THREAD: There was some question marks about whether or not Costa should have started after missing the weekend game through injury but more after the team performed so well. Moral of the story, trust Bielsa. I've took a closer look at his performance #LUFC

Stoke turned up at Elland Road and had the same intentions that 90% of teams have, sit back with 10 players behind the ball and defend. It required Leeds to come up with the solution and part of that solution was Helder Costa.

As you can see from his heat-map, Costa picked up some good positions both out wide but also in field. McLean who started left midfield for Stoke pretty much played as a left wing back which aloud Indi to play as a third centre back.

With Stoke looking to sit back, instead of Costa staying wide and making it easier to be picked up by Stoke’s left back, he came more infield and picked up positions in between the lines. This made it harder for Stoke to pick him up and pin him down.

Here we see him once again position in field, this time the ball doesn’t come to him from White but his run disrupts Stoke City shape. Stoke City left back isn't going to go with him which means if the pass was to be played, a centre back would be required to close him down.

The two previous examples show him playing in between the lines and it was third time lucky after picking the ball up, driving at Stoke's defence before winning the penalty. It was important that he mixed his game up and didn’t become predicable like we’ve seen before.

Once again if you look at Costa’s goal at the start of the second half. In the build up he hasn’t stayed out wide and comes short into space but the ball isn’t passed to him.

A few seconds later, Chester who had just come on was ball watching, Costa makes a perfectly timed run off the blindside of him. He also did well to adjust after he thought Chester was going to be closer to him so initially anticipated to cut back before poking past Butland.

Its vital that with good movement and receiving the ball in good positions, that he made good use of the ball. His end product, which sometimes can be lacking, was spot on. He created 4 chances (most), got an assist, won a penalty and scored a goal.

In terms of his assist, he did well to pick out Pablo rather than just look to play the ball into the box. He knew that he was slightly ahead of the Leeds options and delayed his pass until there was a clear pass. Bamford did well to dummy the ball.

He made great use of the ball, Costa who is averaging 17.7 accurate passes per game with a pass accuracy of 81%, made 26 accurate passes with a pass accuracy of 89.7% in yesterdays game. This shows he was more involved and provided that quality when needed.

It's fair to say after signing on a permeant deal this week, that was one of his best performances. Like Douglas on the weekend, that’s much closer to what we saw at Wolves and highlights why we paid such a big fee for him. #LUFC

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