Leo Hjelde may have played his last game for Leeds United as he put in an awful display for the under-21 side who were battered 7-1 by Crystal Palace on Friday 3 November.
Palace ran out heavy victors in the PL2 fixture, with Hjelde looking completely lost in the defence both on and off the ball, as he struggled to stem the constant flow of Palace attacks.
It was a poor night all around for the Leeds players, with the Eagles ruthless in creating and taking chances, but Hjelde’s display did them no favours despite his fist-team experience from this season.
The above image shows Palace striker Ademola Ola-Adebomi beating Hjelde in the air to score Palace’s fifth goal of the evening, which was the story of the night as far as the Eagles were concerned as Ola-Adebomi bagged a hattrick.
With his level of first-team experience, he would have been expected to bring calmness to the Leeds backline, but he was bullied and found himself struggling and out of position on more than one occasion, seeing seven goals fly past him.
Something Daniel Farke will be even more concerned about when it comes to Hjelde’s possible future in the first team is his ability to play out from the back.
The defender played a square ball across the back line but nowhere near his defensive partner, as the Palace forward picked it out and assisted their sixth goal of the game.
Ex-Palace striker Mark Bright was commenting on the game as he slammed the defender [Crystal Palace YouTube channel, 7:44], saying: “Wow. 6-0 away from home… I mean, this here is just a blind pass he just doesn’t need to. That’s terrible, is it Leo Hjelde
Hjelde started the first two games of the season under Farke but has not seen any first-team football since the Carabao Cup draw with Salford City in August, and that run out of the team doesn’t look like ending any time soon, particularly after performances like that one.
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