Leeds United legend Peter Lorimer has explained that if it was up to him, he would play Giuseppe Bellusci against Burnley in the Championship on Saturday.
The centre-back has cost Leeds points in the last two games through his mistakes; the Italian’s failed clearance enabled Rotherham United to strike a late winner last weekend, with the game ending 2-1.
Bellusci was again at fault on Tuesday as he conceded a penalty, which Queens Park Rangers successfully converted in the 1-1 draw at Elland Road.
And Lorimer insisted that although Bellusci made mistakes in the last two outings, he thinks dropping the 26-year-old would mean Leeds taking out their best centre- back.
The former Leeds attacking midfielder is unhappy with Bellusci not taking responsibility for his errors on the pitch and told the Italian to stop trying to look flash and cool.
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“I would start Giuseppe Bellusci at Burnley tomorrow. Honestly I would”, he wrote in his column in the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“I can hear the clamour for Steve Evans to drop him but where Bellusci is concerned, you have to try and look at the bigger picture.
“I’m not going to defend the mistakes he’s made in the last two games. They’ve been costly and they’ve been stupid. We don’t need our centre-backs to look flash or to look cool. We need them to stop goals against us.
“Bellusci needs to accept that and he has to take responsibility for his actions.
"When his mistakes led to penalties I didn’t see him holding his hands up. I saw him blaming the referee. In reality it was impossible to argue with either decision.
“He also has to learn his lessons. The overhead kick at Nottingham Forest was not so different to a similar blunder away at Nottingham Forest.
“You shouldn’t make that error twice."
However, the Whites legend still rates the Italian as the best centre-back his side boast and believes his all-round displays have been acceptable.
“But in fairness to Bellusci, in general he’s been good recently. His all-round performances have been decent and, in my view, he’s been the best of our centre-backs.
“That’s not to say he can carry on making costly mistakes week after week because obviously that has to stop, but in the cold light of day, if you take Bellusci out of the team then you’re probably taking out our best centre-back.
“If it was down to me I’d be sticking with Bellusci and Liam Cooper in the centre of defence for now.
"I see that as the strongest partnership available to us – although I stand by my view that changes in that department are most certainly needed in the summer.”
Bellusci, who joined Leeds from Catania in 2014, has thus far made 59 appearances in all competitions for the Whites, scoring twice.
