OPINION
If there is a Leeds United player who has not enjoyed the greatest of seasons, one of them would no doubt be midfielder Adam Forshaw.
You could count on one hand the amount of times he has blown the Elland Road faithful away this season, with his poor displays definitely outweighing any that have been good.
That is why many fans were no doubt puzzled when he was picked to start ahead of Kalvin Phillips for the clash against Norwich City a few weeks ago.
However, he will now be sweating about his minutes in the first team after Sky Sports pundit David Prutton lavished praise on Phillips, saying that it would be hard to pick a better holding midfielder in the Championship than the 23-year-old.
“I’d struggle at this stage to pick out a better holding midfielder in the Championship and at 23, Phillips has become a player who Leeds need to build their team around,” he said in his YEP column.
Based on his performances this season, Prutton is more than justified to drool over Phillips in the way that he has, but this praise will no doubt cause a huge dent in Forshaw’s confidence.
He has shown no signs of improving in the last few weeks and he certainly demonstrated why he should not be Marcelo Bielsa’s first choice ahead of his teammate.
It would be difficult to see Bielsa pick anyone else other than Phillips in the holding role from here on out, especially if Prutton’s praise is anything to go by, so Forshaw will surely be sweating buckets about what the future has in store for him with Leeds.
He will definitely be relegated to the bench in order to accommodate Phillips, and this is a prospect that would have certainly got him gutted.
Either way, the 27-year-old’s confidence will surely be in tatters after this, and that is no surprise given the form of Phillips at the moment.