Leeds United fell to their first Championship defeat of the 2018/19 season as we hosted Birmingham City and Garry Monk at Elland Road last weekend.
A brace from Che Adams gave them the 2-1 win, with Ezgjan Alioski getting our consolation late on.
Alioski’s ability to be caught offside has been referenced already this season but he has played his part in our unbeaten run, chipping in with three goals and two assists already under manager Marcelo Bielsa.
In the fall out from the weekend’s result though, some fans are claimed that they don’t believe he has shown any improvement and are relishing the return of Pablo Hernandez to fitness, believing that he should immediately replace the 26-year-old in the starting lineup.
Rare pic from Alioski's birth #lufc pic.twitter.com/Ue4D6uxOxm
— Aleks (@Aleks_LUFC) September 22, 2018
Dont think i saw alioski even try and take on his man yesterday. So poor. Hes also very slow for a winger
— Dan Berry (@DanielB466) September 23, 2018
Class act is Bielsa. A fit Pablo would've orchestrated the fightback much better than Saiz or Alioski ever could. Badly missed, as is Roofe's ability to dazzle in the box.
— paul warrick (LUFC) (@paulwarrick3) September 23, 2018
Alioski is on borrowed time. He's the one player who failed to show any improvement under Bielsa.
— Peter O'Shea (@fandozzle) September 23, 2018
I love alioski but the criticism is justified, 3 back to back poor performances. 14 offsides is highest in league and something he needs to work on
— johnnie matthews (@johnniematthews) September 23, 2018
Unpopular opinion: Alioski is the most overrated player for Leeds #LUFC
— Lucas Barker (@LucasBarker02) September 23, 2018
The amount of times he's needlessly caught offside is ridiculous
— Gary Keast (@garykeast70) September 22, 2018
Not fair to be too critical after one defeat but there was some real weakness in our play today. Nothing creative from Harrison or Alioski. Alioski particularly poor/wasteful. We need to be signing much better quality than him in future. Saiz was left to do everything. #lufc
— White Answers (@whiteanswers) September 22, 2018
For me Alioski was the best player on the pitch today.
I thought he was outstanding for Birmingham… #lufc #bcfc
— Jamie Nicholas (@Jamienicholas01) September 22, 2018
Fair comment or overreaction is probably down to the individual fan in fairness, Hernandez certainly brings his own elements to the pitch but so does our Macedonian international and greater competition is never a bad thing, but his penchant for straying past the last man does make him an easy target as it is incredibly frustrating at points.
That first Tweet is bordering on genius though!