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Liam Cooper defends Marsch’s decision to substitute Joe Gelhardt
Liam Cooper has taken to Twitter to defend Jesse Marsch’s decision to substitute Joe Gelhardt during the second-half of Leeds United’s clash with Everton on Tuesday.
Gelhardt had an eventful evening at Elland Road. The youngster was brought on just after the half-hour mark after Rodrigo sustained a nasty-looking shoulder injury.
But Gelhardt was then taken off with just under 15 minutes remaining. Marsch decided to bring Patrick Bamford on, with Bamford making his return from injury.
Obviously, it never looks good when the substitute is substituted off again. And former Leeds striker Simon Johnson admitted that he was concerned for Gelhardt after Marsch took the decision to replace him.
That prompted Cooper to take to Twitter himself to defend Marsch’s substitution. He insisted that Gelhardt will not struggle to see the thinking behind the decision.
Tbf Si, JOFFY not played a run of games yet and worked his nuts off! Having pat on the bench the straight swap was the natural thing to do. He’s a good kid and this wouldn’t EVER effect him the kid oozes confidence. 👊🏻
— Liam Cooper (@LiamCooper__)
Cooper defends Marsch’s decision to substitute Gelhardt
Had Rodrigo’s injury come later in the game, Marsch may have decided to turn straight to Bamford. However, he obviously felt that an hour was too much for the England international right now.
And as Cooper notes, Gelhardt is still building up his fitness. And he may have been aware anyway that the plan was to get Bamford on later on.
Gelhardt gave everything while on the pitch. He nearly scored on a couple of occasions and he caused problems for the Everton defence.
Stephen Warnock said he was ‘‘ while on the pitch. And Leeds were then able to ask further questions after introducing Bamford into the game.
Certainly, with Rodrigo surely set for a spell on the sidelines, Gelhardt is going to have plenty of further opportunities in the weeks ahead.