A large portion of the Elland Road crowd is running out of patience with Giuseppe Bellusci, but unfortunately Steve Evans has suggested he will still be in the starting line-up at Burnley on Saturday.
In the last two games alone Bellusci has cost us three points with his ludicrous errors at the back, and that is after all the mistakes he’s been making at regular intervals ever since he came to Leeds. Who can forget his spectacular diving header into his own net at Middlesbrough this season, or his calamitous error at Watford last season, which set us on the way to a heavy defeat.
There are many other offences to be taken into consideration, all the needless bookings and free kicks given away, not to mention the rumours that he’s a disruptive influence behind the scenes. OK, there have been a few games where he’s managed to complete 90 minutes without doing anything really stupid, but I do start to panic every time the ball goes anywhere near him at the back.
After Bellusci’s latest calamity last night the crowd were booing his every touch in the time that remained, but Steve Evans still backed him last night in the post-match interview. "Giuseppe Bellusci is a very good player and has had a couple of games where he’s done things you would expect better of him. I tell you what he is, he’s a man. He walked into the dressing room and was very humble to everyone. He did the same at Rotherham.”
"We support all our players, we have a tight-knight dressing room where we support all our players. I would (pick him with confidence) on Saturday. There are other good centre-halves who have cost me more. I think on Saturday it was different to tonight. The boy (Polter) got a lucky ricochet but if I have to play him, I will.”
But Evans doesn’t have to play him. Liam Cooper is far more reliable and should start ahead of Bellusci every time. I know that Bamba lacks pace and has been equally dodgy at times this season, but there is also the option of playing Wooton in central defence.
Wooton has also had his critics this season, but at least he was playing out of position at right-back, filling in while our specialists in that role were both injured at the same time. He deserves the chance to show us what he can do in his preferred position, but instead it looks as though we’ll have to put up with Bellusci for a while yet.