Premier League

Match Preview. City v Leeds United (Away) Boxing Day 1999

Christmas Presence

Peter Gilbert   23.12.99
With all this Christmas shopping, and wrapping and cooking and cleaning and EGM's and Cup replays and injuries and mystery and intrigue,  it should not go un-noticed that we have a football match away to top of the League Leeds Utd on Boxing Day.
This will indeed be a grim battle and our rather depleted resources are going to be tested to the limit.   Watching the game against Hereford was worrying.   We won it, but at least half of the team on the pitch that night ;peripheral players as MON calls them, were not up to the task in hand. Too many of them were over keen to pass the ball to somewhere else or at best someone else,   they didn't mind just as long as they 'got rid' of it.   Being a part of any successful team requires a committed and significant contribution from everyone and had it not been for the 'regulars' Izzett and Savage particularly we would have lost the day against non league opposition.   So moving back to Premiership matters and 'top of the tree' to boot is going to need a huge contribution from the whole team.   We can rely on the following players to perform on the day:Flowers,Elliott, Taggert, Savage, Izzett, Heskey and Cottee.   The other players required for the complete jig saw are either unproven, injured,past it or not up to it. So this brave new world we are entering into with a harmonious board can start off the new millennium by spending some serious money and giving us all a team we deserve which will capitalise on the magnificent achievements thus far.
Leeds Utd away.......hmmm.....Boxing Day.......having just beaten them and won at Elland Road last season they will undoubtedly be 'up for it.'   We were a passionate outfit when we met last week and that same passion combined with organisational skills and never tackling Kewell any where near the penalty are going to be required in abundance if we are to overcome.
This Leeds side though young is hard to beat and as with other 'great' Leeds sides will resort to any methods to achieve a victory and that includes cheating.
So defenders - watch out.
Their midfield is a very fluid commodity and players appear to be able to attack or defend at will and their free roaming style makes them very hard to mark. They have a keeper as good as ours and possibly the best two full backs in the country.   Their centre backs are top quality and Emile Heskey will have to contend with a physical challenge and a venomous crowd following Radebe's sending off at Filbert Street which even in 'slo mo' looks entirely justifiable. Cottee's turning and jinking as well as Eadie's speed could well be a deciding factor in their box.   The fact that both Radebe and Woodgate were marking Heskey was a fascinating insight and Emile appeared to relish it, but if he can isolate one of them he can take them and free up his partner. We must commit players forward and our body count in their box could be a vital factor. Sadly it is the sort of game Neil Lennon would have relished.  He has presence in bucket loads and his injury is a cruel blow but I suppose inevitable from time to time.
To me their attackers appear quite anonymous and I don't rate Bridges or Smith very highly but their support from midfield and full backs is priceless. It will undoubtedly be a fascinating encounter.
I am thoroughly sick and tired of O'Leary's post match interviews which is gloatingly dressed up with cliches, tunnel vision, fake modesty and lies.

Did You Know?

1.Leeds Utd were formed in 1919 when Leeds City were wound up following allegations of illegal payments. So they're very young in reality and by comparison.
2. They have been league champs three times.
3.They have won the FA Cup once in the centenary year, and the League Cup once too.
4. They have competed in Europe 14 times and won The Fairs Cup twice.
5. Don Revie, when the manager, changed the club colours to all white in the style of the legendary Real Madrid as a psychological ploy over the opposition.
6. Their record league victory was over us in 1934 when they won 8-0.
7. Their nickname is The Peacocks - I don't know why- and they hold he record of having scored the fewest goals (28 from 38 matches) in '96/'97 in The Premiership.
8. They hold the record for the fewest league defeats in a 42 match season when in '68/'69 they lost only twice.
9. They finished 4th last season.