Leeds badly need to win tomorrow’s game at home to Colchester United, and Gary Mc.Allister is asking his team to “win ugly”.
This doesn’t mean that Leeds are going to re-sign Kevin Hird and Joe Jordan, but it does sound like Macca is prepared to tone down the flowing passing football that his teams have adopted until now, and if necessary he will look to battle and grind out a couple of results.
He told the official site "We have to be uglier at times. We have to win ugly. It has to be an 'over our dead bodies' attitude. When you have the man it is your responsibility. If you don't win the ball, make sure he doesn't either. You have to stand toe to toe with your opponents. It's not a tactical minefield here. We're asking them to get the ball down and pass it, but there are other options and sometimes you have to move it quicker."
And he promised that the squad are still working hard to iron out the faults that are threatening to ruin our season, but he’s still confident they can turn things around. “This week has seen a lot of our hard work as you can imagine working on our deficiencies. We've been a little soft defensively, and we have to be harder to play against. Every attempt is being made to make things better. We are dominating the majority of games. We're not getting the rub of the green, but you make your own luck and a couple of results will change that."
Jermaine Beckford and Andy Robinson will again be missing with their hamstring injuries, but Malcolm Christie should be available after recovering from the rib injury that has restricted him to just the one appearance so far. I would guess that Showumni will keep his place in the starting line-up after a fairly lively performance at Tranmere last week, while Christie could come off the bench later in the game, as he looks to build up his fitness. Fabian Delph has served his one-match suspension, and presumably will be straight back in the side.
The last 18 months haven’t been kind to Colchester, as their mid-table finish in the Championship in 2006/7 was followed by relegation last season, and then a faltering campaign so far this season on their return to League One. They are currently sitting uncomfortably in 16th. place and have only a two point gap above the relegation places, but this isn’t down to their away form . They have won only two games at their new stadium, but have picked up four wins and a draw from their nine away matches so far.
We could be facing a couple of old boys, as Colchester have just signed Alan Maybury on a free transfer, and Matt Heath hopes to be fit, although he has been struggling with a hamstring problem. Heath told BBC Essex "I had a good year-and-a-half and enjoyed my time there, it's a good club with lots of history. I think we can use their high expectations to our advantage on Saturday. If we go 1-0 up there and their fans start to get on their back a bit, I've seen it before and it's really not easy to play in."
There’s a lot of truth in what Heath says, as we’re all getting very edgy about the way the season isn’t going, so there is bound to be a tense atmosphere at Elland Road tomorrow if the game doesn’t go our way in the early stages. But I think that Leeds will be too good for Colchester, and will grind out an ugly victory, maybe by two goals to one.