Leeds United once again failed to turn in a swashbuckling performance such as those witnessed earlier this season against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon, with Jesse Marsch's side ultimately having to settle for a point in a largely drab goalless draw at Elland Road.

Indeed, with the Whites currently on a four-game winless run - including a 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, a 1-1 draw with Everton, a 5-2 defeat at Brentford and Sunday's stalemate with Villa - August's high-octane 3-0 win over Chelsea now feels as if it were a lifetime ago.

However, with Leeds' U21 side securing their sixth win from seven games in 2022/23 on Tuesday evening - a particularly enthralling 5-3 Papa John's Trophy victory over Tranmere Rovers - perhaps it may be wise for Marsch to take a closer look at some of his up and coming starlets in a bid to inject some fresh impetus to his senior side.

Although, with Joe Gelhardt - the 20-year-old who the American left out of his 20-man squad to face Villa last weekend - being the two-goal hero for Michael Skubala's side in midweek, the 48-year-old could well be left somewhat red-faced by crawling back to the youngster he spurned just a matter of days ago.

Indeed, if the £8.7m-rated talent hoped to send his manager a message at Prenton Park, he certainly did so, scoring two exceptionally well-taken goals, making two key passes, taking four shots at the Tranmere goal and drawing four fouls - with these returns seeing the England U21 earn a match-best SofaScore rating of 8.4.

The Yorkshire Evening Post journalist, Joe Donnohue, also awarded the striker a match-topping nine in his own player ratings, as well as stating of Gelhardt's display: "Two very well-taken goals - power and placement. Worked hard off the ball from start to finish. Like [Wilfried] Gnonto, uses his body so well to his advantage."

As such, with a testing trip to Crystal Palace up next for the Whites, it would appear an extremely wise move for Marsch to reverse his Villa decision on the £16.5k-per-week Gelhardt, as the player who Leeds Live's Beren Cross claimed is "going to change games" could very much prove to do exactly this at Selhurst Park on Sunday.