Nottingham Forest 0 Leeds United 2

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"For the Forest game I’d be happy enough to see Kemar Roofe play the role again and you know what, I think he might just bag another goal or two now his dander is up!"

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Well, those were my closing remarks after the Newport game… at least I got something right!

This was an awesome performance from Leeds, even more awesome than the efficient manner in which we dealt with Sunderland last weekend! This remember, was a Forest side that had won five of its six games at the start of this season including a decent looking 2 – 1 win over Middlesbrough recently. OK, temper that by noting that every one of their wins has been by the odd goal and that their opposition, other than Boro, has probably not been among the best in the Championship, but still, the way Leeds dealt with them was, well, awesome.

It seems almost churlish with things going so well and the team looking so good to point out the obvious but I will anyway; Samu Sáiz is the glue holding the whole team together, the man is on a different level and if he stays fit and stays with us, surely we are going to have a very special season. I point it out because I do worry that without him I am not sure we would be as special a team although I accept the same could have been said about Barcelona and Messi last season! So, for the time being, let’s just enjoy the spectacle of a Leeds side outplaying the opposition and scoring goals from all over the pitch.

We do seem to have assembled a side with very few obvious weaknesses: there have been question marks raised by some over the goalkeeping of Felix Wiedwald but over the course of the games he has played the success of the side has meant he’s actually had few chances to prove to us how good he really is – maybe just the one chance today when he was quick enough to get his feet to the ball and clear the danger. In defence we knew from last season that Luke Ayling and Pontus Jansson were top players at this level and now we have added in Vurnon Anita and now that Liam Cooper has found his best and most confident form, the whole defence looks solid and capable of repelling more onslaughts and that’s without Messrs Pennington and Berardi! In midfield, the muscle of Kalvin Phillips compliments the mazy running of Eunan O’Kane and of course we have those two magicians in Pablo and Samu. Out wide Alioski is another player who looks almost too good to play at this level while we all know the capabilities of Stuart Dallas and even Kemar Roofe now looks to be at his confident best. No, there are not many weaknesses in that little lot!

So, we now go off on the first international break and we have to hope and pray that it doesn’t interrupt our momentum too much. In the past we have always come back to a defeat, even when before the break we’d been playing well. This time, let’s hope the extra time to get some of the new players to gel with the squad will help and not hinder us.

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