Noel Whelan has claimed that Leeds United manager Paul Heckingbottom got his tactics wrong by starting centre-forward Pierre-Michel Lasogga against Sunderland.
The Whites were held to a 1-1 draw at Elland Road by relegation candidates and their poor form in 2018 continued.
Paddy McNair had given the visitors a shock lead shortly into the second-half, but in-form attacker Pablo Hernandez rescued a point for the Yorkshire giants.
BBC Pundit Whelan suggested after the match that Heckingbottom made a mistake by recalling Lasogga to lead the line.
He feels that the quicker Caleb Ekuban should have retrained his spot and that he would have threatened the Sunderland backline much more.
“I wouldn’t have started with Lasogga, I would have gone with Ekuban, I’d have gone for pace against those two centre-halves,” Whelan told BBC Radio Leeds.
“You play right into the hands when you play Lasogga who hasn’t got any pace and most of the balls will be up to his head. What would hurt those sort of players is pace running in behind.”
Lasogga was eventually hauled off in the 79th minute after failing to make a serious impact and replaced by Ekuban.
Heckingbottom has rotated the pair since he arrived at the club and it’s unclear who is the preferred choice.
OPINION
Leeds’ forward problems continue to be highlighted this campaign and quite frankly not replacing Chris Wood adequately enough in the summer has seriously damaged them. Lasogga may not have had his best of games against Sunderland, but he is not recognised for being mobile and his strengths lie in the penalty area. He has scored 10 goals in all competitions this season and overall has been useful during a debut season in English football. Meanwhile, Ekuban has been in for criticism given his recent performances so Heckingbottom is almost in a lose-lose situation. The return from injury of Kemar Roofe is now an alternative Leeds could try in the remainder of the campaign.