Jamie Shackleton at Fulham, a Midfielder in Midfield

As Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz was stepping up to take the sixteenth penalty in the shootout at Craven Cottage, Jamie Shackleton was busy discussing whether he or Charlie Cresswell would take Leeds’ next spot-kick. The conversation didn’t fill you with confidence. Illan Meslier made sure it didn’t matter, saving from Muniz to put Leeds into the last sixteen of the League Cup, but Shackleton could be excused for feeling a little confused.

He’s still trying to make a niche for himself in Marcelo Bielsa’s starting eleven, and Shackleton had hit upon a good thing in the first half. With Kalvin Phillips filling in at centre-back, Baby Shack became the latest having a go at Phillips’ role in front of the back four. Mateusz Klich impressed there in the 3-0 win at Aston Villa last season, but whatever he did, or didn’t, in the 4-1 defeat to Leicester a week later seemed to convince Bielsa never to repeat the experiment. He has turned to Pascal Struijk or Robin Koch ever since. For all their willing, they’ve looked exactly what they are, defenders.

Shackleton himself doesn’t look like a defensive midfielder. He looks, if anything, like he should be riding a horse in the Grand National. But there he was, receiving the ball in tight spaces with opposition players bearing down on him, turning to create space and getting Leeds moving forward. When his distribution occasionally let him down, he was quick getting the ball back and giving it to a Leeds player again. There will always be a sense of ‘that’s not Kalvin Phillips’ when someone other than Leeds’ number 23 is in that position, but hey, playing another midfielder there seems like a decent alternative. Struijk and Koch have never fooled two players with one dummy, that’s for sure.

As Shackleton was warming to his theme in the second half, he must have looked in frustration at Adam Forshaw getting ready while Fulham used Stuart Dallas as a human punchbag. Replacing Dallas with Forshaw would have meant Shackleton moving out of his preferred midfield spot and to right-back. Instead, Forshaw replaced Tyler Roberts, but somehow the change still resulted in Shackleton moving to right-back as Bielsa opted for the security of a one-paced midfield of Forshaw – Dallas – Klich. Shackleton is a good right-back, but with Luke Ayling and Dallas ahead of him there and Cody Drameh behind him, is that really where his future lies? There are plenty of names ahead of him for a place in midfield, too, but in an area of the pitch where Leeds could benefit from some fresh impetus, impetus is exactly what Shackleton brings.

Bielsa’s ability to make more than one change with just one substitution can make Leeds an unpredictable beast, but it can also feel frustratingly unnecessary. When Joffy Gelhardt was given a long-awaited debut, replacing Klich, it meant Rodrigo had moved from number ten, to number nine, then back to number ten again. With Shackleton’s dynamism missing from midfield, Leeds were no longer creating any decent opportunities for their attackers to miss. Leeds had nine shots to Fulham’s eight before he was switched to full-back, compared to three against seven afterwards. Most of Fulham’s chances fell to Muniz, who was rubbish, so the tie went to penalties.

Never the calmest of figures on the touchline, Bielsa visibly hates the rigmarole of a shootout. It’s understandable, with a record of heartbreak to put the England national team to shame. Bielsa’s Newell’s Old Boys did win the 1990/91 Primera División final on penalties against Boca Juniors, but lost the 1992 Copa Libertadores final the same way. His Argentina side lost the 2004 Copa America final to Brazil on penalties, and at the 1999 Copa America, they were left rueing striker Martin Palermo missing three penalties in a single game against Colombia; the subsequent defeat meant they had to play Brazil in the first knockout round, and were beaten. Before Tuesday night, Bielsa had taken charge of two penalty shootouts with Leeds and lost them both, to Stoke and Hull.

He had no words of advice for his Leeds players at Fulham, just orders: who was going to take them and in what order. And what an order! Forshaw taking the fifth penalty, a chance to banish two years of hellish injury frustration with the decisive penalty. What a moment! Obviously he missed. In a way, it was nice to be reminded that Forshaw will never, ever score for Leeds United. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the goal becoming smaller whenever the chance to shoot is Forshaw’s, and that in itself is progress for the midfielder after so many months rehabbing injuries, desperate for just one more chance to shoot over the bar or straight at the ‘keeper.

Thankfully, it didn’t matter. The kids stepped up, Meslier saved from Muniz, and Leeds were back to breaking the hearts of chumps from the Championship. Perhaps this is what they’ve needed all along, a reminder of what made them such a good team in the first place, to kickstart a season that feels like it is yet to get out of second gear. In 2016/17, Leeds were still trying to work out what they were under Garry Monk, winning six of their opening fourteen league games before a penalty shootout win over Norwich preceded a run of eleven wins in their next fifteen Championship fixtures. So onwards we go, with Meslier gloriously taunting any Fulham player brave enough to dare try score past him, Gelhardt showing he can kick a ball as hard for the senior side as he can for the Under-23s, and Jamie Shackleton, stood in the middle of it all, desperately trying to work out where he fits in. ◉