What was the sliding doors moment of the season (5 Viewers)

[Ccfcisparks]

From what I have heard Bamford's contract with Leeds ran until summer 2026 and although he had been "let go" by Leeds they were still paying him (almost £2m per year I believe). Whoever signed him would not only have had to give him a contract but also pay a sum of money to Leeds by way of compensation. This means paying quite a large sum of money for someone who had only played 235 minutes of Championship football in 15 months. Whether or not the final decision made proves a prudent one or not is for us to discuss but at the time if these details (assuming they are correct) were available to us would we as owners of a club wanted to take that chance especially if it meant paying almost double what the highest earner reportedly receives for a forward who seemed injury prone and not the most prolific in recent times. Type in "Bamford missed chances" into Google and he appearas in many stats tables as a leading man. This is not to say he would not score the chances that Wright, SImms etc have recently missed but going back three months with the available information and stats would seem a relatively high risk. Not saying who is right or wrong merely adding in what I have been told along with his recent injuries and form. Of course we are all wise with hindsight and he has done well so far for SU but if we all benefitted from hindsight we would all be successful managers/owners in our own right!

I would be amazed if that were the case

 

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[SkyB]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[viridisman]

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]

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

 

[wingy]

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!