Leeds United succumbed to only their second league defeat of the season at the weekend, losing 1-0 to Charlton Athletic at The Valley on Saturday afternoon.

The Whites went into the weekend hoping to get back to winning ways, after being held to a 1-1 draw against Derby County at Elland Road last weekend.

Marcelo Bielsa's side created plenty of chances that day, but were made to rue their missed chances, as Chris Martin popped up with a stoppage-time equaliser to salvage a point for the Rams.

Leeds were undoubtedly in for a tough test as they prepared to come up against a familiar face in Lee Bowyer at the weekend, whose side have only lost once on their home turf over the last year.

And the Addicks scored the game's only goal, making Leeds pay for their own lacklustre performance thanks to Macauley Bonne's strike in the 32nd minute of the encounter.

The Whites were to be without one of their most creative players in Pablo Hernandez on Saturday afternoon, but Bielsa made the change that Leeds fans have been crying out for since the start of the season.

Helder Costa, the Whites' marquee signing of the summer, made his first league start for Leeds after signing from Wolves, and here's how he got on...

In the absence of playmaker Hernandez, all eyes were on Costa, as the Portuguese winger looked to make an impact on his full league debut for the Yorkshire club.

As expected, Bielsa stuck to his trusted 4-1-4-1 formation, with Costa coming in and replacing Hernandez on the right flank - a position that he thrived in for Wolves during his time at Molineux.

In a game where Leeds dominated 72% of the ball over 97 minutes, Costa played for the duration of the encounter, obviously failing to register a goal or assist on his first league start for Bielsa's men.

Costa's role was very simple - to pick the ball up and run at the Charlton defence and create a threat in the final third, as opposed to Hernandez, who doesn't possess the amount of pace and power Costa does.

The Portuguese winger was hugely impressive in the first-half but tailed off in the second, completing six out of 11 dribbles and thus, accruing a dribble success rate of 55%.

A key reason for Costa's lack of attacking threat in the second-half was largely down to Bielsa switching formation to a back-three, which saw Kalvin Phillips move into central defence and Costa operate as a wing-back.

A lot of Leeds' attacks did go through Costa, and the wide-man completed 38 out of 46 passes successfully, accruing a pass success rate of 83%.

But the 25-year-old was unable to break down a resilient Charlton defence - he shot twice, but failed to register an attempt on target, whilst also having only four touches inside the box.

It was hardly the performance Leeds fans were hoping to see from Costa as well as their team in general, and despite showing glimpses of the quality he displayed for Wolves in their promotion to the top-flight, he still has to improve.

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