The play-off pack are closing the gap on Leeds United.
Ian Wright has blasted Marcelo Bielsa for stating that Jean-Kevin Augustin was ‘not up to speed’ for Leeds United’s clash and subsequent defeat against Wigan over the weekend.
Speaking to The Monday Night Club on BBC Radio 5 Live, former Premier League striker, Wright thinks it’s a ‘ridiculous thing to say’ from Bielsa’s perspective, as he questioned what the January signing needs to do to be ‘up to speed’ if he’s not even in the matchday squad for Leeds.
“How old is Patrick now? 26? We are not talking about a prolific goalscorer,” Wright told BBC Radio 5 Live. “He’s a really good footballer in the respect of being a target man and holding it up. He’s very good in that respect, of course.
“But he has missed certain chances that you would have liked to have seen him take this season. Just going back to Augustin and Bielsa saying ‘he’s not up to speed’. Well, if you’re a striker. What speed do you need to be up to if you’re coming off the bench for 10 minutes at the end of a game you need to win?
On whether Leeds will regret letting Nketiah leave: “I don’t think the way Eddie played suited Bielsa’s style. And that’s why I think he went back. With Eddie, whether he was up to speed or not, he came on, changed games and scored goals. That’s what you want from a striker.
“The way to get a striker up to speed is to get him on the pitch to score a couple of goals. I just cannot go with that ‘getting him up to speed’ that one. It seems just a ridiculous thing to say.”
Augustin was a January signing for Leeds and a much-needed one for the faltering Yorkshire club, who have a much-criticised striker already in their ranks in Patrick Bamford.
Many expected the £11 million-rated man, who only signed for Monaco last summer and has since joined Leeds [Yorkshire Evening Post], to, at the very least, be in Leeds’ matchday squad for their clash against Wigan over the weekend. But it wasn’t to be.
Bielsa suggested after the game that the Frenchman wasn’t ready hence his decision to not even put his on the substitutes bench, as reported by Leeds Live.
What didn’t help Bielsa’s cause is that Leeds had suffered yet another defeat, at home, against Wigan and in their typical ways once again – dominating possession and also missing guilt-edge chances.
It’s only February and it seems as though the panic is already setting in over Elland Road because the fans know what’s coming after last season’s heartache.
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