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da doce： This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
Ezgjan Alioski, also known to many at Elland Road as Gjanni, is an interesting character.
Often seen posing in front of the cameras, the North Macedonia international seems to conjure up a moment of hilarity whenever he’s about.
Before their outing against Barnsley a week prior to their draw with Derby, he was seen teasing former Leeds man Aapo Halme in the tunnel.
It was something that summed up the comical nature of the 27-year-old who sometimes seems more intent on causing a laugh than he is on his performance.
Rather surprisingly, Alioski can also be serious. That was in evidence during his pre-match press conference ahead of last weekend’s encounter.
Speaking about this season, he commented: “I don’t want to speak about last year, so let’s focus on this year and play it game by game.”
It was a sense of perspective from the versatile performer but he put in a relatively disappointing display as an old habit died hard on Saturday afternoon.
Alioski is tremendous going forward and the fact he netted seven times in the Championship last season tells you all you need to know.
But he is suspect defensively and that was where he was caught out again against Phillip Cocu’s team.
He was dispossessed a colossal six times while also registering three unsuccessful touches. It was a woeful effort in that regard from the left-back who displayed some harmful characteristics.
So far this term, he’s been dispossessed of the ball 1.4 times every outing. That adds to the one dispossession last season and the 2 times he’s managed for his country, via WhoScored.
On a similar level, his touch also proves to be extremely poor. For North Macedonia he managed 2.6 unsuccessful touches during their Nations League campaign, averaging 1.6 in the league this term.
For someone who’s been playing the majority of his football at the back, this isn’t ideal.
In fact, when you want a pillar of solidity in your defence, Alioski offers the polar opposite.
One aspect of his play that was impressive against Derby was his vision, playing seven long balls. He sprayed a wonderful cross-field pass in the first half which Patrick Bamford should have scored from.
But that summed him up. For all of his defensive ineptitude, he has a moment of brilliance in him.
Alioski is a whacky personality but this was not one of his finer performances as he failed to make a single tackle.