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Joe Gelhardt does himself no favours after what happened in League Cup defeat to Wolves
It’s been a really difficult start to the 2022/23 season for Joe Gelhardt and things didn’t improve for the 20-year-old on his first Leeds United start since 3 September.
The forward has been a bit-part player for Jesse Marsch thus far, with substitute appearances and the odd cup cameo making up the majority of his minutes. The League Cup third-round fixture at Molineux presented an excellent opportunity for Gelhardt to give the American something to seriously contemplate heading into the Whites’ fixture against Tottenham.
However, the 20-year-old was sloppy on the ball and looked lost at times in the first half. He later picked up an injury at the start of the second half and his race was run. His outing against Wolves pretty much sums up his season as a whole – misfiring and blighted by injury.
If Gelhardt had hoped to make an impression in the Black Country then he failed miserably. The likes of Sonny Perkins, Mateo Joseph, and Willy Gnonto all now have a reasonable claim to be ahead of the former Wigan man in the pecking order.
Perkins was elegant on the ball at Molineux, picking up pockets of space and utilising his wonderful first touch to make things happen for the Whites. Joseph was a livewire, making runs off the ball in behind the home side’s backline. These are thing we would expect from Gelhardt.
It’s sad to see a player out of form, but there should be hope for the youngster to turn it around. He’s proven he’s capable of performing at Premier League level. Potentially a couple of matches back in the under-21s set up to regain some confidence could be on the cards.
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The odd ten-minute cameo in the Premier League is simply not going to lead to a consistent level of performance from the youngster.
In other Leeds United news, here are MOT Leeds News player ratings v Wolves