Report by Dave Usher at the Academy

The reds' nightmare start to the new Academy season continued, as they slumped to their third straight defeat and conceded three goals for the third game in succession.

It could actually have been much worse, and on another day Leeds might easily have hit six or seven.

After losing both of their opening fixtures by 3-1 scorelines, John Owens will surely have looked at this home fixture as a good opportunity to get the season back on track and put some points on the board.

I didn't see either of the first two games, but they would have to have been pretty dreadful to be worse than this.

It's hard to say what has gone wrong so far. There are a lot of talented players at Owens' disposal, but they are not playing as a team, and were poor at both ends of the field.

It's perhaps understandable that the attacking side wasn't so good, as Owens was without both of his regular strikers through injury. Karl Noon and Conal Platt are a good pair, and both have already scored this season, so naturally they would be missed.

In their absence, Owen turned to highly rated 16 year old James Frayne, and young triallist Robert Dalley. Of the two, Dalley was the more effective and the young Londoner is due to find out this weekend if he's to be kept on.

He did his cause no harm today with a hard working display full of nice layoffs and good touches. He also came closest to scoring when he smashed a shot against the angle of post and bar in the second half, and can be pleased with his morning's work, especially given the lack of service the strikers received from the midfield.

Leeds went ahead on 21 minutes after James Smith conceded a free kick on the edge of his own area. Gavin Rothery stepped up to curl the ball around the wall and past the despairing dive of Paul Lancaster.

Three minutes later they doubled their lead when Jones crossed from the right and Kevin Smith stooped to head home from close range.

Leeds were rampant, and the reds were in disarray at this stage. Going behind seemed to really rattle Liverpool, and they were hanging on amidst a real onslaught from the visitors.

Lancaster had to spectacularly tip the ball over on 27 minutes after a volley from the impressive Justin Bowler, and a minute later Jones shot over when well placed.

Liverpool were rocking, and it needed a great block from Calum Woods on the half hour to prevent them going three down, before Lancaster made another smart save three minutes later to deny Smith who had broken clear of the defence.

The reds had been able to offer nothing in reply, and began arguing amongst themselves. Skipper O'Donnell was very vocal and tried to lift his team, but what was really needed was some instruction from the bench.

Sadly John Owens did not leave his seat once during the first half, and didn't try to communicate any instructions to his team. I'm sure Owens is an excellent coach, but it was obvious that the players had totally lost their way, and at times like that surely the coach should be trying to get them going?

Even the most senior professionals sometimes need their manager on the sidelines giving instructions, encouragement or bollockings, depending what the situation requires.

With a team of inexperienced teenagers, I would have thought it would have been even more important. Dave Shannon and Hughie McAuley stand up for the entire ninety minutes and are constantly shouting instructions to their players, but clearly this isn't Owens' style.

Maybe he feels it's more beneficial to the younger players to sort problems out for themselves, I don't know. But it was glaringly obvious that the reds had completely lost their way in this game and had no idea how to stem the flow of Leeds attacks, or how to create anything for themselves at the other end.

The first chance they managed to carve out came in first half stoppage time, when Kelly was brought down on the edge of the box. He jumped up and took a quick free-kick which sent Dalley in on goal. After steadying himself, the triallist smashed a powerful shot against the angle of post and bar.

The ball flew up in the air, and Frayne did ever so well to outjump defender and keeper to get a touch on it, but he couldn't get enough of a connection to put the ball over the line, and instead it bounced down just short of the goalline and up over the crossbar.

Owens made a change at the break, bringing on u16 defender Robbie Threlfall for James Smith. Threlfall has played very well so far this season according to reports, and I was impressed with him today.

He couldn't prevent Leeds extending their advantage just seven minutes into the second period though, as a cross from the right evaded Leeds frontman Smith as well as the covering reds defender, but fell kindly to Damien Reeves at the back post for an easy finish.

Leeds continued to pile on the pressure, and twice hit shots into the side netting from good positions, as Liverpool continued to struggle.

Owens made more changes, introducing Phil Townley and Paul Barrett - another triallist - for Danny Smith and Robert Dalley, and things improved slightly. Townley looked a threat, and it surely won't be long before he is starting regularly, as he offers far more of a threat than Wilkie.

Wilkie has skill and good control, but never seems to be able to impose his talents on a game. He's frustrating because he is highly rated and clearly has ability, but you're always left wanting so much more from him.

Townley on the other hand, is very direct and seems to make things happen. Barrett also made a good contribution when he came on, and did his chances of a permanent move no harm either.

Wilkie was a bit unlucky not to score when he got on the end of a delicious right wing cross from Kelly, but the Scottish youth international's header was inadvertantly blocked by his team-mate Frayne.

Then Townley charged through the Leeds backline and saw a shot well saved by the visiting keeper, but that was it as far as Liverpool attacks.

Reeves looked set to add his second goal of the game with ten minutes to go, but was denied by good defending from Peltier and O'Donnell, who between them managed to get enough on his shot to deflect it wide.

Overall, this was a very disappointing performance, and no-one stood out. Picking the star man was an almost impossible task. Dalley did well with limited service, whilst Guthrie and Kelly worked hard in midfield without managing to show much of their undoubted quality.

I'm giving it to Calum Woods because he defended well, and made good use of the ball when he had it. He also kept the talented Bowler relatively quiet after the winger had made an impressive start.

A big improvement is needed by all though if the reds are to start playing to their potential. Three defeats from three games and a goal difference of minus seven is simply not good enough.

 

Team: Paul Lancaster; Calum Woods, James Smith (Robbie Threlfall), Danny O'Donnell, Danny Smith (Phil Townley); John-Paul Kelly, Danny Guthrie, Lee Peltier, Ryan Wilkie; James Frayne, Robert Dalley (Paul Barrett):

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