Leeds United’s Spaniards drove us to victory on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Bristol City. So just how crucial will Pablo Hernandez and Samu Saiz be for Leeds this season?
I genuinely believe that Saiz would in the Premier League if he scored goals. Fortunately for us, to some weird degree, the man can’t finish his dinner. The benefit of course is he is still here. In terms of his creativity, he could find space in a single bed with…well you get the gist.
Saiz has not scored for Leeds in exactly a year. Since his ludicrous red card for spitting at Newport County player Robbie Willmott, he has been a rather frustrating one to watch.
He will run at defenders like no tomorrow and do the hard bits but seemingly, so unnecessarily mess up the easy stuff.
That said, at the same time, one wonders how we could cope without him. Yes, I don’t understand it either.
I suppose Saturday was an example why. Samu has recently lost his place to Adam Forshaw but came off the bench and produced an assist to Hernandez which was right out the top drawer.
It’s moments of magic such as this that win games; and why he is so crucial.
Pablo, on the other hand, is just Pablo. People know his pedigree and you don’t get capped for Spain for a laugh.
Hernandez is one of the best players in the Championship. At 33 years old, it’s incredible how much Sky’s commentary team still say he should be in the Premier League.
The annoying thing is, both seem to play at their best when both are playing. Pablo generally is not a 46-game player anymore and when Samu does something Samu-like, he gets dropped. So it is generally quite a sight to see them play together.
Nonetheless, it is Reading up next tonight and the question will linger at whether Forshaw should keep his place or Whether Saiz should be back in.
OK, so maybe it isn’t the hardest of decisions. Saiz made a ridiculous impact when he came on so should really start.
Bielsa did, however, say that Saiz’ attitude has been very good since being on the bench. He’s known to be rather stubborn about changing his team, especially when we win.
Bielsa has made barely a single tactical change to his starting XI this season and part of me thinks it’ll be the same tonight.
Elsewhere, it was big debuts for goalkeeper Will Huffer and centre-back Aapo Halme.
Both are from the under-23s and both had very solid games. Halme standing at 6’5, it was nice to actually see height in our tiny team. We can’t all be like Boro who have 5’7, brick s***h****s as their defence.
On another note, anyone going to the game tomorrow please be aware of Reading’s infamous Y26.
The group of Reading supporters known as the Y26 ultras are, in their words, “going to cause havoc.” Yes, I remember my first Fosters as well.
