Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)

It’s hard to know what to make of Leeds. Every week brings a new emotion and this week it was frustration. They battered a battling Charlton only to finish with a 0-0 draw.

The first half was boring. Nothing really happened except for Scott Wootton getting booked for being a bit reckless, which led to his being subbed off a few mins into the second half with Scott Evans fearing his boy was scrapping for a red. And in that second half they came to life. It was chance after chance, especially for the final 30 minutes. That meant there was plenty of Woody hovering around, though not a whole lot of him getting involved, despite playing 90 mins as the striker in a 4-5-1. He only had one shot of the team’s 18 and it was blocked and went out for a corner. He also accidentally blocked a teammate’s shot when he found himself in the way of Stuart Dallas’ effort. The best chance fell to Tom Adeyemi in the box but his dinked finish flicked out off the post when he should have scored. 0-0 in a game they finished well on top… it’s better than a couple of the other 0-0 draws they’ve had this season at least:

“I said to the players ‘look at the difference with the supporters today compared to two weeks ago at Loftus Road’. They’re with you. Why? Because you’re playing for the shirt and the badge. You’re representing them. They’ve seen their team put in a performance.” – Steve Evans

In other news, Woody had himself a run on UK footy show Soccer AM, challenging Jimmy Bullard to a finishing drill. It wasn’t fantastic from the kiwi, as his sporadic finishing was on full display, however he did come away with the victory. Plus he had a bit of banter for the former Fulham and Hull midfielder.

And he also got a shout out in the press from his manager after his barnstormer against Hull last week. Happy Birthday to ya too, Woody. 24 earlier this week.

“I was delighted for him. There’s a little saying in my family that everyone has feelings. Chris has a reputation which has been hard earned, scoring goals and being such a presence in the Championship. For me it [the Hull game] was the first time I’d seen him play in a Leeds United shirt with the ability and the aggressive attitude he’s got. He’s set that benchmark for how he’s going to be judged now.”

Up Next: Away to Wolves, 8.45am Thurs and then home vs Preston, 4am Monday (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

Ipswich on the other hand seem to have played themselves into some decent and consistent form. They’ve shot themselves up into the final playoff spot with a win over MK Dons and will be eyeing higher standings too with some tough games against teams above them coming up.

Smith got his usual 90 minutes at CB. In fact it may have been his best game of the season, it was certainly one of them. He was at the heart of a fantastic defensive performance from Ipswich. Dean Bowditch threated early on from distance, curling his shot wide, but that was all the Dons could manage – long shots. Then ten minutes in, Luke Chambers swerved in a beautiful cross to the far post and Brett Pitman made no mistake.

Freddie Sears nearly doubled the lead in the second spell but was judged narrowly offside when he’d otherwise have been through on goal and that meant for a few nervy moments for Town. A desperate final ten minutes gave them a few worries but keeper Dean Gerken was there when needed and 1-0 was the final score. Smithy winning four tackles and eight clearances, both of them game-highs. Plus a cheeky four interceptions, he did a lot of defensive work in this one and was all the way up for it.

The festive period now kicks into full speed for the Champo lads. While others are enjoying their well-earned break with a few lazy friendlies, some extra days off and maybe a training camp some place for a few days, Smithy and Woody will be playing twice this week and four more times in 2015 all up.

Up Next: Fulham away on Weds 8.45am and Derby at home on Sun 4am (NZT)

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

Oh Winston. Why do you keep doing this to us? One of the games of his life against Man United last week and a few days later he pulls up lame at training. Four to six weeks on the sidelines, they reckon. Just long enough to miss that busy festive period and leave this once gloating column dangerously short of content while the Swiss and Dutch leagues take their Christmas break (the Swiss league is already in hibernation, hence no Marco Rojas).

Winston joins a growing list of injured players, including long-term absentees Dimitri Payet, Diafra Sakho and Manuel Lanzini. All four of those players would be first choice were they fit. Meanwhile Alex Song and Enner Valencia are only just coming back now after long layoffs – Song starting his first game against Man Utd last week. No word quite yet on exactly what he did but it was a muscle thing and he had scans on Friday (check out whufc.com for updates, their physio writes a semi-regular update on there which is pretty handy).

"It's one of those they tell you is four to six weeks but it doesn't look like a small one. He slipped and felt it rupture." – Slaven Bilic

Manager Slaven Bilic has an idea what’s going wrong though. And he’s put it into action by moving them into their new training facility months ahead of schedule. They weren’t supposed to start using the Rush Green facilities until next season, to coincide with the new stadium, but Bilic reckons it’s too risky at the old ones. The pitches are all good to go at Rush Green (the U21s already play there) but most of the indoor stuff has a way to go. Meanwhile Chadwell Heath, their current base, well…

"The Chadwell Heath pitches are soft on top but hard underneath, which is the worst combination. The pitches are better there than here. We can live without the great dressing room, the kitchens and the free area for now." – SB

On the pitch the ragged Hammers nabbed a 0-0 at home to Stoke, a game in which they’ll feel they would have won were it not for the efforts of Stoke keeper Jack Butland. James Collins started at CB with Angelo Ogbonna, with James Tomkins carrying on his right back role of recent times. Their previous right back, Carl Jenkinson, was the only defender on the bench as evidence of how far they’re stretched – which is bound to be a blow to Sunderland and Big Sam, who were rumoured to be hoping to poach a few WHU reserves in January.

Interestingly, Reid's old Danish club FC Midtjylland just drew Manchester United in the Europa League Round of 32. They knocked Southampton out in the playoffs too.

Up Next: The Hammers get currently managerless Swansea in Wales, Monday 5am (NZT)

Bill Tuiloma – RC Strasbourg Alsace (French Championnat National)

Well here’s some good news: Tui got himself a starting spot for RCSA up against CA Bastia. He’s probably not had as many chances as he’d have liked, playing in five of the ten games that he’s been available for (starting on the back foot after a trip to Myanmar with the All Whites pretty much immediately following the loan announcement). Two of those have been starts, this the second, and he’s sat on the bench unused three other times (plus 90 minutes – his only full game of the season – for the RCSA reserves in November).

Unfortunately the season has hit a speed bump for Strasbourg. They were well out on top a month ago on the back of a ten game unbeaten streak but since losing out in the French Cup in extra time to Ligue 2 Sochaux, they’ve dropped off. They’ve lost their last two games now, both by scores of 1-0. With it they’ve dropped to second. A really disappointing one this one too, failing to really threaten. Sada Thioub scored the only goal in the 40th minute, Tui was perhaps a little slow to close him down, allowing him to whip it past him inside the far post. The kiwi was subbed off in the 54th as a part of a double sub, though it wasn’t enough to salvage anything from the match.

Up Next: Amiens SC vs RCSA, 8.30am Saturday (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

The Dutch league breaks for a month over Christmas as conditions get a bit snowy for footy. Plenty of European leagues do as you move eastwards. That means this week’s game at home to AZ Alkmaar was their second to last in 2015.

Ryan Thomas didn’t play, though. He’s still injured and despite initially playing it down it seems he’s highly doubtful for their next game too – although the layoff will almost surely see him right. Without him they were able to sneak a win all the same. 2-1, first half goals to Queensy Menig and Kingsley Ehizibue (both wingers playing with Thomas unavailable) before Muamer Tankovic pulled a consolation goal back in stoppage time. A really handy win too, one that puts them back up in the European playoff positions.

Last week we reported on Thommo’s contract extension. It seems that the deal hasn’t officially been signed yet, though it has been tabled and will almost surely be agreed on (especially based on Ryan’s comments). That’ll keep him there ‘til 2019. He’s one of three young PECers that the club is hopeful of re-inking. Mustafa Saymak and Rick Dekker are the others. Technical director Gerard Nijkamp wants to get all three deals wrapped up by Xmas.

Up Next: Away to PSV for the final game before the break, 7.45am Sunday (NZT)

Tyler Boyd - Vitória S.C. (Portuguese Primeira Liga)

Tyler isn’t getting enough coverage in Flying Kiwis, to be fair. It’s not easy traversing the Portuguese papers to find news of reserve teams in second division, but Boyd has been playing consistently and impressively, especially for a dude in his first season in Europe. He has started ten times and come off the bench eight times in VSCG2’s 21 games. They’re a middling team, sitting 14th out of 24 Segunda Liga teams, but have been recovering recently with a couple of wins on the trot following five games without a win. Boyd last started in the final game of that poor streak but having been left on the bench against Benfica II this week he got on for the final 12 minutes, looking lively and even scoring a goal to put the icing on a 3-0 win. Boyd’s second goal of the season. He also played 25 minutes in a 1-0 win away to Sporting Covilha later this week.

Up Next: Away to Sporting CP IIs, 4am Monday (NZT)