Giuseppe Bellusci shines on the pitch for Leeds but prompts mixed feelings off it

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The Leeds United defender put in another solid shift although the critics remain unimpressed

There are some players who will never win over their supporters, and in the case of Leeds United that player appears to be centre-back Giuseppe Bellusci.

There is no doubt the Italian has had some shockers in a Whites’ shirt but recently he has become an integral – and for the most part stable – element of manager Steve Evans’ back-line and against Brentford on Tuesday evening he again did his job well.

There were shaky moments, as there often are with Bellusci, but he did what he needed to do and on this evidence Sol Bamba will find it increasingly hard to get back into the starting line-up in the coming months.

Mustapha Carayol’s late goal gave Leeds a 1-1 draw with Brentford and at the opposite end of the field, Bellusci racked up some impressive individual statistics.

The doubters will dismiss Bellusci’s contribution regardless of those figures – and it is true that sometimes stats do not tell the whole story – however on Tuesday the Leeds defender had a 100 per cent tackle accuracy, recovered the ball on nine occasions and was dispossessed just once all night.

The 26-year-old also won four duels, seven interceptions and made two effective clearances, while he did not commit a single foul all evening.

Some Leeds fans are being won over by Bellusci this season, and while there are still plenty who stand rigidly by their initial opinion, he is doing his best to convince them, too.