OPINION
Leeds United continue to fly high in the Championship this season but not everyone is having the same impact on their push for promotion.
The likes of Matesuz Klich, Pablo Hernandez and Kalvin Phillips have all been crucial to their efforts, putting in some of the best performances that Elland Road have seen in recent years.
On the flip side of the coin, there have been a couple of under-performing talents among the squad and it has been clear that manager Mareclo Bielsa is not afraid of wielding the axe if you do not pull your weight.
One man who can consider himself exceptionally lucky to keep starting games is Macedonian winger Ezgjan Alioski, who has found himself culled from the side at half time in both of the last two games having made little-to-no impact on the Whites’ performance – which has left him under fire from all four corners of Elland Road.
Being brought at half time usually means a first half so poor an immediate change is needed or that an injury has been picked up, but speaking of the forward Bielsa made the surprise revelation that it was neither.
He told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “It would be difficult to defend a position where you switch a player after 45 minutes or say he played very well. It was not a tactical substitution and it was not a substitution because he got injured.
“The value I give to Alioski is important and it’s still the same. My opinion regarding him is still the same. He will always have influence in the team.”
There will no doubt be plenty of Leeds fans question exactly what influence that might be, for his performances have been overshadowed by those of Jack Clarke – often Alioski’s replacement from the bench.
Serious questions need to be asked as to why the Macedonian can still keep his place when offering nothing to the side, meaning that for 45 minutes Leeds are battling against the odds.
Bielsa is gambling on the club’s future success if he continues to persist with his favoured winger and he either needs to drop the attacker, or Alioski himself needs to up his game massively, to warrant keeping him in the side.