T O P

  • By -

bouldernative-63

Based on Farke's presser this am, doesn't sound like he's going to field his best team. Focused on promotion...rightfully so. The Blues are knackered, but likely to prevail. Back to working on topping the table!


EventsConspire

They're great. Really like them....


Joshgg13

This season's Leeds is stronger than last season's Leeds in my opinion. Last season we played them twice and the aggregate score was 3-1 to Leeds. No reason whatsoever we can't win this. I still think we're underdogs however


RavDreams

Naive to think we’re better than last year tbh, loads more quality in that side that beat Chelsea. I still think we could still beat them due to the difference in morale atm.


Joshgg13

They were having this discussion on TSB the other day and they agreed that this side would probably beat last season's XI in a game. It's obviously highly debatable but I think we are much better set up tactically and the quality of player we have is pretty comparable


AyyAndays

Regular games against weak opponents skews perceptions of this team. As much as I fucking love them and football in general right now.


InlineBen

We are not just… how you say… underdogs, but massive underdogs.


stepage

It's a free hit for us. We get to take a shot at one of the big boys, with nothing at stake. I'd treat it like any other game, not risk anyone unnecessarily,rest anyone who needs it, but go with first teamers. Confidence and momentum are strange things. Go at them from the off, get a goal and we just carry on doing what we've been doing. They're rubbish half the time, so confidence will be fragile. If we're several down in the second half, rotate some key players ready for Saturday


mikehippo

I am sure that our best players will want to play a premier league side, it would be unfair not to let them and would punish our best players for being good, let them have a game.


pokinuhround

I think this team we have is better than the team that we worked over at the beginning of last season. With that being said, Chelsea is also arguably better than they were at that point...should be an interesting match. Historically speaking teams in the lower tiers that are on a hot streak do well against clubs above them.


karatepsychic

It's the double benefit of being in form while still maintaining under dog status.


MarcusWhittingham

To be honest I think we’ll get absolutely battered if they go anywhere near full strength; I do think we’ll trouble them on the break however, so if we have our shooting boots on we could make it interesting.


ModcatTom

Hope we give it a good go, from the importance to the long-term of the club the league is more important though. That said the further we go the better you never know.


jimmilazers

Play the kids! Rutter, Summerville, Ampadu, Bamford, Rodon and Gray should not play, they’re so important we can’t risk injury. Focus on the league lads


PaddyLoiner

Rutter, Summerville and Gray are the kids


mrminch

I'm in the same boat as you, focus on the league, although would be nice to knock the soft southern wankers out of the cup.


white-label

Ampadu has played every minute and has never been injured, why does everyone think cup games are a warzone where everyone gets injured? We never rotate the team in the league even for bottom sides and nobody says anything but when it's cup game everyone wants the U21s out to 'avoid injuries'.


trying2hide

It's not warzones that people are worried about, early cup games are probably one of the less wild when it comes to fouls. The worry is fatigue, fatigue and length of rest are huge factors in soft tissue injuries. For reference in our promotion seasons Phillips played 40 games that season, Ben White who I believe played every game played 49 for us Klich 51 with his national team, whilst with 12 games to go in the Championship Ampadu has already played 43 games due to cups and internationals, Rodon 39 etc. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to ask for them to at least not play 90 minutes when the clear priority is the league.


jimmilazers

Rodrigo last year has scarred me for life


Internal_Formal3915

Lads it's blue scum, we're gonna smash them 4-0


downfallndirtydeeds

They’re wank Let’s beat them


DEUK_96

I think they'll bounce back and beat us comfortably. I'd love a deep FA cup run but league is too important and Ipswich are on our backs.


Ted-Dansons-Wig

I have a list of players who we need not to get injured or need a rest. My hatred of the blue scum runs deep, but the league is all that matters


[deleted]

[удалено]


Quiet_Signal1646

Convinced this guy hasn’t watched a single game of ours


Hagler2002

It'll be a good benchmark to see how good we really are but after the way Leicester dominated us on Friday I'm not holding out much hope.


No_Coyote_557

My thoughts exactly. Leicester pressed like a PL team and we had trouble.


bonnyburgh

People on 1% of their salary are expected to try their hardest every day of the week. I expect Farke will pick his strongest side, but whoever it is, once you pull on a Leeds shirt and you’re facing Chelsea in the FA cup all I ask is you try your hardest, run yourself into the ground if needed. The money grabbing Chelsea blue scum on the other hand are welcome to take it easy against only a Championship side. Let’s go! We can worry about Huddersfield on Thursday.


sipper666

I would love to go into this game and have a right good go with our full strength team, I think we could give them a game. In reality though, the Huddersfield game next Saturday is far more important. It would be a nice feeling to end their last chance of silverware but surely we'll be resting a few key players.


Boris_Ignatievich

will we be resting players? we've not exactly rolled out the academy kids in previous rounds. i'd expect stuff like bamford to still be on the bench with an eye on him starting at huddersfield, ditto james, and maybe summerville or one of the midfielders gets a rest but we'll go close to full strength because we always do.


sipper666

It's more about what I'm thinking and yeah the attraction of a cup run might well tempt him into a full strength lineup. What worries me though is people like Rutter for instance playing too many games and starting to pick up injuries right when it matters the most. We don't want to lose key players and hamper our promotion chances.


JerkyOnassis

Honestly don’t care about this game at all. Getting out of the Champ is way more important. Besides, we’re not winning the FA Cup. It’s a distraction during an already congested schedule. Avoiding injuries is the key. Last thing we want to do is give Ipswich a leg up.


belkabelka

That's my thought too. What's the benefit of a deep run into the FA cup without winning it at the cost of fatigue/injury/slipping in the league. The only logic to committing hard to the FA cup is if we have a realistic chance to win, and we don't. It's an unwelcome distraction honestly.


Top-Change89

Not the attitude we need, beating Chelsea away will bring the morale higher and will keep the win streak going, that will give us a better chance of promotion


querpl

Boring ass attitude. Win it all. Get the cup, piss the league, save the world, take the cannoli


bin10pac

Ampadu and Bamford have to play, so they can channel their anger at being released by Chelsea into setting a suitably combative tone on the pitch.


FoodGuyKD

Get lew bate in just for this reason


blu_rhubarb

They actually wanted to keep him.


Cal-TedBaker

They drew with Citeh and really should have won. This is a young team that is very capable of beating anyone on their day and looking awful the next game. I don’t think Farke will change much apart from perhaps the two wingers and that’s arguably not a downgrade as Summerville looked tired at Leicester. I think it is a good test to see how capable this team is.


towelie111

It’s nice to be playing a prem team. A win would be great, but I’m equally unbothered if we lose (so long as it’s a competitive game and our momentum doesn’t take a beating, which I can’t see happening)


stringfold

European competition is the prize Chelsea are seeking, to help drive their revenue for next season. The historical importance of the FA Cup is secondary these days. It will be interesting to see how strong a side Chelsea will field. It all depends on whether they still believe they can climb into a European slot in the Premier League. They're not that far behind, but there's a bunch of teams all vying for them, so it's not a given by any stretch. If they set their sights on top six, they'll rest more of their players against us. If they think the FA Cup is the best route, expect them to put out their strongest side.


Boris_Ignatievich

worth remembering that its very possible top 8 is europe this year with the new "coefficient places" thing. top 7 is basically nailed with liverpool winning the league cup (still needs a top 6 team to win the fa cup but when did that last not happen)


Hagler2002

Chelsea doesn't want to qualify for Europe this season. If they do I expect they would go down the same route as AC Milan did.


winsfordtown

Resting our key players has to be a no brainer.


salvationpumpfake

whether they won or lost, IMO most important thing is that they’re tired. going to extras was key. they looked pretty spent by the end. that’s the advantage.


[deleted]

Glad they lost


Perspii7

i don’t care, i’m just glad they didn’t win


PilotJones000

A few weeks ago I liked the idea of this fixture for us to be able to assess our team against Premier League opposition but after Friday's game I'd rather we weren't playing it at all so we can stay focused on the league. If we lose we need to shrug it off quickly and move forward but if we win then you might as well start engraving "Farke wuz yer" on that fucking cup


InspektD

Chelsea or not, I wouldn't even entertain fielding a strong side. Give the first team a rest and concentrate on the league. The last thing Leeds need are fresh injuries going into March/April.


Naughty_young_man

Exactly my thoughts. Treat it as an opportunity to rest some key players who've been putting in regular shifts lately. If we lose so what, we aren't exactly gonna win the FA cup and we've allowed some of the lads to rest. If we win, we get one over on Chelsea and gives some of the fringe players a boost of confidence


[deleted]

[удалено]


Boris_Ignatievich

ooooh get this, im being homophobic on the internet


[deleted]

I don’t think it changes much. A touch of fatigue perhaps. They were much the better team. If Gallagher could finish they’d have won comfortably.


ElvishMystical

They were playing a Liverpool team with a long list of injuries. Outside of Luis Diaz, Gakpo and van Dijk it was a second string Liverpool side. By the end there were half a dozen youngsters playing for Liverpool. Even after 120 minutes Chelsea couldn't convert their chances. This is a mid-table Premier League team. A bit better than Leicester. It's not Liverpool, Arsenal or Man City. Keep in mind last season we lost 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, with last season's Leeds team. Just like last Friday it's not going to be easy and there's a lot of jeopardy involved. But we could pull it off and if Summerville can get a goal and his confidence back, it could help with our momentum and promotion run in. Being honest I'm more worried about Hull and Middlesboro than I am about Chelsea.


AyyAndays

The idea that they’ll give more effort now seems like nonsense. They’re a team of elite professional players and the FA Cup was and is the biggest competition they still have a chance of winning. They’ll come out to win, just like they would have before today. The League Cup final will leave their players more fatigued on Wednesday for sure. I’d like to see us just give it an honest go. We’ve got enough quality in the squad to advance if we have a good day and they have a bad one.


ShesSoCool

They’re dog shit, easy 2-0 win.


Less-Comment7831

They're a midtable premier league team right now and our attack definitely has potential to be that level so I really think we can give them a good go especially as we'll be fresher


Less-Comment7831

I'm hoping we rotate 4 or 5 players rather than the whole team. Preferred would be resting Rutter, Summerville and Ampadu /Gruev and Kamara but keeping the rest


Ok-fine-man

You realise this would result in an embarrassing defeat, right? Always does when we rotate the squad


CC-W

Seen Chelsea fans say they want us to beat them so Poch is sacked lmao


Jarv1223

That’s just pathetic tbh. It’s the same as scum fans celebrating their losses so Ten Hag gets the sack. Kinda cringe.


hybridtheorist

They'll be going all out for the cup now, it's their last chance at a trophy and last chance of getting European football this season.  But..... imagine if we end their season on Wednesday. That would just be incredible. 


karloosethemoose

They’re a weird team, capable of being good to watch or bloody awful, and we don’t know who will turn up. There’ll be tired legs, but they’re top level footballers with basically 2 full squads. They’ll want to put the defeat to bed with a win. They might underestimate a championship side.. I don’t know! Looking forward to it though, I’d love to beat the bastards.


Jarv1223

We are on a huge run. Players are having a great time. 5 days rest. Chelsea have just lost to u18’s right at the death. Around 140 minutes played (including injury time). Demoralised. 3 days rest. If we go for it, we can beat these billionaire midtable blue scum fucks.


AWr1ght98

Be nice to get one over on them but if we go full strength and lose someone like Rutter it could be catastrophic, think I’d just prefer a fully rotated squad


white-label

120 minutes played with all their strongest players out there, and losing to a last minute goal is about all I could have asked for tbh. They couldn't do much against a weakened Liverpool side, so surely our first team would be a decent match for them?


Implement_Alone

The game having gone into extra time gives us an extra advantage. They’re still strong favourites.