Ezgjan Alioski didn’t have a great game for Leeds United on Saturday.
The Macedonia international has, like most Leeds players, been very good for the most part this season.
But Marcelo Bielsa took him off midway through the 2-0 defeat at Brighton at the Amex Stadium yesterday.
The former Lugano winger conceded a penalty on 13 minutes after somehow using his elbow to concede a foul, before Pascal Gross tucked away the effort from 12 yards.
And Owen Hargreaves has admitted that he’s never seen a penalty be conceded in that fashion before.
He told Optus Sport: “I’ve never seen anybody bring somebody down with an elbow. Initially it didn’t look like much. He tried to be clever but didn’t get away with it. Okay it’s not enough to bring him down, but it’s enough to stop him and it’s an easy decision.”
Bielsa made the right decision.
Not only did Alioski concede the penalty, but his marker spent the first 45 minutes running rings around him and Bielsa, being the tactician that he is, knew a change was needed.
Thing is, it didn’t really help Leeds when Ian Poveda came on.
The Whites still conceded a lot of chances and really, Brighton had more than enough opportunities to kill the game off, before Danny Welbeck finally did in the final quarter.
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