Leeds United
Leeds 0 Blackpool 5 - Keeper shocker
By Andy Baggott
November 3 2011
Leeds got a thumping last night – in a game that was a personal shocker for goalkeeper Paul Rachubka. Leeds were never at the races – barely touching the ball for the first 5 minutes. Blackpool had all the time to play the ball around, and whilst never really threatening, Leeds were very slow to close the man down.
The breakthrough came early though. Paul Connolly gave the ball away cheaply, and a good pass sent Jonjo Shelvey through. His shot was parried by Rachubka, straight into the path of LuaLua, who tapped home. It was a decent shot, but should have been dealt with better – certainly not pushing it into the path of the striker. The second goal soon followed, and this was the worst of the lot. A ball looped up from the right, and Rachubka should have taken the ball high. He elected to try and catch in his midriff – which he did….and then dropped it. It was a clanger of epic proportions. The ball was forced towards the net, where it hit Tom Lees – who was red carded. The defender can count himself unlucky. Although the ball hit his hand, there was little he could do to get it out of the way. Shelvey’s twice taken penalty made it 2-0 and effectively ended the game. On around the half hour mark, it was 3 – another howler. A fairly straight forward 20 yard shot was again spilt by the goalkeeper, leaving Shelvey the simple task of rounding the prone keeper and tapping in (I had my head in my hands before he struck it in – the groans told me he hadn’t missed). Grayson immediately sent out youngster Cairns to warm up – there was no way Rachubka could stay on as his confidence was shot – and the defenders faith him had evaporated. Half time came with no more scares, and Cairns made his first senior appearance after the break.
To be fair to Leeds, they came out a different side. From the lacklustre, toothless side of the first half – they were transformed to a team full of running and energy. There were some near misses – McCormack couldn’t adjust his feet quick enough on the line following Kisnorbo’s header – a penalty appeal for handball was declined, and Snoddy went close. Unfortunately, the goal didn’t come, and LuaLua, against the run of play scored a fine goal, to kill off any hope. From then on, the game followed the pattern of the first half, with Leeds a distant second best. There was just time for Cairns to produce a couple of good stops, before Shelvey completed his hat trick.
Although Rachubka will take the brunt of the blame, the general Leeds performance was very poor. Too many players didn’t put the work I which is inexcusable. Changes are expected for the weekend.
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03/11/2011 09:27
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leeds united, srsly lacking in Alan Smith's since August 8, 2004
I dont wish ill of anyone but if his confidence has gone then we cant have him in the first team anymore.
Larry knows him better than anyone so it will be interesting to see how he plays it...I notice on the official site it is saying that he going to have a look at the loan market for a keeper so I guess the writing must be on the wall for Rachubka.
It was one game. A horrendous game..but at the end of the day a game of football. If Rachubka can get back between the sticks, put in some solide performaces he can overcome this and the fans will actually have a lot more respect for him.....he needs to do this. He's not a cr-ap keeper , he wouldn't be a pro otherwise he just needs to get himself sorted and for that he needs the support of Grayson and the support of us fans when he plays again (which i hope is soon).
