Gjanni Alioski did not enjoy the best afternoon personally in Leeds United’s 3-2 win over Ipswich Town at the weekend.
During the first few weeks of the season, there was no question that Ezgjan Alioski was one of Leeds’ best players, causing opposition full-backs numerous problems and giving fans something to be extremely positive about going into the previous international break after scoring a brilliant goal against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
Unfortunately for the summer signing, his form since the break has not been quite as impressive, and his performance in the 3-2 win over Ipswich at the weekend should perhaps leave Thomas Christiansen thinking about whether to rest the Macedonia international for Tuesday’s game against Cardiff City.
Leeds secured an important victory against the Tractor Boys, but it was certainly not a comfortable win as a number of players looked short of their best – which will arguably please Christiansen anyway as the side are tending to pick up points when they are not playing with the brilliance that saw them dismantle Burton earlier this month.
| Total Crosses | Accurate Crosses | Duels Lost | Duels Won | Attempted Dribbles | Successful dribbles | Total Passes | Accurate Passes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ezgjan Alioski | 6 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 25 | 19 |
The statistic that certainly sticks out the most from Alioski’s performance against Ipswich is the 25-year-old’s crossing numbers.
The former Lugano man failed to find a teammate with all of his six crosses. And while those stats can be misleading at times, it was clear that the winger was short of his best in that area of his game as he frequently either over-hit his ball into the box or failed to clear the first defender, leaving Pierre-Michel Lasogga with little to work off.
Resting Alioski for the Cardiff game would be a gamble as he undoubtedly has the potential to be a difference-maker in a game that pits two of the top three in the Championship against each other.
But with Kemar Roofe and Stuart Dallas impressing this season and with neither starting against Ipswich, Christiansen can perhaps be confident that leaving Alioski out of the starting lineup may not hurt the team too much.
And perhaps a rest could be exactly what the wide-man needs to go into the Sheffield Wednesday game at the weekend fully motivated to make another brilliant impact heading into the international break.
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