Leeds United faltered against West Ham on Monday evening, and one man who simply wasn’t up to scratch was Helder Costa.
It’s never nice to single out a player for criticism, but it has to be said that Costa didn’t perform well against West Ham.
The Portuguese winger was hooked at half-time, and we understand Marcelo Bielsa’s decision to take him off. After all, he didn’t have a single shot on target and he only touched the ball 19 times in what was a very ineffective 45 minutes.
Sadly, this is becoming a regular occurrence for Costa at Leeds.
The winger simply isn’t contributing enough, he’s had just five shots in his last nine appearances for Leeds, and his WhoScored average since the turn of the year is just 6.03, and he’s scored just once since September.
Of course, this isn’t hugely inhibiting Leeds as he’s usually the second-choice on the wings behind Jack Harrison and Raphinha, but it may be time for Ian Poveda to move above him in the pecking order.
Poveda has looked bright whenever he’s been on the pitch this season, and while he’s yet to score a goal for the Whites, he’s much more direct and effective than Costa.
While the Portugal international has had just five shots in nine games, Poveda is averaging 1.8 per 90 minutes, while his dribbling stats are also superior to Costa’s, averaging 5.9 per 90 compared to Costa’s 3.8.
Poveda is clearly a fantastic footballer, he’s been on the books at Barcelona and Manchester City, and he’s also been described as a ‘highly technical player’ by Marcelo Bielsa.
With Costa continuously underperforming, it’s time for Poveda to start getting the chances that are being afforded to the former Wolves man.
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