Cameron Borthwick-Jackson started for Leeds United in their League Cup clash with Burnley.
Cameron Borthwick-Jackson of Leeds in action during the Carabao Cup Third Round match
With Cameron Borthwick-Jackson not appearing for Leeds since the previous round, the on-loan Manchester United defender would have known how important a good performance against Burnley in the third round of the Carabao Cup would have been to his chances of proving himself to Thomas Christiansen.
The 20-year-old started brightly following his arrival during the summer window, but had fallen out of favour ahead of the trip to Turf Moor and had not even made the matchday squad in all of the three games the Whites had played following the international break.
With Vurnon Anita – who Christiansen had deployed regularly on the left-hand side of defence in recent weeks – enduring his most difficult day since moving to Elland Road in the weekend defeat to Millwall, Borthwick-Jackson would have known that his inclusion in the starting lineup against the Clarets was a massive opportunity to make a statement.
Unfortunately for the former Wolves loanee, he looked somewhat out of his depth against Burnley while many of his teammates rose to the occasion of facing a Premier League side on their own ground.
Borthwick-Jackson was replaced on the hour-mark by Hadi Sacko, with Stuart Dallas being the man to drop back into the left-back position – which was a notable statement from Christiansen.
At 0-0 away to a top flight team, the Leeds boss would have been forgiven for wanting to keep the same number of defenders on the pitch in the hope of giving the Whites the base to keep things tight at the back and give them a chance of sneaking a narrow win.
But instead of keeping Borthwick-Jackson on, Christiansen decided to throw a winger on and put another wide-man in defence. While Dallas has played at left-back before, he certainly would not have been included in that position in the fans’ lineups before the game began, but the reshuffle was welcome after Borthwick-Jackson’s display.
So while several players recently on the fringes of the squad sent a positive message to the boss on a memorable night for Leeds, Borthwick-Jackson may perhaps be reflecting on his performance as a missed opportunity and one he would quickly like to forget.
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