Javi Gracia did something truly bizarre today as Leeds suffered 17th defeat – Our View

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Javi Gracia made a very strange decision earlier on Saturday as Leeds suffered their 17th defeat of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign.

Leeds were undone by goals from Harry Wilson and Andreas Pereira as Fulham recorded a 2-1 win at Craven Cottage.

It leaves Leeds staring relegation in the face as Manchester City, Newcastle and Tottenham await in their final run of games, and supporters should be baffled by something Gracia did – or rather didn’t do – in west London.

What’s the story?

Well, Gracia decided to leave the £36m man Georginio Rutter on the bench – despite the fact it was simply a must win game for Leeds.

Now, we are not suggesting by any means that the Frenchman would have come on and scored a hat-trick to win the game.

However, for Gracia to go 2-0 down in a crucial match, stare at his bench and think a £36m forward is not worth throwing on to salvage at least a point seems bizarre to us.

Of course, there are question marks as to why Leeds spent that much on a relatively inexperienced 21-year-old while fighting a relegation battle in the first place.

In ten Premier League appearances so far, Rutter has failed to score or provide an assist.

In fairness, the France Under-21 international was signed by Jesse Marsch, not Gracia, so it is entirely possible that the Spaniard simply doesn’t rate him.

Ultimately, that doesn’t make the 52-year-old’s decision to ignore Rutter any better.

Whether he rates him or not, Gracia could have surely given the promising forward some action against Fulham as his side found themselves 2-0 down, especially as he only used four of his available five substitutions.

Georginio Rutter must be baffled by Leeds treatment

It speaks volumes that Leeds spent £36m in January to make someone with 11 senior goals their club-record signing.

Those on the recruitment team at Elland Road clearly rate Rutter highly, and the Frenchman is surely baffled to find himself wasting away on the bench as those in front of him struggle to score goals.

Hopefully, Leeds get themselves out of this mess, or the questionable signing will have an even stronger spotlight focused on it.