Lorimer er blitt optimist

PETER LORIMER Peter Lorimer (63) er en av de største legendene i Leeds Uniteds historie, med 238 mål på 525 kamper. Driver puben Commercial Inn, et fast samlingssted for skandinaver på Leedstur før kamp. Peter er i dag styremedlem i Leeds United og president i LUSCOS.

After a few bumps at the start of the season, it’s now looking very good for Leeds United, and the form Is setting in. Andy Lonergan has been good between the posts and young Adam Clayton has been excellent for us so far this season.

After the game against Portsmouth we had a meeting with fans at “Lorimers Bar” (arrangement der fansen kan mote og stille spørsmål til utvalgte ledere og spillere I klubben), and I put the question to the fans; “Do you think our team is stronger than last year?” – and they said yes. I think that is the general feeling, although the problem of course has been conceding too many goals.

Like I said, I think Lonergan at the back has been outstanding for us, and even if we have allowed a lot of goals, I don’t think he is to blame for one of them. In midfield Adam Clayton has showed himself as an excellent addition, and now Tom Lees did well as central defender versus Portsmouth. It looked a good partnership with him and Darren O’Dea at the centre back. That’s Tom’s natural position and he’s done well for us, and he has looked comfortable.

At the front, we have players like Becchio, McCormack, Andy Keogh and Mikael Forssell which I think makes us very strong. In fact, I think we’ve got the best squad in the league from midfield and forward. Obviously, Simon tried to bring in players on the last day of the transfer window but it’s not easy getting good players. They look at their CV and would like to stay in, or get to the Premiership, and take those chances if they can.

Ross McCormack, top scorer in the Championship, is such an example of what confi-

dence can do for you. Now, he looks like he can score in every game he plays. I was also pleased to see Robert Snodgrass looking to be on his way back to his good form against Portsmouth. It pleases me because I think he is our best player when he’s on form, and he’s not had the best start to the season until now. Andy Keogh’s been a good addition, coming in on loan, and I think he will stay longer than January. He’s local and would like to stay. He does a lot of hard work for other people, and I think especially McCormack has benefited from that.

Paddy Kisnorbo got a few starts early in the season but has now got a break. It’s never easy to say things for sure when it comes to injuries, but remember that he has been out for 18 months and it takes time to get back to full fitness after such a long time. I’m hoping he will come back strong after a little break. It doesn’t fit altogether overnight. We had a tough start to the season and we’ve played some of the toughest games already, going down to west Ham to get a draw, and we also played Ipswich away where we were unlucky to get Aidy White sent off which made it difficult to us. We had sending offs in other games too, it cost us the win to get to red cards home to Middlesborough as well. We now have a period ahead with games I think we can pick up quite a few points from. I don’t think the league is much stronger than last year. I don’t think anyone saw Southampton coming out so strong, but they’ll be up there, and so will West Ham and Leicester. Brighton also started strongly, but I don’t think they’ll stick up there too long. We’ll sort things out at the back, and I do think we’ll end up having a good season.