The Pressure is on - 12/09/2002

A great goal - even if there was a suspicion of offside

Once again the media are having a pop at the Newcastle defence, but the story for me is that of missed chances! The first goal was a cracking move, even if there was a call for an offside decision, the second was a wonderful strike by Smithy. However, if one of our numerous chances had been put away, then the same defence wouldn’t be receiving criticism. A Newcastle goal would have meant Leeds having to come out of their defensive formation, and then it would have been a totally different game. There were so many Newcastle chances, some missed, and some stopped by the man of the match in Paul Robinson.

Make no mistake, this was a fantastic Leeds performance. To absorb all the pressure and keep a clean sheet was an incredible achievement. It’s hard to believe that this was the same Leeds that lost their two previous games.

What worries me is that the pressure is now on! As I mentioned yesterday, the fixture list is throwing up tough matches, game after game. I know we’ve got a big, strong squad, but the fans and the players need to keep their belief. If we slip up against Chelsea then fail to get a result in Kiev, then the pressure really hots up – and who do we play after these two games?! But you don’t become an average side overnight, look at the positives, there were quite a few, and as Bobby Robson said, we’ll probably play much worse than that and still run out winners!.

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