This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
By all accounts, Eddie Nketiah had a poor game for the U23s on Monday.
This probably couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Arsenal loanee as he’s under increased scrutiny after Danny Mills called him Leeds’ most disappointing player this season.
He had the opportunity to show Mills and the wider footballing world what he is all about while playing for the youth outfit on Monday, but he seemingly failed spectacularly.
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Indeed, an online report gave a scathing review of the striker’s performance for the youth team, and that only becomes more disappointing the more you think about it.
“It was a horror afternoon for the youngster. He was nowhere near good enough against the Owls, and Bielsa will not have been impressed,” one passage stated.
“The young poacher couldn’t hold the ball up and often lost possession in promising areas in the final third alongside Ryan Edmondson.
“You could see the frustration all across Nketiah’s face after every mistake, and that’s no surprise given his quick decline at Elland Road in the past month.”
Now, that makes for awful reading for any footballer, but it’s made even worse for Nketiah when you realise the role he was playing.
The fact that Nketiah was criticised for his inability to hold the ball up and keep hold of possession while playing alongside Edmondson is the most disappointing part of all this as it shows that the striker isn’t suited to playing in a two striker system.
Fans have previously cried out for Nketiah and Bamford to play together, but Bielsa has admitted that he’s not been able to try that. However, it seems as if this may have been a little test to see how Nketiah got on in a system like this, and unfortunately, it’s not gone as he would have hoped.
For the time being, the Elland Road faithful will have to get used to seeing even more of him on the bench.
In other news, it seems as if Marcelo Bielsa has a new strategy when dealing with press conferences, and it’s working a treat.
