What a home debut for Leeds United gem Joe Gelhardt on Saturday afternoon.
It was an overall disappointing day for Leeds, who not only failed to beat Wolves at Elland Road.
But the sight of Raphinha, their best player this season, being helped down the tunnel following a rash challenge from Romain Saiss was a big worry.
One massive positive came in the form of Gelhardt’s cameo off the bench.
With Leeds trailing 1-0 at the time, the 19-year-old injected a sense of purpose into United’s attack and he almost equalised, forcing the visitors’ goalkeeper into a fine save.
But the former Wigan starlet did wind up providing a game-changing moment by winning a last-minute penalty after dancing his way into the area, before being fouled by Nelson Semedo.
That spot-kick was thumped home by Rodrigo and here’s how the youngster’s mother reacted to the drama on Twitter:
It’s important that Marcelo Bielsa manages expectations around Gelhardt now.
At his age, he can’t be expected to be Leeds’ saviour every weekend – and really, he shouldn’t need to be.
This is a team who more than held their own against the Premier League’s elite last season and won at eventual champions Manchester City, despite only having 10 men.
In other words, Leeds undoubtedly have the players to be doing far better than they’re doing this time around and the fact that Bielsa’s side only have one win from nine Premier League games is a big problem.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
