Costa

Costa was good against Fulham and the MOTM verdict was from Ben Parker, others have scored it differently. Problem for Helda is that he Raphinha to contend with on the right and Harrison on the left, personally I prefer him down the left but cannot see Bielsa dropping Harrison.

Quite bizarre how well he was playing and was then dropped from the starting 11. Injury? Training issue? Some falling out with MB?

comment by JonnyLosAngeles (My Dad was made in Leeds) עם ישראל חי (U9756)
posted 8 minutes ago
Quite bizarre how well he was playing and was then dropped from the starting 11. Injury? Training issue? Some falling out with MB?
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Might have something to do with MB bringing Poveda on ahead of a few times. Couldn't have pleased Costa that.

The lad has been a regular on the bench. Pablo was dropped full stop after a fall out. Doubt there is any issue behind the scenes.

Leeds are getting punished defensively - the last thing then you need in our team at present is a shockingly defensive player. He struggled to do his job in the championship at times. In the premier it really sticks out just how bad defensively he is. Fails to track runners consistently, fails to get goal side consistently, gets knocked off the ball for 50-50 60-40s consistently.
He can be a good outlet at an attacker but Until he sorts his defensive game out he won’t get near a starting place

Costa is one of those players with obvious talent who doesn’t deliver it often enough for whatever reason. It doesn’t help that he has that relaxed demeanour that makes people think he’s not trying, and that he’s not a physical player.

People are questioning him defensively and I get that but this team relies on ball retention and for all the love that’s showered on Raphinha how many times does he give the ball away?

I think we’re better offensively with Raphinha but he weakens us defensively, same with Rodrigo playing in midfield. I’m sure it will improve as they get drilled in the system but it’s how I see it at the moment.

raffi is better

Costa was average in the Champ and let’s be honest none of us would have spent 15m on him

If we could have got out of that deal we would have done

He is a decent squad player who is someone who can make an impact. But it’s a lot of money

As has been said here, from the early Prem matches £15m was looking like a decent investment. I hope for all our sakes he picks things up.

Until he contributes more when he is out of possession, he will be a bench player at best.

comment by kamara's left foot (U21862)
posted 2 days, 2 hours ago
raffi is better
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Yet he Costa us the first goal and probably the most damaging one last time out.

Excuse the bad pun.

That wing seems to be a problem when Ayling is not at right back.

Costa has to show he wants it and his under 23 performance might just be a turning point for him - if he takes advantage of any call up to the first team.

Don’t think he’s going to be first choice but he has to be ready to step in if we have injuries or loss of form.