It’s fair to assume Weston McKennie had hoped for a brighter and more upbeat experience on his Leeds United debut. The American was named on the bench on Sunday afternoon against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground after completing his move from Juventus earlier in the week and the Whites were 1-0 down by the time Jesse Marsch looked his way.
Leeds were already looking desperately short of ideas of how to unlock their hosts’ resolute, rigid and determined backline and frustration was growing as every uneventful minute ticked by. As such, Marsch looked to his bench to change things and threw McKennie onto the field in the 57th minute.
The midfielder’s introduction, though, did little to change the pattern of the match as Leeds continued to control possession without producing an end product. It wasn’t McKennie’s fault that Leeds failed to effectively penetrate in the second half of the contest, far from it, as the creative talents ahead of him on the field, such as Jack Harrison, Crysencio Summerville and Patrick Bamford, struggled to find any success.
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In fact, he actually performed relatively well during his 33 minutes on the park, with his energy and industry in the middle not going unnoticed. The midfielder settled quickly into the contest, looking to get on the ball as often as possible and displaying a tidy first touch and a desire to keep things moving.
His strength in possession was showcased early, too, as he outmuscled Renan Lodi to keep hold of the ball for his side. He was rarely wasteful, which is something that could not be said for the man he replaced, Marc Roca, who mustered a pass accuracy percentage of 65.2 on the day, and he combined well at times with his compatriot and good friend Tyler Adams.
There wasn’t too much defensive work to do, given Forest hardly got out of their own half during McKennie’s time on the field, but he was willing to do the dirty work when he was required to do so. Ultimately, it was a performance that offered a rare piece of encouragement on an increasingly frustrating day for those travelling supporters, who could be seen directing their ire towards the head coach on the full-time whistle.
It’s a colossal week for Marsch, with the pressure around him building ahead of a double-header against Leeds' bitterest rivals Manchester United and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him turn to his new recruit at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. McKennie arrived at Thorp Arch in good shape after playing regularly with Juventus in Serie A throughout January and while he is still acclimatising to life in West Yorkshire, he must be considered for a starting position as the head coach attempts to freshen things up.
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