve seen from watching them. They were very, in fact overly open against us.

 

[Egil Olsen]

Not even gonna pretend to know what this means, all I know is what I’ve seen from watching them. They were very, in fact overly open against us.

A way that defensive pressure can be quantified is through a metric called “Passes Per Defensive Action”. The concept is this: take the number of passes the opposition attempted, and divide that by the sum of the 4 proactive defensive stats (interceptions, successful tackles, failed tackles, and fouls).

A low number (e.g. 5.4 PPDA) means "high defensive pressure" - the opposition was only connecting 5 passes for every defensive action. A high number (e.g. 17.2 PPDA) means "low defensive pressure" - that over 17 passes were typically attempted before a proactive challenge was made.

 

[BlueToff]

Same team but Holgate for Mina and you'd think about Olsen in as a "rotation"

A week to fix the defense and hopefully stop a counter attacking leads.

--------------=Olsen
-----Godfrey Keane Holgate
Iwobi -------------------- Digne
----------Allan Doucoure
-------James DCL Richarlison

Worry for me with a back three is we'd just get pinned back by Leeds into a back five, and James would be spending most of his time in midfield like we saw in the second half against Fulham.

 

[ForeverBlue92]

Well tbf I think it was an asset but his main strength is clearly pace - he's very quick across the ground in a sprint, showed that a few times yesterday.

These next two games are vital for Europe imo - Dec games will be thick and fast and we'll drop points as we haven't the squad depth to rotate adequately enough.

Nothing but 6 points out of Leeds & Burnley and I couldn't see us finishing higher than 8th.

 

[MikeH72]

A way that defensive pressure can be quantified is through a metric called “Passes Per Defensive Action”. The concept is this: take the number of passes the opposition attempted, and divide that by the sum of the 4 proactive defensive stats (interceptions, successful tackles, failed tackles, and fouls).

A low number (e.g. 5.4 PPDA) means "high defensive pressure" - the opposition was only connecting 5 passes for every defensive action. A high number (e.g. 17.2 PPDA) means "low defensive pressure" - that over 17 passes were typically attempted before a proactive challenge was made.

Fair enough, I don’t really get how that tells you if a team is parking the bus like. I think you’d have to watch them play to determine if they’re doing that.

 

[BlueToff]

These next two games are vital for Europe imo - Dec games will be thick and fast and we'll drop points as we haven't the squad depth to rotate adequately enough.

Nothing but 6 points out of Leeds & Burnley and I cant see us finishing higher than 8th.

Mate, come on. It's nine games in.

It's a long season. We're four points behind the joint-leaders.

We need to keep the wins up - totally agree - but Europe's not going to be settled 11 games into the season, especially in a year when everything is going to be so tight.