MOT View: Time for Bielsa to unleash Leeds secret weapon pundit claims is ‘top, top player’
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa likes to stick with a small group of players, week-in, week-out. And it’s served him very well this season.
However, he’s probably going to have to change his tactics up for the remaining nine games of the season.
It’s fair to say that this is a unique situation in modern world football.
No fixtures have been played for three months and players will have only been in full contact training for two weeks when the games kick off again next weekend.
The Bundesliga has shown that there will likely be more injuries, and there’s the chance that players will test positive and have to self-isolate.
All of these factors point to Bielsa not being able to name the same starting XI game-in, game-out, and he might have to look deeper into his squad.
One player who could be the beneficiary of this is January signing Ian Poveda.
The former Man City winger hasn’t had an electric start to his Leeds’ career, making the bench twice before getting summarily dumped from the squad.
He hasn’t been seen since in the first-team but we’ve been watching him in the Under-23s and he’s definitely a hugely talented player.
The goal he set-up in the game against Barnsley just before the season was halted showed what he can do.
Athletic journalist Phil Hay has said that he hasn’t been injured and speculated it must be a fitness issue.
Well, Poveda has now had the chance to put that right. With the Leeds players likely to come back on a level playing field in terms of fitness, Poveda can stake a claim for a first-team spot.
MOT Leeds News columnist Paul Robinson has seen him play for the Under-23s and says he likes him “a lot”.
He called him a “top, top player” in March just ahead of the season going down and said he would be Leeds’ next breakthrough star.
We certainly don’t expect him to start against Cardiff but we would love to see him used off the bench.
With his pace and his trickery, he could be the secret weapon that can help secure promotion for Leeds.
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