Leeds United looked to be out of ideas during their midweek Championship defeat.
Ryan Edmondson is arguably the most in-form player on Leeds United’s books right now. The 17-year-old bagged a brace in the vital Premier League Cup win against Newcastle earlier this week, having scored the winning goals in the previous two fixtures in the competition.
His five strikes in the group-stages were a key reason why Leeds bounced back from losing their opening two games to qualify out of the group.
Edmondson is clearly buying into the Bielsa philosophy that is permeating right through the ranks at Elland Road. And that should tempt the Leeds boss to consider including him in the first-team squad for Friday’s massive home game against West Brom.
The Whites go into the contest having passed up the opportunity to move back to the top of the Championship earlier in the week as they became the first team in eight not to beat QPR.
It was a hugely disappointing performance from the promotion-chasers, who rarely looked like scoring an equaliser following Luke Freeman’s opener shortly after the break.
Bielsa attempted to change things with his substitutions. But with Kemar Roofe recently becoming the latest key man to suffer an injury, the one thing that Bielsa could not do was throw on another striker who could perhaps cause QPR some problems when the ball did get into the box.
It would be unfair to suggest that Edmondson’s stature is his biggest strength. He has shown this season that he asks a lot more questions of defenders when he has the ball on the floor.
Nevertheless, he could have made an impact in those final moments, and his presence may have tempted his teammates to put more balls into the box. Even if he was not the player to benefit, that could have made a difference and seen Leeds perhaps grab a last-ditch point.
So with West Brom coming to Elland Road on Friday, it is surely a must for Bielsa to consider Edmondson for a spot on the bench. The likes of Barry Douglas, Stuart Dallas and Izzy Brown are quality options to bring off the bench. But something different happens when another striker comes onto the pitch. The players and the fans seem to get a lift – it is the clearest indication of what the side’s intentions are.
Edmondson’s confidence should be extremely high after such a superb run of form for the under-23s. And after beckoning so many youngsters into the first-team this term, Bielsa should seriously think about promoting the striker once again as it is difficult not to feel that he could have made a difference when Leeds looked out of ideas on Tuesday.
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