Leeds United patrons have already started their pre-drinks in the Transfer Tavern ahead of a huge Championship clash with Reading on Saturday.
The Yorkshire outfit are enjoying a fantastic first campaign under Garry Monk that could well end in promotion to the Premier League, currently well in the running to qualify for the playoffs at a minimum.
But their upcoming clash with Reading on Saturday could have a huge impact; the Royals are just one place and two points behind them in the Championship table and are making a strong push for promotion themselves.
The two playoff contenders last met at Elland Road in December in a particularly controversial clash. The visitors finished up with 77% possession but on the end of a 2-0 defeat, as chants of ‘Boring, Boring Reading’ circled around Leeds’ home ground.
That created a mini war of words in the media and it has flared up again ahead of the weekend, with Reading boss Jaap Stam taking some not so subtle digs at the opposition. He told GetReading; “It would be nice if they come over here and instead of them being hostile we can be hostile against them.
“In how we played you can say about being boring but we had 80 per cent of the ball so I don’t know who’s boring. It’s about winning the game and they won with a bit of luck as well I must say.”
The bizarre thing about this Leeds-Reading needle is that Leeds hardly ever play the way they did against Reading. That was the whole point.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) March 30, 2017
Yorkshire Evening Post’s Phil Hay’s had his say on Stam’s latest comments on Twitter and unsurprisingly, Leeds fans have felt compelled to weigh into the debate as well…
@PhilHayYEP Stam is utterly clueless
— Armo (@Jordan_Armo) March 30, 2017
@PhilHayYEP Stam will stop crying eventually
— Jack (@lufc_) March 30, 2017
@PhilHayYEP played the way we needed to get the win, which we did, he’s just upset he got out thought.
— Tom (@thomas_wilson04) March 30, 2017
@PhilHayYEP lesson don’t let style outweigh substance
— Tony D (@tonypdickinson) March 30, 2017
@PhilHayYEP hard to play football if the opposition back 5 has it for 45 minutes
— mathew hibbert (@matteohib94) March 30, 2017
@PhilHayYEP the worst under performers not to show up at ER this season if you can follow my drift
— ian inwood (@InwoodIan) March 30, 2017
@PhilHayYEP basically Stam needs to admit he isn’t as good a tactician as Monk. He’s making himself look even worse
— a fan. not super. (@deancore) March 30, 2017
Who’ll come out on top this weekend – Leeds or Reading? Let us know by commenting below!
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