[quote="tad rhino":1k18tlxw]imo, when on form, he's miles better than james. james has blistering pace but that's about it. his crossing and finishing are very hit and miss[/quote:1k18tlxw] When James is on form he’s unplayable. I’ve never seen Gnonto turn in an “unplayable” performance for Leeds. James may sometimes have an erratic delivery rate, but ask yourself this question, would you rather have a player who can get in behind a defence 10 times and then deliver 5 crosses successfully or someone who only manages to get behind a defence 5 times and delivers 3 crosses successfully ? One may have a better delivery rate (which I don’t think Gnonto does btw) but he’s not creating as much for the team like a player such as James. I think James is currently our Player of the Year, and I’m sure many other fans agree. He also stretches the game and defences like nobody else in the squad, giving room for other players in the middle. Gnonto fannies about too much, running into central areas and closing other players space down, slowing play down and generally killing momentum. He’s a useful sub to have, but I’m sure opposition defences would be delighted to see James sat on the bench instead while Gnonto condenses play and doesn’t have the pace to hit their team on the break. Gnonto won’t be starting over James any time soon if he starts at all.

Buendia might be leaving Villa this month.. Emery says they need to offload some fringe players (of which he’s one).. watching with interest

would be lovely but can't see it

Serious question here and not having a go (for once)! How many of our acclaimed youth signings over the last 2 or 3 years have made it in the first team? We were all in awe of the likes of Geldhart, Perkins, Greenwood, Cresswell, Gyabi and I`m sure there`s more. Yet none of those above have progressed with only Archie Gray who has now left and possibly Charlie Crew who should make it along with Joseph maybe. Have I missed others? And are these players we sign not getting coached properly?

Our academy system has been underperforming for years. It's only just getting back to anything like with the Niners putting good money in and good coaches but it will take time. Previous successive owners ran it into the ground.. one of my best mates, his lad is at Man U academy (He's 12, just signed for another 2 years and been with them since age eight) was telling me when his lad went to Man U he had the pick of loads of clubs and Leeds was one of them but the academy was really badly run (he's a big Leeds fan too so it was a horrible decision to make) so he chose Manchester to give his lad best coaching and set up etc.. he says Leeds have been well behind the big clubs in England for a long time.

Interesting that Trebor and hopefully things will start to improve. It does seem a shame that those I mentioned and I`m sure there`s others were all deemed the next best thing.