Marcelo Bielsa finally lost his unbeaten run as Leeds manager as his side crashed out of the league cup 2-0 against Preston tonight, and fans were not impressed with centre-back Conor Shaughnessy.
It was the 22-year-old centre-back’s first appearance since injuring his ankle in January and it showed – he was rusty and off the pace.
Preston took the lead from the penalty spot after just two minutes and they scored again before the end of the first-half, despite going down to 10 men when Ryan Ledson got his marching orders in the 29th minute.
It was too much to pull back for Bielsa, despite bringing on the cavalry in the second half – Samu Saiz and Mateusz Klich came on for Shaughnessy and Jamie Shackleton at half-time.
And for expectant fans at Elland Road it was a huge disappointment after such a fast start to the season.
Plenty of fans flocked onto Twitter to rail against the returning centre-back – here are the best reactions on Twitter:
Shaughnessy is no CB. Tackle should have gone in way earlier. Shocking
— Dom (@dommer14) August 28, 2018
No one has been great. A few have been alright. Shaughnessy's defending on the second goal was pub level at best. #lufc #MOT
— Mighty Whites Pod – #LUFC podcast. (@mightywhitespod) August 28, 2018
Shaughnessey hasn't put a foot right this half.
Completely at fault for that second goal by standing off.
Horrible, horrible performance so far. #lufc— Daryl ? (@DarylRS29) August 28, 2018
Shaughnessy definitely isn’t the answer to our lack of centre backs ? #LUFC
— Austin (@AustinLDN86) August 28, 2018
I hope to god shaughnessy is not out back up CB till Jan…..never had a good performance and is awful
— Paul Palfreyman (@ppalf29) August 28, 2018
I’ve seen milk turn faster than Shaughnessy did for their second goal. #lufc
— L (@BECCH1O) August 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/hirdta01/status/1034525461995560965
Now Bielsa knows Shaughnessy is at best Conference player #lufc
— Krzysztof Wrzal (@KrzysztofWrzal) August 28, 2018
Shaughnessy needs a season in League One. Strange decision not to sign a more experienced CB
— White Knight LUFC (@WhiteKnightLUFC) August 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/wayneleedsfan/status/1034524023055675393
OPINION
Shaughnessy wasn’t great tonight… and that’s being very generous. he looked slow, ponderous and fans must be very concerned that this is the centre-back that Bielsa is putting his trust in for this season. He hasn’t played since January, to be fair, but fans have been calling for a new centre-back this summer and Bielsa has said that he’s happy with what he’s got. He might be reconsidering that view after tonight but it’s a bit late to do anything now, with the EFL loan deadline on Friday. Shaughnessy is better than this and fans will have to hope that Bielsa can get more out of him. Just playing 45 minutes won’t have helped him here though. He needs game-time and we’re not sure when he’s going to get that now unless someone gets injured. And putting him back in a live environment with no more game-time under his belt could be a recipe for disaster. Hello, Everton… Could we speak to Mathew Pennington please?