Leeds United fans have taken to Twitter to vent their frustrations at Ezgjan Alioski for his performance in their 2-0 win against Barnsley on Sunday.
The Macedonian full-back endured a pretty torrid afternoon in the Yorkshire derby, struggling to properly get up to speed and repeatedly failing to provide quality deliveries into the box alongside fellow left-sided teammate Jack Harrison.
That inability to produce an end product was a subject of much ire amongst watching fans, and their anger was not helped by the 27-year-old’s fairly lacklustre defensive showing either.
Here are some of the best tweets from supporters.
Alioski is so bad.
— Lee Holdsworth (@LeeHoldsworth01) September 15, 2019
Alioski is having an absolute stinker, getting skinned every time and keeps dribbling into people
— Jim (@Jimlar_) September 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/JtotheRain/status/1173204391236689920?s=20
To be fair to Alioski, his defensive display against Barnsley was a bit of an outlier compared to the rest of his performances this season.
So far this term, prior to Saturday’s win, he has averaged an impressive 2.2 tackles and 1.8 interceptions per match, as per Whoscored, and has only been dribbled past on one occasion per outing.
But on the front foot, things are a much different story.
Marcelo Bielsa’s brand of high intensity, attacking football demands a certain amount of creativity and guile from his full-backs.
Thus far this campaign, Alioski has failed to offer that.
Apart from 1.2 key passes per match, as per Whoscored, he has offered very little going forward.
Prior to Sunday’s match, he had failed to complete a successful dribble in the Championship, and has averaged just 0.6 crosses per match.
For a full-back who is expected to cause havoc as much as he is supposed to stifle it, that is pretty underwhelming.
Said it once said it a million times. Alioski is a liability.
— Scott E (@ScottEaglen) September 15, 2019
Douglas has to start over Alioski ? #lufc
— Demps (@Dempseywalsh) September 15, 2019
By contrast, Barry Douglas, Bielsa’s other real choice at full-back, has averaged 1.5 successful crosses so far this season, as per Whoscored, as well as making 1.4 key passes per match over the course of his 27 Championship outings last term.
You have to wonder how much longer Alioski can continue to put in the kind of ineffectual attacking displays that he has this term before Douglas is given an extended chance to stake a claim for a permanent starting spot.
A few more performances from the Macedonian like his one on Sunday, and it may not be too long at all.
Alioski is rubbish ?
— Adam (@Hertswhitelufc) September 15, 2019
That attempt at a slide tackle from Alioski was awful. Much better overall last few minutes. #lufc #MOT
— Mighty Whites Pod – #LUFC podcast. (@mightywhitespod) September 15, 2019