A lot of Leeds United fans have responded to Marcelo Bielsa’s team selection ahead of tonight’s FA Cup tie with Arsenal.
Bielsa confirmed that Illan Meslier and Robbie Gotts would make their first-team debuts, and Barry Douglas will play left-back with Ezgjan Alioski playing further forward in place of Helder Costa.
Who should Bielsa have started in goal?
Meslier
Casilla
This is an interesting selection from Bielsa, and it has gone down well on Twitter with many Leeds fans.
? Marcelo says he expects Illan Meslier (for Casilla) and Robbie Gotts (for Dallas) to make their first-team debuts against Arsenal, whilst Douglas will play left back and Alioski in place of Costa pic.twitter.com/9E7DLe3e0Z
— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 4, 2020
Excited for Meslier and Gotts. Everytime I see them in the U23s they’re excellent. I think Meslier is a real prospect, has a quality about him.
— leedsyorks68 (@leedsyorks68) January 4, 2020
Great to see these guys get a game against the gunners, and a chance to test our team against premiership players. But it is just a side show to the bigger price ??
— Richard Wakeman (@RichardWakeman1) January 4, 2020
Sounds like a wise selection…
— RUSSELL WALKER (@RUSSELL91779006) January 4, 2020
Be brilliant to see both in first team as look decent in under 23s ??
— #loveleeds ???? (@Lisa1973LUFC) January 4, 2020
Be interesting to see how they all get on.
— Pete ?????????LUFC? (@BadgeSmiley) January 5, 2020
Testing the waters with meslier me thinks
— Bren? (@brenmcdaid) January 4, 2020
Very happy to hear Douglas will get a start. I still think he could become the big deal we all thought he was start of last Season.
— BecchioWellPlaced (@RyanLUFC91) January 4, 2020
Sounds like he (El’Loco) is taking this game as a training session, to break YOUNG blood, poor Arsenal, they are goona get battered M.O.T TOTL
— Eddie brown (@Rochdalebuddha) January 4, 2020
What do we think?
The priority for Bielsa is the league, so this match is the perfect opportunity to give the likes of Gotts and Meisler a chance to impress in a big stadium in front of a national TV audience.
This will be a serious test for both, but Bielsa must trust them and believe that they can perform at the highest level.
Leeds will seemingly take a massive 8,000 to the Emirates today, and they will be expecting a performance from the Whites.
However, they do accept that the FA Cup is not a priority.