Rocco's Round-Up (1/3/24 to 7/3/24)
Friday, 1st March 2024
Season ticket renewals were announced today, with limited transparency. Prices were revealed via a series of riddles that I could make little sense of, although our overlords did confirm an increase no matter what division we are in next season.
Saturday, 2nd March 2024
The quest for a record tenth league win on the bounce ended at nine as United were held to a 1-1 draw in a full-blooded El Flatcapio. Ipswich regained second spot with a fifth straight win, but a third straight defeat for Leicester means there’s now two promotion spots up for grabs, and Southampton stayed in the hunt thanks to a 97th minute winner against the Brady Bunch. What a season.
Sunday, 3rd March 2024
It's been a bad month for the Snakes & Losers, throwing their futures into further doubt. Jack Harrison continues to play every week but Everton have won one in 14 and 'gel-head' is coming in for criticism from their fans. Roma’s new manager seems to have Diego Llorente sussed, reducing him to bench-warmer, although Rasmus Kristensen is clinging onto his place in a team who are now pushing for Champions League qualification. Marc Roca is still playing for 6th placed Betis and Max Wober is back playing after two months sidelined with warrior flu. His team remain in the bottom half of the Bundesliga, one point ahead of Union Berlin, for whom Brendan Aaronson finally started a match last week and lasted 81 minutes despite earning a stinking rating of 5.2 on Fotmob. Sam Greenwood is still struggling to have any impact at Boro after his initial honeymoon period, and Cody Drameh has been in and out of the Birmingham team. The new addition to the list, Darko Gyabi, is playing every week for Plymouth as they slide towards League One. (Orta’s Sevilla and Radz’s Sampdoria have both pulled away from relegation trouble, sadly)
Monday, 4th March 2024
In his pre-Stoke presser, Herr Farke advised against underestimating the point earned at Huddersfield. He would not 'sign off' drawing any game pre-match, but insists that everybody at the club would be pretty pretty pleased if Leeds won the rest of their home games and drew all aways, as it would take us to 96 points and ‘happy days’.
Tuesday, 5th March 2024
It was a game of two halves at Elland Road. Leeds cruised into a 1-0 half-time lead, then spent the second half clinging on to their advantage. But cling on they did, thus keeping pace with Ipswich who won their 28th point from a losing position thanks to an 89th minute Leif Davis goal, while Leicester returned to winning ways at Sunderland.
Wednesday, 6th March 2024
Stat guru Johnny Cooper today revealed that every team with 76+ points after 36 championship games has been top and finished as champions, yet with 76 points after 36 games Leeds are stuck in third place. Leeds that!
Thursday, 7th March 2024
Slow news day today, but there was a nice revelation on Paddy’s Poddy about Marcelo Bielsa always correctly predicting how Leeds and their opponents would score goals in upcoming matches. Imagine the looks on the players’ faces when El Loco described the Derby play-off implosion. Good grief!