Hadi Sacko may not have made the impact Leeds United needed in their Championship clash with Reading but he still looked bright.
It has undoubtedly been a difficult time for Hadi Sacko since he returned to Leeds on a permanent basis in the summer after a bright but inconsistent loan spell.
He appeared to start the campaign on the periphery of Thomas Christiansen’s plans, but a disappointing cameo against Bolton on the opening day and another underwhelming outing in the League Cup meant that it would be more than a month before the Frenchman would play again for the Whites.
A goal and a much more impressive performance in the victory over Burnley in the cup appeared to give Sacko the lifeline he desperately needed, but once again, an indifferent cameo against Sheffield Wednesday before the international break left many supporters writing him off again.
And while he was unable to make a major impact in Leeds’ defeat to Reading at the weekend, he surely showed enough to suggest to Christiansen that he probably does deserve more chances.
Sacko’s pace gave Leeds a different dimension they desperately needed in the defeat to the Royals, and he is one of the few players in that attacking midfield area who looks to get down the line and into a position to put crosses in, rather than play through the middle.
The fact that he is a natural winger means that he arguably stands out from the other players that Christiansen has used in that three playing off the striker. And with Leeds needing to find a plan B after seemingly being worked out by a number of their Championship rivals in recent weeks, perhaps it would be worth suggesting that putting up with the frustration that Sacko creates could be worthwhile as he provides the unpredictability that Leeds are currently crying out for.
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