Leeds United failed to score for the third time in four games on Saturday, and despite United’s woes in front of goal being incredibly evident, Marcelo Bielsa still refused to put Jean-Kevin Augustin on the bench for Saturday’s game against Wigan.
Of course, the Argentine was asked about this after the game, and he gave something of a weak excuse as to why the Frenchman wasn’t a part of the matchday squad.
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“He just arrived. I try to evaluate always how he is integrating and adapting with the play and style. After I take a decision, thinking of the best for the team. Today he would have come on like a second striker,” Bielsa said.
Fair enough, Augustin hasn’t had all that much time to adjust to Bielsa’s style, but with a few minutes to go that system could have been adapted to suit the new man.
Leeds were 1-0 down and dominating with not long left to go, and Wigan were truly parking the bus as United created chance after chance.
Indeed, the Whites created 14 opportunities against the Latics, and not a single one was taken. Without Augustin on the bench, the manager had no choice but to persevere with Patrick Bamford.
The Yorkshire club created so many chances, and they only needed to take one of them to turn the game on its head. While Augustin wasn’t up to speed with the playstyle, operating in the Bielsa way shouldn’t have been the priority late in the game on Saturday.
Augustin would have been hungry to score on his debut had he come on, and if he was playing at his best he would have been a real threat, as he once had a record of one goal every 141 minutes in the Bundesliga back in 2017/18.
Perhaps he wouldn’t have played in the way the manager wanted, but he would have offered something different after over an hour of Bamford misfiring.
Bielsa needs to come up with a better reason for leaving Augustin out on Saturday or else fans will be justified in their criticisms of him.
In other news, Marcelo Bielsa’s decision on this U23 star is helping nobody.