Leeds definitely made its objectives loud and clear with a lineup that had many new faces in it and one that the squad needs to have on the pitch on Saturdays. The lineup blended experience where needed, namely Paul Telfer and pace with Fabian Delph in the midfield and attacked, attacked, attacked. Sixteen year-old Aidan White was handed his debut at left-back and he did a solid job and solidified why many talk of his great promise. Crystal Palace, which has a much deeper squad, fielding a squad heavy on its younger top-shelf talent that will one day shine in the Premier League.
Cutting straight to the chase, against a squad you'd naturally accept as superior, Leeds blew apart Crystal Palace 4-0 in every facet of the game. As I have been saying (over and over) they have to eliminate their rather dowdy slow Master-like league (or The Three Lions) attack and once they do, the score-sheet will light up as it did today. With a few subtle changes in the midfield, most notably to include Jonny Howson and Robert Snodgrass in the starting grid, this is a lineup that'll devastate League One. Jermaine Beckford and Luciano Becchio must be paired together at striker, assuming Leeds doesn't move to a preferred 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 "diamond" with him as the enganche. Luciano's pedigree is very obvious as his movement without the ball and distribution is the best on the squad by light years and he'll provide Jermain Beckford countless scoring opportunities and kick-start the club.
Now tuck the press clippings in the drawer and get ready for Saturday. Don't look back, don't be cautious and attack,attack,attack.
Match details
Goals
Jonathan Douglas (11),Jermaine Beckford (32)Luciano Becchio (52), Enoch Showunmi (76)
Leeds United
12 David Lucas,2 Frazer Richardson, 6 Lubomir Michalik, 26 Paul Telfer,32 Aidan White (16 Bradley Johnson73'), 22 Andy Hughes, 4 Jonathan Douglas,15 Fabian Delph,8 Neil Kilkenny,9 Jermaine Beckford (14 Jonny Howson 78'), 10 Luciano Becchio (21 Enoch Showunmi 57')
Substitutes
25 Alan Martin,5 Rui Marques,18 Andy Robinson,23 Robert Snodgrass,
Crystal Palace
12 Darryl Flahavan, 22 Johannes Ertl, 2 Matthew Lawrence,5 Patrick McCarthy,3 Clint Hill,19 Tom Soares, 24 Ben Watson (7 Carl Fletcher 88'), 10 Nick Carle (15 Lee Hills 63'),41 Kieron Djilali, 11 Victor Moses (23 Paul Ifill 66'),18 Calvin Andrew,
Substitutes
1 Julian Speroni, 26 John Oster, 27 Leandre Griffit, 17 Simon Thomas,