New Leeds United boss Paul Heckingbottom needs to get Ezgjan Alioski back to his dazzling best.
Paul Heckingbottom was named as Thomas Christiansen’s successor at Leeds United today.
The former Barnsley boss is charged with the task of rebuilding Leeds’ promotion charge before it’s too late but in order to do that he must demand a big improvement from certain players.
Ezgjan Alioski is one of those players and if the Whites – seven points behind the top six – are to get their playoff bid back on track then the Macedonia international needs to get the finger out – and fast.
For so long there was very little for Leeds fans to criticise Alioski about, with the exception of a bleached blonde hairstyle perhaps. In November, he scored four goals in five Championship games for United. Some of those were defeats, which goes to show that he was capable of standing out from the crowd in a good way.
But the summer signing from Lugano has gone off the boil big style in recent months, failing to score or set up a goal in his last nine Championship games which, for an attacking player, is a dismal dip in form.
Saturday’s 4-1 defeat by Cardiff was a new low for Christiansen but also for Alioski, who completed only 11 passes and was dispossessed eight times in 90 minutes against the Bluebirds.
It’s not good enough for a man who cost £3.2 million and Heckingbottom needs to get him back to his dazzling best if he is to stabilise Leeds’ promotion charge.
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