Marcelo Bielsa must axe Jack Harrison vs Fulham due to dire form
Jack Harrison has not looked himself in recent matches and Marcelo Bielsa should drop him when Leeds United take on Fulham.
The winger was recalled to the side last weekend against Chelsea but he failed to impact the game and was substituted shortly after the hour mark.
He achieved just 53% pass accuracy in that clash and did not complete a single dribble or key pass – it is little surprise he achieved a WhoScored rating of 6.1.
We feel he was a little lucky to receive a rating that high, and unfortunately his poor display has become a bit of a recurring theme in recent weeks.
Bielsa dropped him from the starting line-up against Aston Villa and West Ham, perhaps with the hope that the winger could make a positive impact from the bench.
That did not happen, however.
We lost both of those matches with Harrison managing just one shot across 71 minutes.
He also failed to complete a dribble in either fixture and has now gone six matches without taking the ball past an opponent, per WhoScored.
It is no wonder we have scored just three goals in five games, and we have relied heavily on Raphinha who has been our only creative spark.
He cannot be expected to do it all by himself against Fulham.
Unfortunately, we are not blessed with wide options but Bielsa could look to Helder Costa who has a point to prove.
Alternatively, Ian Poveda could come back in for his first start since the FA Cup match against Crawley.
He missed six games through injury recently but was named on the bench against Chelsea and West Ham and featured for the under 23s on Monday.
Poveda would provide attacking intent and a direct style that has been missing recently.
Our best attacking strategy against Chelsea was to stretch their backline yet Tyler Roberts was the only player who looked to do that.
Bielsa must instruct his wingers to do the same on Friday, regardless of who plays, but since that is not Harrison’s style it is best he sits out.
In other Leeds United news, Robin Koch has explained why he was not called up to the Germany squad.