The fallout from Stuart Attwell’s rotten Elland Road turn will stretch into this weekend when Leeds United line up at Crystal Palace on Sunday. Luis Sinisterra’s daft block on an Aston Villa free-kick will see him suspended this weekend and thus deprive Jesse Marsch of arguably his best attacker.
Thankfully, the suspension comes at a time when the squad is in a decent spot with injuries and there are various routes the head coach can go down with his team selection. The overarching debate for Marsch seems to be whether he looks at a direct replacement or moving about several players to accommodate a new face.
The obvious route many people will look to is Patrick Bamford. The number nine needs to be on the pitch as much as possible and finding a way to get him into the line-up is going to be many fans’ preference.
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Bamford would need to lead the attack, so Rodrigo either goes to the wider role he played at points in pre-season or, more likely, he plays behind the striker and Brenden Aaronson moves wider. This is the set-up Marsch used on the opening day against Wolverhampton Wanderers, you may remember.
The major question mark on this set of choices is Bamford’s fitness. Yet again, Marsch revealed his striker had failed to train fully last week with a new knock. Bamford needs to prove to the boss he is ready to start this week.
An alternative choice, with an equally experienced replacement, would throw Mateusz Klich in for his first league start of the season. That pushes Aaronson wide once more, which is not a bad thing given how he played there earlier this term.
The Pole has been decent from the bench this season and made an impact, but will he have the energy Marsch wants to see from the start of a game? Klich memorably got into a heated tete-a-tete with the head coach at Selhurst Park last season after he failed to follow instructions.
Crysencio Summerville is the obvious choice if Marsch is minded to minimise disruption to the rest of the team. With the departure of Daniel James, the Dutchman is the next winger off the rank and given how limited his first-team pitch time has been he will be optimistic about getting a chance this weekend.
Other choices seem a little more out there for Marsch to realistically go with. Wilfried Gnonto and Sam Greenwood were on the bench yesterday, but neither got on and the more experienced players are always going to be a bigger draw for the head coach.
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