Felix Wiedwald did not enjoy the most convincing debut as Leeds United claimed a narrow win over Bolton Wanderers.
While Thomas Christiansen will no doubt be delighted to kick off his tenure as Leeds boss with a win, he will know that improvements may be needed in the coming months if the Whites are to establish themselves as promotion contenders this term.
The 3-2 win against Bolton saw Leeds demonstrate plenty of fighting spirit to withstand the Trotters’ pressure in the latter stages of the contest, and there unquestionably was a decent amount of quality on show, but there were also some more unconvincing performances.
One player who probably did not cover themselves in glory was Felix Wiedwald, the German goalkeeper who made his competitive debut for the club following his summer switch.
In fairness to the 27-year-old, he actually did little wrong during the contest, but the small errors he did make during the game were perhaps amplified by the fact that Christiansen had left Rob Green on the bench despite the veteran’s fantastic form last season.
He seemed to struggle to deal with crosses in particular, but rewind the clock back 12 months and the same would have been said about Green himself, who endured an even more miserable debut for the Whites as they were thumped 3-0 by QPR.
And it is because of his rival’s transformation that it would surely be wrong to suggest that Wiedwald cannot stamp his authority on the number one spot at Elland Road over the next few months.
The former Werder Bremen man was working with a back four that he has only known for just over a month – though Matthew Pennington has been with the club for an even shorter period of time – and the team were lining up against a Bolton side that will undoubtedly cause a number of Championship teams many problems when they put the ball into the box due to their physical strength.
Therefore, while Wiedwald’s performance was certainly some way short of being perfect, those doubting whether he is the right man to be Leeds’ number one would perhaps be wise to remember how Green bounced back from a much more alarming debut and give the stopper time to settle in and potentially show why the Whites decided to target him in the first place.
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