David Prutton: Adam Forshaw can steady the ship at Leeds United

LEEDS UNITED midfielder Eunan O'Kane comes across as a very diligent and conscientious midfielder with the way he plays.
Adam Forshaw.Adam Forshaw.
Adam Forshaw.

He was then sent off for ‘headbutting’ Jonas Knudsen in last weekend’s loss at Ipswich and you would not have thought there was that side to him – where this would be a question mark or a question for him to answer at some point in his career.

It is obviously a reaction to a situation and I know as much as anyone else that keeping your emotions in check on a football pitch is tough.

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But Eunan reacted to it and it shows the regard that Thomas Christiansen holds Eunan in when he’s defending him in such a manner.

Eunan O'Kane is shown the red card at Ipswich Town.Eunan O'Kane is shown the red card at Ipswich Town.
Eunan O'Kane is shown the red card at Ipswich Town.

It’s not like he’s hurt Knudsen or anything like that.

But in football in 2018 you just cannot do what he did and you cannot lean towards or motion towards an opponent with your head because it’s seen as violent conduct and you are going to get a red card.

No matter what the basic instincts are of challenging somebody when they are coming over and giving you a mouthful, you are in the confines of a football pitch and you cannot do it.

That is something that Eunan has got to learn from and I’ve no doubt that he will learn from it because from what I have seen, his approach to the game he is very conscientious and very good. He wants to get better, he wants to learn and he wants to be as good a player as he possibly can be. This has to be seen as an opportunity to learn and grow.

NEW LEEDS UTD PLAYER ADAM FORSHAW AT ELLAND ROAD TODAY PIC ANDREW VARLEYNEW LEEDS UTD PLAYER ADAM FORSHAW AT ELLAND ROAD TODAY PIC ANDREW VARLEY
NEW LEEDS UTD PLAYER ADAM FORSHAW AT ELLAND ROAD TODAY PIC ANDREW VARLEY
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Kalvin Phillips is also now just one booking away from getting a two-game ban and Leeds have now picked up the most red cards in the Championship and only two teams have had more yellows. But this doesn’t strike me as a dirty team, a team that is unsportsmanlike or a team that are playing in a certain way that would draw the referee’s attention.

I wouldn’t have thought it was a case of Leeds having a discipline problem or anything like that at all.

You can look at Leeds perhaps as being a younger team but it’s not necessarily a team of babies. Leeds have got some younger players mixed in with some more experienced ones so I am really surprised by the cards stats and you can put the Samuel Saiz thing in the bracket of ridiculous behaviour.

In the course of a season with ups and downs, managing emotions and managing behaviour can be tough. You can see that as players that wouldn’t normally get sent off are being sent off.

Eunan O'Kane is shown the red card at Ipswich Town.Eunan O'Kane is shown the red card at Ipswich Town.
Eunan O'Kane is shown the red card at Ipswich Town.
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Phillips is quite a physical player anyway so yellow cards for him are going to be par for the course. But his next big test of growing into the team and becoming an established member of the team is about being responsible enough not to get silly bookings and I suppose that’s where Adam Forshaw dovetails into it, a player Leeds are signing from Middlesbrough.

Forshaw is a player that has got some good experience and some considerable Premier League experience and he might steady the ship somewhat.

I rate Forshaw and a player who has played a hefty number of games for a team that has been promoted is not to be sniffed at. That shows that Forshaw is a player who is responsible enough and reliable enough to play in a team such as that. He played a fair bit in the Premier League and you have got to mitigate that a bit because Boro did go down but it was a hefty task for them anyway.

Now, with different managers at Boro this season in first Garry Monk and then Tony Pulis coming in, Forshaw is obviously in a position where he has managed to extricate himself and to go somewhere where you would think he would play more games.

NEW LEEDS UTD PLAYER ADAM FORSHAW AT ELLAND ROAD TODAY PIC ANDREW VARLEYNEW LEEDS UTD PLAYER ADAM FORSHAW AT ELLAND ROAD TODAY PIC ANDREW VARLEY
NEW LEEDS UTD PLAYER ADAM FORSHAW AT ELLAND ROAD TODAY PIC ANDREW VARLEY
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He’s a good age and I think Leeds are paying a decent fee which is not too astronomical. With the timing of his arrival and with who is competing against in midfield, he has got a real chance to be that first midfield name on the team sheet.

From a manager’s point of view, with the money that they have spent and with the history of the player, you would expect it to be him plus ‘AN Other’ in the centre midfield which I think is a good thing. It will be him in there with Ronaldo, Kalvin or Eunan.

But he’s got to hit the ground running and there will be expectations because of the fact that money has been spent and because of where he has come from and where he has played.

I still think the striker issue needs to be addressed at Leeds but whether you can nab a decent enough striker for a similar fee to Forshaw’s I don’t know.

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The ones that are quite obviously clinical and prolific at this stage of the season, nobody is going to let them go.

So it’s being able to either get somebody in the Premier League who is kicking their heels or from a Championship point of view. Cardiff were in for Forshaw as well and you can look at where Cardiff are and how their first half of the season has gone – very well.

Obviously you also have got to look at it geographically because if Forshaw has come down from Boro then it’s not that far. But it goes to show, as I have always said, the lure and the pull of Leeds United and where it is.