Leeds United were chasing a goal against Fulham in the Championship on Tuesday night, so replaced Caleb Ekuban with Jay-Roy Grot.
While Fulham can call on arguably the Championship’s most lethal centre-forward right now, Leeds United could only dream of a goal-scorer who hits the net as regularly as Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The Newcastle United loanee scored his eighth goal in nine starts for Slavisa Jokanovic’s side, as they earned a 2-0 win at Craven Cottage on Tuesday night to condemn Paul Heckingbottom to his fifth defeat in ten league games since taking over at Elland Road in early February.
While Fulham started with Mitrovic in attack, Leeds were forced to rely on Caleb Ekuban. The Ghanaian scored in his previous game, the 2-1 win against Bolton, but that was his only goal in 15 Championship appearances for Leeds.
And the reaction among Leeds fans when Ekuban was subbed off after another wasteful display, in which he spurned the visitors’ best chance, says it all.
Because the 24-year-old’s replacement, Jay-Roy Grot, has hardly enjoyed a prolific debut season in English football either. In 17 Championship appearances, albeit all of those coming from the substitute’s bench, he has hit the back of the net just once.
And the fact that Leeds were forced to turn to an unproven, raw 20-year-old talent who has struggled since arriving at Elland Road last summer speaks volumes about the lack of depth in Heckingbottom’s squad, and the poor recruitment which has led to their recent collapse.
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