Leeds United

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

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One of potentially the biggest moments in English football is coming on Friday, but precious few people understand how important it could be or even know about it.

The Premier League is considering 'anchoring' wages, which would cap the amount any club could spend on their squad at five times the smallest central Premier League broadcasting and prize money payout.

It is a complex argument. The league and some clubs are considering it because they want to ensure wage inflation does not continue to rise endangering their long-term financial security. From the other side - the players and their union, the PFA - this unnaturally limits the amount they can earn in what has until now been a free and open market.

Any changes to that position foisted upon the players without their prior consultation and agreement will not go down well. Remember, the players are the people that the paying public, the TV companies and the advertisers want to see, not a bunch of chairmen, executives and directors arguing over accounts, dividends and profit margins.

The game has increased the number of games played per season without consulting those who are physically doing it. No studies on how that will affect their health in the short and long term were considered, and so the PFA in England looks like it is finally ready to take a strong stand for its members.

Strike ballots are not unknown, I should know, as chairman of the PFA my name was on the bottom of every ballot paper when we last considered strike action over changes in working conditions. The modern owners may have forgotten, but we had 99% backing from our members.

Owners may think of footballers as ultra wealthy, mercenary, thickos who can easily be controlled - well they thought that last time and they lost.

It is time for serious and meaningful negotiation between equals and not a master and serf attitude from one side towards the other.

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Former Leeds United forward Kemar Roofe has spoken to BBC Radio Scotland's Sacked in the Morning podcast about what is was like to experience "spygate" first-hand and if the players ever questioned just how then-boss Marcelo Bielsa knew so much.

The English Football League punished Leeds in February 2019 after a member of Leeds' staff was spotted outside Derby's training ground the previous month, before the two sides were scheduled to face each other in a Championship match.

Bielsa admitted he had sent someone to watch every team they had played that season train and said he personally paid Leeds' £200,000 fine.

"We asked that question to ourselves [how he knew so much about the opposition] but the things you don't know, you just don't know," Roofe said.

"We'd never experienced this before so something like that didn't even come into our heads that someone's actually going to spy on other teams because it's never happened before, so we just didn't even expect it.

"But when it all came out in the end, we were like 'ah, it makes sense now' because he knew everything. He knew if a player wasn't going to play, if he was going to play, he knew the shape and we honestly didn't understand how.

"We knew he was smart so we just put it down to [that]. He knows all of his details, he's watched loads of games but we didn't really know that was the reason why."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Adonis Storr
Fan writer

Which player is flying? Joe Rodon has always been solid at the back, but he has now added goals to his game. Rodon is one player that has not looked out of place in the Premier League.

Which player is floundering? Most of the team are floundering, to be honest, especially after recent performances. However, the midfield has been especially poor of late - an area that is crucial to Daniel Farke's style.

Tactically I think we... might need to try partnering Dominic Calvert-Lewin with Joel Piroe. Their strengths and styles could complement each other.

I want my manager to be more... proactive with tactical changes and substitutions, especially in moments where the momentum needs to be changed. Far too often, he simply waits for the 70th minute to make changes when it is already too late.

Our fans seem obsessed with... Brenden Aaronson's attacking output. We have started to see some signs that he is improving and he must keep being decisive in attack.

But they should be thinking about... Noah Okafor's defensive contributions. Gabriel Gudmundsson is not getting the defensive support he needs and we are conceding a lot of goals down the left. Okafor is our best attacking player but he needs to contribute defensively.

My expectations for the season were... that we would surprise a few people and finish around 15th, but recent form has exposed a soft underbelly at this level and simply staying up might be a minor miracle.

Score for the season so far: 5/10. After a decent start, Leeds have faltered and, with the fixtures they have over the Christmas period, the club are at risk of being bottom of the table come January.

One sentence on how you're feeling right now: Wary. A lack of investment in the forward line over the summer is costing the club and they may be forced into getting an attacking option in the January transfer window, or they may even be looking for a new manager.

Find more from Adonis Storr at The Roaring Peacock, external

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Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has said it is unrealistic to expect his forwards to post elite scoring numbers in a season focused first and foremost on survival.

Farke, a former forward himself, stressed the importance of physicality, hold-up play, counter-pressing and work-rate, especially when Leeds spend long spells without possession away from home.

The Whites' top scorer in the Premier League this season is Joe Rodon, a centre-back, with two goals.

"You always have to adapt to reality," Farke said on BBC Radio Leeds. "It's quite normal if you play for a top side who is creating chance after chance and pretty dominant. I think that's quite normal that it's then easier also to have more chances and to score more goals. The more chances you have, the more likely it is to score more goals.

"If you play, for example, for a newly promoted side you have to take the first step to be rock solid, to be good against the ball.

"When you travel to places like Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester City, it's not very likely that you create one chance after another. It's, of course, more challenging and more difficult.

"But this is also what you have to expect as a striker, and also how I rate my strikers, because we are not out for winning the Golden Boot this season. So our only challenge, our only target and our only goal is to make sure that we are there with survival, that we stay in this league."

Leeds are monitoring Real Madrid's 21-year-old striker Gonzalo García ahead of a potential January loan move as they look to strengthen their attacking options, with Sunderland and Brighton also interested. (Mail) , external

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Over the past week, we have been asking you to send in the best Premier League XI your club could have put together.

We know football existed before 1992 but as a fellow Leeds fan asked our experts on the club to name theirs - using the Ask Me Anything form on the Whites - we stuck with their parameters.

Here's BBC Sport's Leeds United fan writer Adonis' effort.

And you can ask us about the Whites using the Leeds United Ask Me Anything form at the top of this page or here

Find more from Adonis Storr at The Roaring Peacock, external

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Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke says his side are exactly where they want to be in their fight for Premier League survival, despite back-to-back away defeats and a brutal fixture list on the horizon.

The Whites sit 16th in the table with three wins from their opening 11 matches and four defeats in their last five, but Farke is keen to stress that Leeds have not spent a single matchday in the relegation zone.

"It was always clear how challenging this season would be for a newly promoted side," Farke told BBC Radio 5 Live. "It was always clear, if you have a look, how the promoted sides in the last year have finished a season and how it would be challenging for a newly promoted side, especially in the circumstances that we had the issues in terms of PSR in the summer and what we could spend was challenging on transfers. It was always a big challenge for us in order to be competitive on this level.

"Overall, you have to say after 11 game days, we are on 11 points. It's exactly the average that you need in order to survive. So overall, we were not at one game day in the relegation zone. We're always over the line, which is also quite good."

Farke believes Leeds' early-season performances should have yielded more. A 93rd-minute equaliser against Bournemouth at Elland Road still stings, and he insists his side haven't won points with luck all season, despite dropping several late ones. He also admitted concerns with away form after losing to Brighton and Nottingham Forest.

"I think it's fair to say that the last two away games was probably a bit our poorest period of the season so far. Performance-wise, it was not that we were played out of the park; we still had difficult away games at Brighton, and also against a Nottingham Forest side that was qualified for Europe and didn't have the best start, but spent lots of money in the summer, and we went there and had more possession than the opponent.

"But yes, it's fair to say once you concede three goals, it's not your best performance anyhow, so we have to show a little bit of a reaction right now."

We have, roughly, run the numbers and here is the XI your submissions have produced.

There is a serious amount of nostalgia underpinning this Leeds team as the majority of selections come from the late 1990s-early 2000s side.

It was very tight to partner former captain Lucas Radebe in defence, so we plumped for Jonathan Woodgate given Rio Ferdinand's defection across the Pennines.

In midfield, Gary Speed will have to play on the left to ensure he gets in, while Raphinha was selected in a large number of sides so will be given a free role to roam behind Mark Viduka.

Somehow, we do not think this team will be struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League.

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

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The statistics might say playing at home is an advantage - but what happens when it is not?

So far this season, 53% of Premier League matches have been won by the home team - the highest ever rate in a single campaign.

On the flip side, just 26% have been won by the away team - the lowest rate since 2010-11.

However, this has not been the case for all teams.

For some, being on the road has been more favourable. Tottenham are perhaps the most contrasting example having the joint-most points away from home with 13, but the second-worst in front of their own fans with just five points.

In the second part of her chat with BBC Sport, performance psychologist Marie Cartwright explained: "With crowds when playing away from home, there is a reduced scrutiny as a whole for away teams in that those crowds expect the home team to be the ones in charge. The players feel less judged. The pressure is on the other side.

"Another reason could come down to something in psychology I like to call simplification of the task. The team has a better collective identity when they are away.

"The human brain still goes back to the cavemen days. We have to, as a collective, fight for something. We have to protect our name. It goes back to that hunter-gatherer-against-danger mentality.

"When players are in front of a home crowd, there can be a bit of playing up to the individuality.

"I really do believe that collective identity has a strong enough influence because it amplifies the purpose and the belonging - let's belong together, let's be stronger together."

The focus might be on the players' performances being impacted by being home or away, but what about the managers?

Wolves, West Ham and Nottingham Forest make up three of the bottom four for their home records so far this term, and all have changed their manager in recent weeks.

"100% managers and coaches can be affected, and sometimes even more so because there is so much riding on that one person," Cartwright said.

"The decision-making is the main thing. The crowd is chanting - 'take this player off, do this' - and it can lead to rushed decisions, particularly when the noise becomes relentless.

"Then there is the emotional regulation and touchline behaviour. A manager is pacing up and down, mirroring the stress state, and players see that. It can lead to mimicking and players feeling that stress too."

The impact on teams psychologically playing home or away is apparent, so how can they make the most from these different conditions?

"Our brains are wired to think negatively - it's a protection mechanism," Cartwright said.

"So when it comes to performing home and away, those players and managers who deal with it best are those who know how to use the noise and scrutiny and move on quickly from it - an ability to have a reset routine and regulate their emotions in these pressurised situations."

Read more from Marie in part one of her chat around the impact of playing at home here

BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything about Leeds form - found at the top of this page or here - threw up the following question from reader David Little.

"If your pundits had to pick Leeds best eleven in the Premier League era, who would make the team?"

So, while we've got the teams above and below David, BBC Radio Leeds also went one further and made a podcast for you on it.

• Listen to that special by the team at Don't Go To Bed Just Yet here.

And take in the teams selected by BBC Radio Leeds' Jonny Buchan and Simon Rix of the Kaiser Chiefs.

Here is a taste of the some of the discussion about who made the cut...

Jonny Buchan: "I'm going to have to play Raphinha off the left. You could give him a bit of a free roll, couldn't you? And then everyone can shift a little bit. It's on trend, isn't it? A bit of a free roll?

"I think it is not said enough how important he was for avoiding relegation under Jesse Marsch. It was in spite of whatever else was going on around him, he dragged the side up. You wanted the ball, just give him the ball, just give him the ball - he was one of those players.

"Give him the ball to do something, and he did eight times out of 10. Then to go on and do what he did at Barcelona afterwards - and I know we're not meant to include that - but to go get into that top five in the Ballon d'Or? Wow. That is an unbelievable achievement."

Simon Rix: "If you look at Barcelona this season when he's injured, they are not as good. He credits [Marcelo] Bielsa as well with a lot of that. A lot of it is he can get up and down, so he can be defending and he can get right back up there and score a goal.

"As an argument, if you were doing that World Cup thing where it's like 'this person or this person', it is arguable that Raphinha is the best player ever to play for Leeds. So, he has to be in my XI."

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Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

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"Home advantage gives you an advantage."

It is a quote - among many - attributed to the famous former England manager Sir Bobby Robson - a simple, yet fair reflection of a historical format of football.

For as long as teams have played in leagues, games taking place home and away has been the norm, with the idea that playing at home will be to the benefit of that team.

But what is the impact of playing at your own ground in front of your own fans?

In the first part of her chat with BBC Sport, performance psychologist Marie Cartwright explained: "Home impact can be viewed in two ways. Sometimes it does have a positive impact, and what happens is there is an elevated motivation.

"What that means is the crowd energy increases adrenaline and that creates a momentum in effort and intensity in the players. It is also a familiar environment for the players, so that means it reduces the cognitive load. They don't have to think as much about anything else other than their play because they know the pitch, they know the routines, they feel settled.

"However, there are a couple of potential negative impacts as well, with the potential intensification in pressure in the home fans, most times, expecting dominance from the home team. That can lead to mistakes from players feeling bigger to them.

"There can then be what we call a threat state. The players might perceive consequences as high, so they feel they might be facing more criticism when they are at home."

While those who watch football know there are more factors than just where the match is being to take into consideration, the statistics do suggest the influence is there.

Since the Premier League started, the home win percentage has outweighed the away win percentage in all bar one season - the Covid-hit 2020-21 campaign in which fans were largely not allowed admission saw a 38% home win rate compared to 40% away win rate.

So how a team handles this additional crowd pressure seems to be a key factor.

"In psychology, there is something called the challenge and threat theory," Cartwright said.

"In reality what that means is a 'challenge state' can push the player into thinking, 'I've got this, I've got the resources to cope with this'. That leads to better decision making and quicker reactions.

"The threat state, on the other hand, players might think the consequences outweigh their ability to cope. In any match context, that can mean they have a narrow sense of focus, the focus is not quite the same, so the play becomes slower because of overthinking."

"It can also be called 'red brain or blue brain' - with red brain being the one with fear-based dialogue and internal negative self-talk, while blue brain is the cool, calm and collected one that can handle its emotions.

"What sits in the middle of these is distraction. How a player responds to distraction and filters out the noise, like the crowd, can impact which of these mindsets they move into and ultimately how the team performs."

Read more from Marie in part two of her chat about why teams some teams play better away from home and how it impacts managers - that will be on this page early next week.

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We wanted your suggestions for Leeds' all-time best Premier League XI.

Here are some of your selections:

Josh Worrad: 4-4-1-1. Martyn, Dorigo, Woodgate, Ferdinand, Kelly, Speed, Batty, McAllister, Kewell, Raphinha, Hasselbaink. Most solid keeper, a classy back four, a tough but playmaking midfield and world-class strikers.

Jason Dodds: 4-4-2. Martyn, Kelly, Matteo, Radebe, Harte, Raphinha, Batty, Bowyer, Sharpe, Viduka, Hasselbaink.

Rich Wright: 4-4-2. Martyn, Kelly, Ferdinand, Radebe, Harte, Strachan, Dacourt, Raphinha, Kewell, Viduka, Yeboah. Raph is now world class so deserves his spot (although out of position). Tough on Speedo, Batts and Woodgate but the competition was strong!

Nigel: 4-4-2. Martyn, Mills, Ferdinand, Woodgate, Dorigo, Strachan, Batty, McAllister, Kewell, Viduka, Cantona. Truly gifted players in all positions. This team would win the league even now.

George Mills
BBC Sport senior journalist

In a recent addition of the Football Extra newsletter, Roger asked BBC Sport: Players are frequently injured on international duty - such as Chris Wood for New Zealand last season, which may have ultimately cost Nottingham Forest a Champions League place. Are clubs compensated by the country or does insurance cover compensation?'

Since 2012, Fifa's Club Protection Programme has covered the salary of players injured on international duty - although there are some conditions.

Firstly, the player must be out of action for a period of at least 28 consecutive days and the injury must have been sustained during an "accident", which is defined in very boring and legally-specific detail in Fifa's guidelines, though it covers most of the examples you could think of.

The scheme pays the salary of an injured player up to the maximum amount of €7.5m (£6.6m) until they are declared fit to return for their clubs.

Transfermarkt lists Chris Wood as missing 18 days - three games - with the hip injury you mention from last March, suffered on international duty with New Zealand. As he returned inside 28 days, Forest would not have been eligible to claim compensation.

There are a couple of clubs who will currently be beneficiaries of this scheme though, including Newcastle United, whose £55m summer signing Yoane Wissa is yet to make an appearance since suffering a knee injury while playing for DR Congo.

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Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.

We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.

Find out more here

Our Ask Me Anything about Leeds form - located at the top of this page - got a question from David Little which read: "If your pundits had to pick Leeds' best 11 in the Premier League era, who would make the team?"

So BBC Radio Leeds - and the team at Don't Go To Bed Just Yet - responded with a bespoke podcast.

So did they go for Gary Speed or Gary McAllister? Tony Yeboah or Robbie Keane?

Find out who made Simon and Jonny's XI in the podcast here

Ask your Leeds questions

Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.

We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.

Find out more here

Leeds , Brentford and Everton are chasing Celtic's Daizen Maeda, 28, with the Japan forward keen on a January move from Scotland. (Teamtalk), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

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We wanted your suggestions for Leeds' all-time best Premier League XI.

And you delivered!

Here's a first bunch:

Steve: 5-4-1. Martyn, Radebe, Ferdinand, Harte, Kelly, Woodgate, Raphinha, Bowyer, Cantona, Dacourt, Yeboah. Exciting, attacking, creative and entertaining. Everything we currently aren't!

Simon: 4-4-2. Robinson, Radebe, Woodgate, Kelly, Harte, Dacourt, Bowyer, Strachan, McAllister, Viduka, Keane. Brilliant players, were legends of their time. No XI better.

Richard: 3-4-1-2. Martyn, Ferdinand, Radebe, Woodgate, Batty, Bowyer, Strachan, Speed, Pablo, Viduka, Yeboah. No Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Rio Ferdinand, Eric Cantona or Harry Kewell for obvious reasons.

Lee: 4-4-2. Martyn, Kelly, Dorigo, Radebe, Rodon, Speed, Strachan, Batty, McAllister, Viduka, Raphinha. Mainly nostalgia to be honest!

Neil: 3-4-3. Martyn, Ferdinand, Radebe, Woodgate, Bowyer, McAllister, Batty, Speed, Kewell, Viduka, Raphinha. Best keeper of the 1990s. A dream of a defence -captains all three and nothing will get past them. The midfield has power, pace, speed, passing range, leadership and internationals. Up front is pure world class and will provide goals, goals and more goals.

Jonny: 4-4-2. Martyn, Harte, Radebe, Ferdinand, Kelly, Raphinha, Dacourt, Batty, Kewell, Hasselbaink, Viduka. Leeds have always been a better side when using strength and physicality in the middle and speed and guile out wide.

England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, 20, remains a target for Leeds United and Napoli, although Manchester United will only let him leave on loan if they can secure a replacement.

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

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It's international break so let's have a bit of fun to pass the time.

Now we know football existed before 1992 but for the purposes of this little exercise, keep it Premier League please.

So tell us, who would be in your dream Leeds United Premier League XI?

The debate starts here.

Send your suggestions

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Leeds Under-21s looked set for their first points of the campaign in the EFL Trophy, before a red card for defender Reuben Lopata-White helped Accrington Stanley to fight back and win 3-2.

This defeat ensured the Whites finished last in their group, eliminating them from the competition.

Sin bins? Bonus points? Two goals if you score from distance?

Imagine a world in which you could reinvent football.

It's a dream, of course. Just a bit of fun. But stick with us.

What if you had the power to change any of the game's laws and potentially bring to an end countless hours of discussion about handball, offside, video assistant referees, or anything else you want to?

Some of BBC Sport's familiar football faces have offered their own potential rule changes.

Watch them above or read more here

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

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The Premier League has agreed to move games involving Arsenal and Crystal Palace in December to ease fixture congestion.

Arsenal's trip to Everton and Palace's game at Leeds - both originally scheduled for 14:00 GMT on Sunday, 21 December - will now be played at 20:00 on Saturday, 20 December.

The move means the two sides will have an extra day to prepare for their EFL Cup quarter-final on 23 December.

The decision to move forward the two Premier League matches has been done after requests from both clubs.

It is understood the desire for both teams to have the same recovery time before the EFL Cup tie was a factor, though television scheduling is also believed to have been a consideration.

There is an acknowledgment that the 20:00 kick-off does provide travelling supporters with logistical difficulties.

But the Premier League says the decision has been taken with the players' well-being at the forefront of its mind.

It said: "Player welfare is a priority for the Premier League, and we have therefore granted requests from Arsenal and Crystal Palace to move their respective fixtures.

"This comes after the scheduling of matches from other competitions around Premier League fixtures without adequate player recovery time.

"This is also further evidence of the impact the expanded Uefa competitions have on the domestic fixture calendar."