Tom Pearce was substituted after coming on during Leeds United’s FA Cup defeat on Sunday.
In comments reported by Leeds Live, Marcelo Bielsa suggested that he was happy with Tom Pearce’s performance during Leeds’ FA Cup third round defeat to QPR on Sunday, and explained the decision to take the youngster off in the latter stages.
The Whites were knocked out of the competition at Loftus Road as their Championship rivals scored either side of an Aapo Halme goal to hand Bielsa’s side their third defeat in a row in all competitions.
There was an interesting moment with just over 10 minutes remaining as Pearce was taken off and replaced by Kun Temenuzhkov. The left-back had only come on at half-time, and did not appear to have an injury.
And Bielsa has seemingly confirmed that he felt that he needed to sacrifice the youngster as Leeds chased an equaliser having just fallen 2-1 behind, but insisted that he was happy with Pearce’s display during the brief time he was on the pitch.
“Tom Pearce didn’t play many minutes, but the time he had was good. When the opponent scored the second goal I had to take a decision and play Alioski as a full-back,” he said, as reported by Leeds Live.
With Barry Douglas injured and Pearce making his way back from a spell on the sidelines, the decision could prove beneficial in the coming games.
And while it does appear to be a ruthless move from Bielsa, the Leeds boss has not been afraid to make those kind of changes, with the most notable substitution coming in the trip to Swansea when Kalvin Phillips was replaced during the first-half – albeit having started the game. Pearce, of course, has also been involved in this kind of change previously.
Because of that, it may not be a huge surprise if Pearce takes more from Bielsa’s more positive post-match comments rather than read too much into the change itself.
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