Leeds United’s threadbare squad just got that little bit weaker as Marcelo Bielsa has confirmed that Pablo Hernandez will be out of action for around a month after picking up an injury during Saturday’s game against Fulham.
Fortunately, Tyler Roberts’ return to fitness has coincided with Hernandez’s problems, so it seems as if United won’t be too affected by the Spaniard’s absence.
However, there is just one problem. Roberts hasn’t played for over a month at this point, and Bielsa isn’t one to rush a player back from injury. The manager did that very thing with Hernandez after his last injury spell, bringing him off the bench on two occasions before starting him.
As well as that, the Argentine usually allows a recovering player to appear in a couple of tune-up games for the U23 side to get back into the swing of things before returning to the first-team squad, but Roberts hasn’t been afforded that luxury this time around.
Now, that leaves Bielsa with a bit of a dilemma, does he rush Roberts back knowing that he’s had recurring injury issues that could once again flare up if he’s not 100 per cent fit? Failing that, does he look towards another player to replace Hernandez for the time being while the Welshman fully prepares for a first-team return?
It’s a real headscratcher for the 64-year-old, but the answer seems to be an obvious one.
Coincidentally, Leeds have been in this exact position before as Hernandez picked up an injury against Derby that sidelined him for a number of weeks, and that coincided with the 20-year-old’s return from a previous issue.
Bielsa chose to ease him in last time, and it didn’t go all that well.
Indeed, Leeds won just two of the six games when they were without Hernandez where Roberts didn’t start. Meanwhile, they won both of the games where Roberts started in the 34-year-old’s absence.
It’s a risk, but with tough games against the likes of Preston, West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday coming up, it may not be one that Bielsa can’t afford to take.
In other news, Leeds fans have been up in arms about one club tweet.
