Pablo Hernandez captained Leeds United as they came from 2-0 down to draw their latest Championship game.
After Eunan O’Kane’s disappointing performance in Leeds’ defeat to Sheffield United in Paul Heckingbottom’s first game in charge, many Whites fans may have supported the new boss’ decision to make Pablo Hernandez the skipper for Bristol City’s visit to Elland Road on Sunday.
Hernandez has performed the role before and had been exceptional when he came onto the pitch at Bramall Lane last weekend. And in the absence of many other options, giving the Spaniard the armband seemed a wise move from Heckingbottom.
And while it was an afternoon of vastly contrasting emotions for the Elland Road faithful, it is surely fair to say that Hernandez could not have done much more to stake a claim to be considered as a contender to become Leeds’ permanent captain – if Heckingbottom decides to appoint a new captain after he told BBC Radio Leeds in the wake of the draw that he was yet to make a call on that front.
After going 2-0 behind early on, Hernandez was arguably one of the players who showed the most determination to get Leeds back into the game, often looking to drive forward with the ball at his feet and create the openings that were going to give the home side a chance.
He almost did inspire the a change in momentum in the first-half. His brilliant, drilled cross across the six-yard area deserved to be tucked home, but none of his teammates gambled on the ball going into that channel.
The second-half was a different story for Leeds. The fans’ role seems to have been a game-changing factor for the Whites as they seemed to discover an incredible amount of belief once the supporters got Elland Road rocking, but on the pitch, it was arguably Hernandez who took the game by the scruff of the neck.
Like last week against the Blades, it was his perfectly-weighted cross that found Pierre-Michel Lasogga for Leeds’ first with less than 20 minutes to go. And the turnaround was complete in the latter stages when his corner ended up falling to Kemar Roofe at the back post.
There were a number of players who will feel proud of their performances in that second-half, but Hernandez was the kind of leader that Leeds were crying out for when everything seemed to be going wrong.
He tried to make things happen when he had the ball, and he seemed to show the kind of passion that the fans were looking for when they started to look to change the momentum of the game in the second-half.
Thomas Christiansen’s captain Liam Cooper returns from suspension for the midweek game against Derby County, and he may be expecting the chance to wear the armband. But given how Hernandez rose to the occasion when the chips were down on Sunday, maybe Heckingbottom should feel confident that he has already stumbled across the ideal option as he considers his permanent skipper.
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