Noel Whelan has criticised Leeds United boss Paul Heckingbottom's decision to take Kemar Roofe off during Friday night's 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa.
Heckingbottom chose to roll the dice as the clock ticked down at Villa Park and brought Pierre-Michel Lasogga on to replace Roofe with 12 minutes left.
The change did not pay off as Leeds slipped to a defeat which means they sit in 14th spot in the Championship table with 54 points from 43 games, 15 points off the top six.
And Whelan thinks that taking Roofe off was the wrong call, especially with Samu Saiz having been brought on earlier on in the game.
"I think Roofe is fit enough to get through 90 minutes", Whelan said on BBC Radio Leeds.
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"He was doing the right things, running channels, bringing players out of their comfort zone, freeing up space for that midfield area.
"And especially when you brought a player like Saiz on.
"If you can take a centre half out of the way and he can find those little areas between the midfield and the defence, he's got all that room to play with", he added.
Leeds will try to return to winning ways at Elland Road on Saturday when struggling Barnsley are the visitors.
The Whites then round off their season by travelling to Carrow Road to play Norwich City and hosting QPR.
