Pascal Struijk is not who Leeds United fans were expecting to see at the heart of their defence at Liverpool on Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, though, he was thrown in at the deep end, asked to partner a debutant at centre-back and keep Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane at bay.
Ultimately, Struijk failed to do that, and he will no doubt get some criticism in the aftermath of what was a chaotic defensive display from both teams.
This was a difficult situation for the Belgian, though. He is still just 21, young and inexperienced. And he was playing alongside Robin Koch, who looked nervous in his first Premier League appearance.
Leeds were excellent in an attacking sense, and that will have relieved their beleaguered defenders. At times it seemed Liverpool’s forwards had them on a string, dragging them across the pitch and then exploiting the gaps that emerged.
If the blame for the first two Liverpool goals was placed with Koch, Struijk certainly had to hold his hands up for the third, which came in an absurdly attacking first-half in which Leeds fell behind three times and twice pegged the Champions back.
The towering centre-back struggled from set-pieces throughout, and his header from a Robertson free-kick landed straight at the feet of Salah. The Egyptian accepted the gift and then lashed his finish emphatically past Illan Meslier.
Struijk was actually indebted to the Whites’ goalkeeper, who had, moments earlier, prevented an own goal from the defender. A mis-timed clearance was almost skewed into his own net, but Meslier backtracked and tipped over the bar.
These were just the standout incidents. In truth, Koch and Struijk struggled throughout, and it was hardly surprising. Against one of the most potent attacks in world football, a young, unfamiliar centre-back pairing are always going to struggle.
Marcelo Bielsa will no doubt be aware his centre-backs were the obvious weak point. Playing Struijk was hardly ideal, and it suggests a real lack of depth in that area of the pitch.
Perhaps there will be more investment in defence in the remaining few weeks of the transfer window.
