Pablo Hernandez impressed in Leeds United’s win at the weekend, but he has since been overshadowed by teammate Samu Saiz.
One of the crucial decisions facing Thomas Christiansen ahead of Leeds’ season-opener with Bolton was the choice between Pablo Hernandez and summer signing Samu Saiz in the attacking midfield position.
Hernandez was the man who got the nod, and it is fair to say that he justified the selection as he certainly impressed at the Macron Stadium as the Whites secured a 3-2 win.
However, that display has since been completely overshadowed by the performance Saiz put in during the Carabao Cup clash with Port Vale on Wednesday night as the Spaniard bagged a hat-trick on his debut.
While the calibre of the opposition was not as high in midweek, the quality of the three goals surely makes it impossible for Christiansen to really justify leaving him on the bench for the home clash with Preston North End at the weekend.
Therefore, that would surely make it highly unlikely that Hernandez would be involved from the start as the current system surely does not accommodate both men being involved at the same time.
So perhaps Hernandez can feel that right now, he may just be one of the unluckiest members of the squad as he did extremely well against the Trotters, and may have felt – given the calibre of the opposition in the cup – that only something special would have seen Saiz move ahead of him in the pecking order.
Unfortunately for Hernandez however, something special arguably sums up Saiz’s debut perfectly.
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