This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Leeds have missed Pablo Hernandez in recent weeks.
Make no mistake about it, the Spaniard is a key component in Marcelo Bielsa’s squad and the team just doesn’t tick in the same way when the 34-year-old isn’t on the pitch.
The Whites haven’t scored more than one goal in a game since the two-time Player of the Year winner was injured against Derby, and they will be glad to have him back once he has recovered.
However, his return will bring about another dilemma for Marcelo Bielsa.
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Bielsa’s dilemma
Marcelo Bielsa’s dilemma spawns from the EFL’s rules on loan players.
The laws state that a Championship team can only have five loan players in their squad, and with Leeds having six loanees at the club, Bielsa has to make a decision on who will miss out.
At the beginning of the campaign it was Jack Clarke who missed out, but after Hernandez’s injury, he was brought back into the matchday squad at the expense of Illan Meslier.
Now with the Spaniard’s return looming, the gaffer has another decision to make regarding those two.
Why being the away goalkeeper at Leeds is the toughest job in football in the video below…
Meslier or Clarke?
Really you have to weigh up who is the more effective player to have on the bench, the electric winger who was valued by Spurs this summer at £10m, or the backup goalkeeper?
This choice should be a simple one for Bielsa, Meslier is rarely going to be used off of the bench, and Kamil Miazek could easily fill that role of substitute keeper for if Kiko Casilla is ever injured or sent off.
That isn’t to say that Miazek should be second-choice either.
If Casilla does have a prolonged injury or suspension, Meslier would probably be the one to start in his absence given he’s been starting for the U23s. However, ‘keepers are so rarely subbed on that excluding Clarke from the squad so that the Frenchman is on the bench is just counter-intuitive.
The winger is an exciting player and the way he burst onto the scene with a goal against Aston Villa last season sums that up. He’s exactly the type of footballer you’d want to bring on with 15 minutes to go to run at a tired defence.
In 2018/19, out of four goal contributions, just one of them came when he was starting. That shows how big an influence he can be late in a game and why he must be kept on the bench even when Hernandez is back in the squad.
