LUFC Leeds fans view v Crystal Palace

I made the trip to Selhurst Park on Saturday and was in the hot seat for the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.

Lonergan 7
Without Lonergan, we could have been out of the game inside the opening ten minutes as he made two good saves to deny Palace in the first couple of minutes. He could do little with the goal.

Thompson 5
I thought he really struggled for the first hour. In the first few minutes he was easily beaten for pace, which led to Palace`s first chance. He was making mistakes and you could actually see it getting to him at the start of the second half. He looked a different player once Snodgrass came on and with Palace down to ten, he was finding plenty of space down the Leeds right.

O`Dea 6
Lees and O`Dea are definitely the best pairing at centre back. Looked assured and with Palace down to ten in the second half had a relatively quiet afternoon.

Lees 6
He could have challenged for the ball much earlier with the ball lose as Palace opened the scoring. Backed off far enough to give the Palace player a sight of goal before deciding to press the ball, by which time it was too late. Apart from that, he played well at the back and was unlucky not to score.

White 6
Quiet game for White and never really got forward to help out in attack. I was still surprised to see him taken off, with Pugh moving to left back.

Townsend 4
He has got the first touch of a baby elephant. He tries to do far too much at times rather than look for the easy ball. Crossing into the middle was poor and he was taken off corner duty after two shocking balls into the middle. He had a number of long-range efforts with only one going relatively close.

Clayton 6
He has looked much better in his last two games, getting stuck in and controlling the centre of the park.

Brown 5
It was probably one of his better games in a Leeds shirt. He got stuck in and had plenty of time in the middle. Unfortunately, we need someone alongside Clayton who has got a good engine to get up and down the pitch.
We are desperately missing a creative midfielder who is box to box.

Pugh 5
He had an ok game, nothing special. He dropped in at left back for the last half hour.

Becchio 2
What has happened to the Luciano Becchio of the last three seasons? People keep saying he has not got over his injury. I am sorry, he has now made over 20 appearances this season and he is a shadow of the player that Leeds fans took to their hearts. What Leeds fans loved about Becchio was his ability to give 100%. Chase, harry and put in a good shift. He now just looks laboured and uninterested. How fans can still sing the Berbatov song is beyond me. We need a striker desperately.

McCormack 5
He worked hard all afternoon and he is definitely the best striker at the club. He played his part in the equaliser when a lot of strikers would have shot at goal rather than setting up Snodgrass.


Substitutes

Snodgrass 7 Man of the match
Without his contribution, I do not think we would have scored had we still been playing now. As soon as he came on he gave the Palace defence something to worry about and was in the right place at the right time for the equalising goal. He is becoming a bit one dimensional though as he always wants to cut back in instead of going to the bye line.

Forssell 5
With Becchio doing absolutely nothing, why was he only given ten minutes to make any impression. He did have a great chance late on to win it for Leeds. Unless we bring in a striker in the next week then Forssell needs to partner McCormack next weekend.

Summary
If somebody had offered me a point before kick-off, I would have probably have taken it. Palace are a decent side, well organised and tough to break down. Them going down to ten men probably did not help, as they were willing to sit back and soak up what we could throw at them. That was our problem, we lack something in the final third, we just don`t look dangerous.

For the last few seasons, we have always had plenty of goals in the side, at the moment we don`t.

Two weeks left of the transfer window and I think we need strengthening in three areas. Thompson has done ok at right back but I would love to see Eric Lichaj back at the club. We need some pace and power in the centre of midfield and not a 34-year-old journeyman. We need someone who can play up front alongside McCormack as well, we lack a killer instinct up top.

In the end, disappointed to only come away with a point, we really should have taken the three points in the end.

One final thing, why was there such a large police presence? We took 2,000 more fans there last season and there was half the police there that day.

Things must be tight after Christmas and they all need a bit of overtime.




Vital Leeds are the proud sponsors of the Thames Valley Whites Regional Supporters club

The fastest growing Leeds United supporters club in the South of England, with over 200 members since its formation in April 2009, travel to all games home and away.

The branch has pick up points at Basingstoke, Reading, Didcot, Abingdon, Oxford, Bicester and Banbury and will consider other pick up points on request.


Vital Leeds offers everything that a Leeds United supporter could wish for. If you can think of something and suggest it, we`ll put it on the website!

With news and views, along with a forum, polls and article comments, everything you need in a fans site is right here!

You can even win prizes, by posting articles comments, posting on the message forum and voting on the polls.

Vital is also 100% interactive. Not only can you have your say on the articles and the forum but you can also suggest an article or a poll so you can air your views.

So why not join Vital today?

It's easy to register here and enjoy getting involved

Message Board

To visit the message board, click here.

Get involved

This website is your website and we are looking for people to help run the site. Do you go to most of the games and have an opinion? Why not write a match report? Perhaps you are a budding journalist or even just someone who is very opinionated? Well why not join our team? If this interests you please contact Vital Leeds .









Vital Leeds is now available on both facebook and twitter, so if you are that way inclined and more importantly understand all this new fangled dangled stuff, feel free to watch us, poke us or whatever else you are meant to do there!

Vital Leeds on:


Vital Leeds on:

Join Vital Leeds

It's easy to REGISTER HERE, simply click the link and enjoy getting involved!

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.