That iconic Leeds midfielder, Johnny Giles, was in town this week promoting his autobiography. The partnership he formed with Billy Bremner in the centre of Leeds' midfield was the envy of the Football world and instrumental in propelling Leeds to the summit of football's elite in those far off days. I was lucky enough to see Giles in his pomp as he toyed with opposing teams like a cat playing with a doomed mouse before dispatching him to mouse heaven. Oh how I wish we had another Johhny Giles just breaking into today's Leeds team. If we did this is what it might look like! (turn off the background music at the bottom of the blog page)
Back to reality and good news for Somma and Mad Max this week as they both received international call ups. For Davide Somma it's recognition of his progress this season and his growing reputation as a goal scorer, in deed he is our top scorer with 7 goals from 8 starts. At the start of the season with Mr Beckford's departure there was real concern as to where this season's goals were going to come from . Strange how it's not the scoring but the leaking of goals at the other end that has been our real issue? Talking of strikers Lord Larry now has a diverse mix of striking talent available ranging from the silky skills and neat footwork of Somma, to the hard working and heading ability of Lucciano and now the "battering ram" style of Billy Paynter. Expect our leader to "slice and dice" his options dependent on the oppositions skills and weaknesses. A nice problem to have me thinks?
Mr Becchio appeared on the website sporting a shiner after his battle with Ian Ashbee on Tuesday. Once again the consistent inconsistency of the football authorities came to the fore. The Tiger's centre half clearly caught "Our Argie" with a swinging arm, not too dissimilar to one a certain Mr Beckford did against Millwall. Both incidents were reported to the authorities one resulting in a 3 match ban and one with no sanction whatsoever? Bizarre.
So to our game with Bristol City, which thank god is a 3 o'clock Saturday kick off. The tightness of the championship is reflected in our current league position as we sit level on points with Coventry who occupy the last play off spot. If we win on Saturday we could creep up to 5th or alternatively a defeat could see us drop back to 14th. When you think of some of the horror shows we have witnessed in the name of following Leeds this season it is remarkable that we are still in the mix. Our form in the last three games has certainly improved and any sign that our famously creaky back line are at last becoming a bit more Scrooge like will inevitably propel Leeds on an upwardly mobile course as we approach the season of goodwill. Bristol will be a tough test though as they received a massive boost to their confidence with their victory at the Liberty Stadium this week. Despite that I will tentatively suggest that without the "Tuesday night curse" Leeds will triumph over the Bristolians at the Theatre of Hope by a comfortable 3.1 margin....................we have 6 games to go before Santa comes down the chimney. A haul of 12 points deposited in the promotion vault by then would certainly have this fan dreaming of more than just a White Xmas. Possible? Well in my experience anything is possible on Planet Leeds.............just keep believing! Seatbelts fastened, defibrillators at the ready, let the fun begin!
Can't wait.
MOT
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