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Is it Hockaday or are Leeds still missing something?

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As we near the end of pre-season in England David Hockaday’s United now sit with a win, a loss and a draw under their belts. Obviously results in pre-season don’t really matter; the games are played to improve fitness and experiment with new tactics and players. That being said I could happily accept a loss if I was seeing consistent form in the games and a generally good performance; most Leeds fans would agree this has not been the case. When I was casually asked about my appraisal of United’s tactics across the pre-season games I was able to confidently reply with “not good.”

From what I’ve seen the team and tactics don’t really seem to have changed much from last season, except at least then a much more experienced manager was at the helm to make changes during the match and analyse the situation on the field. Hockaday stated (rather prematurely I would say) that the team who would start against Chesterfield this past Saturday would be the team to start against Milwall in the first match of the season. Hockaday’s starting XI consisted of only one of the new signings made by Cellino in this transfer window; so has The President just simply been wasting his money, Hock? Now all of Cellino’s new faces (short of Taylor) made an appearance after half time, but is that what we’ve bought, a bunch of bench warmers?

Now perhaps this is the case, perhaps we are still waiting for the missing piece and the new players are good but only in a pinch. However, the back pass wonder Steve Morison should not be starting on the wing over a better prospect such as Doukara; nor should Warnock, who has been told he is free to leave, be starting over new signing Berardi. Not to mention Rudy Austin returning to the role of captain cannot be good for either team or player, I thought we had learned this lesson already. I do appreciate the inclusion of Cook and Dawson to the squad, as well as Hock’s philosophy that “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.” Unfortunately Hock’s tactics do not seem up to scratch and really it seems unsurprising; McDermott was accused of being out of his depth and he was far more accomplished than Hockaday.

Despite having said all this I will admit that we are left with another possible conclusion and it is simply that Cellino still has not quite managed to fill the necessary gaps in the squad. Looking at Wootton flailing around on defense and Morison constantly looking like he belongs in a pub team instead or even a Conference team does make me feel sorry that the Hock doesn’t have as much to work with as he should. Obviously Byram has been a stand out, as have Murphy, Cook and Smith, but aside from some decent work from Bianchi and Austin the entire squad have looked poor.

This brings us back to our original point; is the Hock working with a poor squad or is he out of his depth, issuing poor instructions to decent players. Time may well give us the answer, but hopefully this answer comes before it gets too much later. Obviously Cellino is free to replace his coach whenever he sees fit, however it would be unfortunate if the damage had already been done.

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  • I have said it before and will say it again,we have a boy wonder,a goal scorer extrordinare,green as the proverbial but no fear or respect for the opposition.El Presidente,Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Master McDaid..What are we waiting for.

    • gazza says:

      hes a kid not ready yet never ever played in an intermediate match yet give him a year or two

  • leeds oldie says:

    The formation has not changed he even played the same defence wooton warnock ect morrison as a left winger if thats the best he can do well i fear for us
    I had hoped he would have more modern idea of tatics he obviously has not seen the world cup his slow keep the ball at all costs 5 passes back 1 forward is not progress and a team of under 22s when all the italians are here will not work
    As regards the mcdaid why not
    like eddie gray said if hes good enough he is young enough

    • leeds need a big name forward very quickley, who have we got, smith cant do it on his own,give all the great leeds fans a big lift pre season, asap cellino,

  • Terry Cohen says:

    Plenty of time for the new manager /coach to hone the team as the season gets underway.
    Promotion is not a must this season “but should be next” so just wait and watch and be patient.
    The old squad lads will soon realise that they have to change their ways or go.
    Cellino is not stupid and this is a big club. He has shrewdly made money on Macormack and promotion from the Championship isn’t a foregone conclusion for any team yet.
    My prediction is mid table

  • john palmer says:

    Agree, except Austin is the worst player I’ve seen, we will loose our 1st 4/5 games if that last x1 is his best, also how ever bad it cant be worse than Warnock and McDermott,we have had to put up with this clueless rubbish for too long.once again we have a twat in charge scared to attack and play flair above donkeys

  • Mick Moran says:

    Having watched a pre-season friendly (the defeat to Mansfield) it certainly looked like we needed some better players. The central defence as a big question mark, we don’t have a strong person to control the back line. Also the midfield is where we are lacking a quality play maker and we might still need that out and out striker who can worry opposing defences and score on a regular basis. There is still a lot of work to be done with Leeds United this season to make them title contenders and not cannon fodder.

  • Mike says:

    I see this as square peg triangle hole. I don’t think we’re strong enough back to front to field a team but I also think he’s misusing the players we have as well.

    Not strong enough is having players like Lees/Wooton as our only choices to start beside Pearce, and having no wide players to slot in so Hock could be creative with formations.

    Here’s where Hock comes in to play now… Taylor/White/Berardi(yes 3 choices) should be in over Warnock end of discussion, Warnock’s biggest issue is he just can’t do the running anymore. Aidy White should not be playing RIGHT MID that’s just a joke, Steve Morison is NOT a winger, and Matt Smith isnt the kind of striker you can strand up there by himself(i like him but he’s just not that type of player).

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