00:00 But as you say, Middlesbrough away is next and obviously Middlesbrough are a team I'm used to covering.
00:05 Michael Carrick's got them playing some good football at the moment.
00:07 They've had something of an inconsistent season, I think it's fair to say, compared to the previous campaign.
00:13 They lost a couple of players who were on loan during the summer, that didn't help them.
00:17 But even now, towards the end of the season, they are putting the pressure on.
00:20 They're knocking on the door of the playoffs just a little bit.
00:23 It's perhaps unlikely they make it in, but they've still given themselves a chance with some really good results of late.
00:29 Obviously, they took that point off Ipswich in their last fixture away from home.
00:34 And then they returned to the other side this time to welcome Leeds United.
00:38 In what is, as you say, Lee, an absolutely huge game for both sides because if Middlesbrough win,
00:44 they give themselves, as I say, a good chance of still making the playoffs, despite it being a little bit unlikely at the moment.
00:49 But as for Leeds, realistically, they have to win.
00:52 If they don't win, I think they confine themselves to the playoffs, to be honest,
00:57 because that gives Ipswich the chance, with games in hand, to go and play their own football and just make it simple for themselves.
01:04 Leicester, of course, also having a game in hand.
01:07 So Leeds simply have to win that game at Middlesbrough.
01:10 But it won't be easy.
01:12 Michael Carrick, as I say, got some good football going on at the Riverside.
01:16 They've got some good players. Some players coming back from injury soon too.
01:19 The likes of Hayden Hackney, to name just one of them.
01:23 So what can Leeds do? What can they change in this fixture?
01:28 How can they go about getting those three points they so desperately need?
01:31 Well, they've got to be more clinical.
01:32 That's the first thing to say, you know, when they get chances, they've got to take them.
01:35 But also, they've got to create slightly better chances, because as we say, when we look back at these, apart from the odd one,
01:40 certainly look back at that Blackburn game, I didn't leave at full time when I was doing my little verdict at the end.
01:45 And I didn't look back at it and think, how on earth did he miss that?
01:48 You know, there was nothing that really stuck out as glorious gold.
01:51 And there was lots of good chances, but not like superb ones.
01:54 They've got to create better chances and they've got to take the chances more when it comes to it.
02:00 I don't know with this game whether it will suit Leeds or not.
02:02 I half wonder at the moment, because of the pressure and because obviously both Blackburn and Sunderland sat deep and made themselves very hard to break down,
02:10 whether actually playing away will suit Leeds a little bit better at the moment, whether they'll get a little bit more space,
02:15 you know, whether teams will come out and attack them.
02:16 But let's be honest, Michael Carrick's a very good manager. He won't want to give them much space either.
02:20 So I expect even though Borough are at home and they'll probably try and go for it,
02:23 they'll certainly be very, very hard to break down and tighten, whatever.
02:26 But it might just suit Leeds a little bit better than the last couple of games have.
02:29 But I was quite, I mean, obviously you keep your eye on all the results, but I was amazed when we looked at Borough's recent runs.
02:34 I think it's nine games unbeaten, which has sort of come from nowhere, really.
02:37 I mean, and the other thing I would say with that is they've done wonderfully well to have an unbeaten run like that,
02:41 because I did a little piece putting all the injuries together and they've got a staggering amount of injuries, you know, like they really, really have.
02:46 I know they're starting to ease off a little bit now. We'll wait and see if Hayden Hackney's back.
02:50 He's a player I think is a very, very good young player, etc.
02:53 There might be a few other ones coming back, but they're still going to be without an awful lot of players.
02:56 That said, they've achieved this recent run with most of those players out.
03:00 Another big factor in this, which should be a massive relief to Leeds fans, is the fact that both Luke Ayling,
03:04 especially Luke Ayling and Sam Greenwood, won't be able to play because obviously they're facing the parent club.
03:09 And I mean, that's just common sense.
03:11 Like you wouldn't want to be spending Ayling away on loan, then he scores the winning goal that confines you to the playoffs.
03:15 I mean, talking about what a nightmare that would be. So that won't be happening.
03:18 So you don't need to worry about anything like that. And that will be a big factor.
03:21 Sam Greenwood's obviously a good player as well, but he's kind of been coming off the bench a little bit of late.
03:25 I think he came off the bench against Ipswich, but Ayling's very much a starter.
03:29 He got the assist, didn't he, at the weekend and stuff.
03:31 So basically, they'll have to do something to replace him.
03:33 And they'll have to do that at a time when obviously they've got a lot of injuries already.
03:36 So that is a big factor, I think. The fact that it's not all about one player, but that is a big factor.
