Leeds United debutants shine in Carabao Cup defeat…

Leeds United debutants shine in Carabao Cup defeat amid Joe Gelhardt injury concern

Leeds United were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Wolves, who won 1-0 at Molineux thanks to a late Boubacar Traore effort.

Here's the winners and losers from the clash.

Winners

The debutants

Jesse Marsch made 10 changes to his starting XI at Molineux, with U21s starlets Mateo Joseph, Darko Gyabi and Sonny Perkins all getting the nod from the start. Veteran goalkeeper Joel Robles also got his first run-out for the Whites as Marsch gave Illan Meslier a rest for the first time this season.

Neither Joseph, Gyabi nor Perkins looked out of place for the Whites and they certainly didn’t seem fazed by the occasion with all three looking to get on the ball early and make things happen with some impressive touches. Perkins and Joseph even had chances to score in the first half of the contest, but couldn’t make the most of their openings.

Perkins picked up around 70 minutes of first-team action before being replaced by Wilfried Gnonto, while Joseph and Gyabi played the full 90. Despite the result all three can be pleased with their efforts as they showed plenty of promise and Marsch now knows he can trust them to play at the senior level moving forward.

Robles will be relatively pleased with his efforts, too, pulling off a couple of fine stops on his first appearance in a Leeds shirt. He could do very little to prevent Traore’s effort from finding the top corner late in the day.

The head coach named Amari Miller, James Debayo, Charlie Allen, Joe Snowdon and Alfie McCalmont on the bench and although none of them got on, they’ll be better for the experience of being involved in the first-team environment.

Losers

Jack Harrison

The fact that Harrison was the only player to keep his spot in the starting XI from Saturday’s win seems to tell a story. The winger has struggled for form of late and after failing to impress last time out against Bournemouth, he was replaced by Wilfried Gnonto at half-time.

Gnonto helped to change the game against the Cherries and Marsch’s Molineux selection would seem to suggest that the head coach is thinking about starting him on Saturday at Tottenham. Harrison probably did his hopes of selection on Saturday no harm at all with his performance, it must be said, as he found success in his battle with with Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Joe Gelhardt

Not the youngster’s night. Gelhardt has had to be patient this season, starting just two games before getting the nod at Molineux, but he couldn’t make the most of the opportunity.

The 20-year-old looked rusty at times and he struggled to find openings in the first half of the contest. He regularly found himself marked out of play and he had to drop back deep just to get a touch of the ball.

After spurning a chance at the start of the second half, Gelhardt hit the deck with what looked to be an injury and needed to be replaced by Sam Greenwood.