ADKINS: KAM IN POLE SPOT
MARCELO BIELSA accepts that Leeds have “a problem” – and rated their form as only six out of 10.
The Elland Road boss says they have “missed an opportunity” to take charge at the top of the Championship after just one win in five games.
Leeds started the season on fire, racing to five wins in an unbeaten six games, but failing to convert chances and win their battles has seen the club slip to fourth.
Defeat by Blackburn last Saturday has Bielsa and his “15 assistants” doing a thorough analysis of what has to change.
He reckons Leeds are a team of “creating, not a fighting one” and must become more ruthless, starting at home to Ipswich tonight and Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Bielsa said: “In the first five games we won four of them. And in the last eight games we
Bristol City Kick-off 7.45pm Hull City
NIGEL ADKINS has backed Kamil Grosicki to ease Hull away from relegation trouble.
The winger missed out on a two-year loan to Turkish side Bursaspor in the summer and is one of their most talented stars.
Grosicki (above) will stay until January and boss Adkins says he is hitting form again.
The Pole could start against Bristol City today and Adkins said: “It’s good that Kamil has got back involved again. We’re trying to get him into positions where he can be a massive threat.” only won twice. It’s impossible not to see a problem. Are we the best team in the Championship? We can’t say we are too good to have ups and downs.
“Imagine in the last eight matches, instead of two, we had four wins – we would be the leaders of the Championship.
“We are trying to make the right diagnosis because otherwise any correction would be a mistake. We need to correct, we have to change this cycle of results and find out the real reason for us not winning the games.
“For me, the main reason is we need more chances to score every time. At the beginning we needed two or three chances to score once and now we need five, six chances to score. This is very important. We have other aspects too that I analyse.
“In the first cycle of games we lacked two players. Now, in this cycle, we have six missing. I don’t think this is the main problem.
Preston NE Kick-off 7.45pm
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Brentford
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THOMAS FRANK insists he can handle the pressure of being Brentford head coach.
The Dane (below) takes his Bees side to Deepdale tonight looking for their first league away win of the season.
Brentford have fallen out of the play-off places and Frank’s first game in charge ended in defeat at the weekend after replacing Dean Smith at the helm.
“We know when you’re head coach you take a lot of decisions, the massive difference is that you pick the team,” he said. The average of the performances in the first five was seven out of 10 and now it’s around six out of 10. There’s not a big difference.
“The physical performance has always been satisfactory. It was not a problem to get possession and impose our style.
“It’s difficult to play with the ball, with a style and play with a friction game. Of course a team who is playing long balls and disputed balls don’t have the capacity to impose a style of play. Our team has more main features of creating, not a fighting one.
“We’re the second team with goals scored, we are the first team regarding goals missed, the next team after us missed only 50 per cent of the chances we missed.
“This leads us to the following conclusion – we are less efficient and we could build the offensive profile of the team. This is a long answer because I’m giving you the analysis I made.”
West Brom Kick-off 8pm
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Derby
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WEST BROM boss Darren Moore says he and Derby manager Frank Lampard have much in common - but never as players.
Lampard takes his Derby side to face Baggies at the Hawthorns tonight and Moore (right) said: “There are a lot of similarities. Similar clubs, similar status, and we are both young managers in our first jobs and both in the Championship.
“But as players I’d have to say Frank had just a little bit more finesse than me!
“I might beat him in an arm-wrestle though.”