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Hernandez can take Leeds a long way but needs more help to get them where they want to be
It’s the same routine for Pablo Hernandez every time. Two kisses of his right arm, where a tattoo of the Virgin Mary sits below the name of his second son Luca, and another on his left bicep where his elder son’s name Eric is written in ink.
Leeds United can count on seeing that celebration 10 times a season and even in the moment, when the ball flies in and the blood surges, Hernandez never forgets.
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But Hernandez, as Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Forest demonstrated, is burdened at Elland Road by a constant reliance on his skill and the challenge of perfecting a distinct role: that of the false 7.
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He is a No 10 at heart and Leeds have not played with a specialist in that area since Samuel Saiz cleared out his apartment and drove his family back to Madrid last December.
They had Klich and Adam Forshaw in central midfield positions at Ashton Gate and at home to Forest on Saturday, but Klich and Forshaw fall into the category of ‘8s’. Many who have watched Forshaw over the years would class him as a ‘4’ and while Bielsa sees more versatility in him than that, it was Hernandez who found a way to unlock Bristol City and Hernandez who did likewise at the weekend, anticipating Klich’s pass to burst into Muric’s box and score.
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Hernandez’s average position at Bristol City (left diagram below, where Hernandez is marked as 19) was almost as close to the middle of the pitch as No 9 Bamford’s and not so different against Forest (right diagram). Harrison, Leeds’ 22, hugged his touchline in Bristol and held the left side of the field consistently on Saturday, a wide option who rarely rotates. Hernandez’s movement invites Stuart Dallas (15) to overlap from right back, but a tidy performance from the latter did not raise Forest’s blood pressure excessively.
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This is the last year of Hernandez’s contract and while promotion to the Premier League would earn him an automatic 12-month extension,
the pull of family and future plans is destined take him home to Spain when this chapter closes.