What was the sliding doors moment of the season (1 Viewer)

SkyB · Feb 9, 2026

Feels like a hipster answer but it's Watford at home for me. I know we won but christ did we have to hang on against 10 men for most of the game.

It gave everyone the blueprint on where we were weak. They had a lot of fast, athletic runners and just ran at us through the middle all game

I also agree with the earlier comments, I think we had a squad that had been together for months and everyone knew how to play together. Now other teams have had that adjusting period we've just reverted back to the average.

viridisman · Feb 9, 2026

I think it started before ipswich.
They just took advantage of what was presented to them.
Spent 1st 3rd of the season battering everyone until Disney soccer Ltd actually did some homework and found us out, a few teams took notice of this and suddenly these dominant plays were nulled out.
Could see it even in victories after Disney, wherever we played the ball, our players were being swamped and couldn't make the successive runs and plays that made us so effective. The times we have won since then were by some freaky goals that either just oddly fell into the net, or a freak shot that found home.
There needs to be a plan B tactically, cuz plan A is now a known thing each and every game.

Ellery Cairo's Wig · Feb 9, 2026

Ccfcisparks said:
I would be amazed if that were the case

His mother mentioned it to someone I know but she could have got the wrong end of the stick. Like a lot of these things they are never made public so we will probably never know 100%

Ccfcisparks · Feb 9, 2026

Ellery Cairo's Wig said:
His mother mentioned it to someone I know but she could have got the wrong end of the stick. Like a lot of these things they are never made public so we will probably never know 100%

I dont see the benefit to Leeds of paying him that much and not using him as a glorified training dummy at a minimum

oscillatewildly · Feb 9, 2026

Ellery Cairo's Wig said:
His mother mentioned it to someone I know but she could have got the wrong end of the stick. Like a lot of these things they are never made public so we will probably never know 100%

Some footballers do 'ave 'em!

AOM · Feb 9, 2026

Think the illness going round along with the tight December schedule wiped quite a few players out, and then losing to Ipswich 3-0 at the end of it.
Was pretty clear MVE was ill during a lot of games (wasn't he physically sick at times?), but still had to take part in most of them and he's looked burnt out recently

CCFCSteve · Feb 9, 2026

Ccfcisparks said:
I dont see the benefit to Leeds of paying him that much and not using him as a glorified training dummy at a minimum

Wouldn’t surprise me, clubs pay up contracts now and then. They knew he couldn’t deliver at Prem level, had had injury problems and been a good servant for the club over a number of years. I can’t imagine any club would have had to pay Leeds any compensation for subsequently signing him though. He’s a decent player at this level but wouldn’t have solved our recent problems

I’m not sure it’s one sliding doors moment more a mixture of sending offs, illness, poor individual form/errors, iffy refs and being too open away from home. Just hasn’t been going our way recently.

However, another bit of perspective, if anyone had said we’d still be top of the league with Rudoni having been injured and out of form most of the season and wright having only scored a couple in our last 16-17 games, most fans would’ve told them to piss off (or worse).

Hincha · Feb 9, 2026

Blackburn at home was the first game where teams were figuring us out.

Since then it’s been a mixture of:

- small squad
- lack of rotation
- illness
- injuries
- no tactical adaption
- mounting pressure
- unsettled back line

more death by a thousand cuts than a sliding doors moment

skybluelee · Feb 9, 2026

Hincha said:
Blackburn at home was the first game where teams were figuring us out.

Since then it’s been a mixture of:

- small squad
- lack of rotation
- illness
- injuries
- no tactical adaption
- mounting pressure
- unsettled back line

more death by a thousand cuts than a sliding doors moment

Which was also the first game we played as league leaders.

So basically we need Middlesbrough to win tonight so we can get back to playing properly.

Calista · Feb 9, 2026

CCFCSteve said:
Said before Simms (8 in 9 starts) has outscored Bamford (6 in 8 starts I think) since Bamford joined SU and we only play one up top.

He might’ve chipped in but in but I doubt he’d have changed our form

He's a much more cultured player though, and would surely have improved our control of games.

CCFCSteve · Feb 9, 2026

Calista said:
He's a much more cultured player though, and would surely have improved our control of games.

100% he’s technically far better than any of our forwards. Limited pace and physicality though

Might he have nicked a late goal or two extra, possibly but I don’t think it would’ve changed the holes in midfield and teams catching us on the counter which is probably the main reason we dropped points

SU have been on fire recently (second in form league over last 15) and Bamford’s still been out scored by Simms who’s been in a team that everyone agrees has been struggling a bit

Tommo1993 · Feb 9, 2026

Ipswich away I think. Wasn’t anywhere near our worst performance but result-wise we had our arses handed to us. I don’t think it helped mentality to be playing them so soon afterwards, and that loss was pretty convincing. I know this was in the thick of flu. But since then I don’t think we’ve been properly at it all.

On an individual basis, quite a few players were overperforming early on.

Perennial Lurker · Feb 9, 2026

Losing BTA is , for me , when the drop off started . His energy around the park keeps us playing at a high tempo , he was scoring goals and was the driving force behind our high press .
Obviously other factors haven't helped but his injury was the catalyst in my humble opinion

oscillatewildly · Feb 9, 2026

skybluelee said:
Which was also the first game we played as league leaders.

So basically we need Middlesbrough to win tonight so we can get back to playing properly.

THIS! This might just work

Skyblueabo1111 · Feb 9, 2026

sotvtoday said:
Perhaps because our strikers have been pretty woeful for the last 2 months (along with virtually everyone except the goalkeeper).
Bamford would have scored goals though, and we would have had several more points.
Still - Doug saved a million quid.
(I realise this is much easier with hindsight, but to me it looked like a no-brainer).
If the idea was to show confidence in Wright and Simms then that has backfired spectacularly.

Simms record says otherwise. He got the award with Frank, when he had scored something like 9 in 11 games. Wright came back, straight in. Wright is on something like 2 in 20? Simms 10,in 13 starts. I did say to sign Bamford, as well. He would have given us a different option. Frank only has a plan A at the moment. Hopefully he will find a new way, against Middlesbrough.

edgy · Feb 9, 2026

Maybe our sliding doors moment hasn't actually happened yet. Maybe not being top of the league will be it.

viridisman · Feb 9, 2026

edgy said:
Maybe our sliding doors moment hasn't actually happened yet. Maybe not being top of the league will be it.

It might happen this week, it may happen next week, we might chase better than we lead.

Chris1987 · Feb 9, 2026

Lampard getting rumbled by other managers and having no plan B.

wingy · Feb 9, 2026

Tommo1993 said:
Ipswich away I think. Wasn’t anywhere near our worst performance but result-wise we had our arses handed to us. I don’t think it helped mentality to be playing them so soon afterwards, and that loss was pretty convincing. I know this was in the thick of flu. But since then I don’t think we’ve been properly at it all.

On an individual basis, quite a few players were overperforming early on.

Furlong at it, return Furlong at it, should have had Bidwell in the side possibly on both occasions,no messing!

alexccfc99 · Feb 9, 2026

Late shout for Rob Edwards being a money chasing twat

They would not be top now if he was still their manager, this manager is a cut above

Sky_Blue_Daz · Feb 16, 2026

Hopefully this

Sky_Blue_Daz · Feb 17, 2026

Thinking about it the effort that hit the post and bounced out to one of our players rather then in off the post or out to a boro player before their first goal. That could of swung the game

wingy · Feb 17, 2026

Sky_Blue_Daz said:
Thinking about it the effort that hit the post and bounced out to one of our players rather then in off the post or out to a boro player before their first goal. That could of swung the game

What happened with ours, probably similar, anyway to get a slice of luck you have to make it, that's my motto.

Sick Boy · Feb 17, 2026

Chris1987 said:
Lampard getting rumbled by other managers and having no plan B.

It’s mid Feb and we’re top of league.

Chris1987 · Feb 17, 2026

Sick Boy said:
It’s mid Feb and we’re top of league.

So we are but the Eureka moment a little sooner could have kept us top of the league by a much greater margin

Sick Boy · Feb 17, 2026

Chris1987 said:
So we are but the Eureka moment a little sooner could have kept us top of the league by a much greater margin

The recent signings have all made a difference and were what was needed.

Skyblueabo1111 · Feb 18, 2026

That game. Frank the tank signing. Assante back on Saturday, everyone fit.I think that is 3 though. Doh! Frank finding another way to play! 4 Double doh!

baldy · Feb 18, 2026

Skyblueabo1111 said:
That game. Frank the tank signing. Assante back on Saturday, everyone fit.I think that is 3 though. Doh! Frank finding another way to play! 4 Double doh!

You're doubling DOH on your comment

oscillatewildly · Feb 18, 2026

baldy said:
You're doubling DOH on your comment

Berdum TISSSSHHHH!

SBAndy · Feb 18, 2026

Here’s hoping it’s the penalty on Monday. I feared that if Wright missed that we weren’t going on to win the game.

oscillatewildly · Feb 18, 2026

It was a stunningly placed spot kick to be fair.
Great recovery after the ‘Kick It For A Ticket’ catastrophe in the same goal.

Londonccfcfan · Feb 18, 2026

Skyblueabo1111 said:
That game. Frank the tank signing. Assante back on Saturday, everyone fit.I think that is 3 though. Doh! Frank finding another way to play! 4 Double doh!

I was agreeing with you untill you mentioned Asante.

Skyblueabo1111 · Feb 18, 2026

Londonccfcfan said:
I was agreeing with you untill you mentioned Asante.

Prior to being injured, he was out best player. 10 goals, as well.

JSL · Feb 18, 2026

skybluelee said:
Which was also the first game we played as league leaders.

So basically we need Middlesbrough to win tonight so we can get back to playing properly.

Looking good so far!

ptr · Feb 18, 2026

When we signed Frank Onyeka and started making tackles in midfield.

What was the sliding doors moment of the season (1 Viewer)

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