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Beren Cross

Jesse Marsch's Leeds United success may rest on solving three squad dilemmas

One of the most fascinating transitions to watch under Jesse Marsch at Leeds United is how he makes use of the abundance in wingers he has.

Raphinha, Daniel James, Jack Harrison and Crysencio Summerville are the wide talents we most frequently saw in Marcelo Bielsa’s matchday squads.

James has been used plenty by Bielsa as a striker, but through necessity rather than through choice. Harrison has been deployed there too, but back in the Championship days.

All four are clearly at their best when playing down the touchline, but Marsch’s previous systems with Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig did not use wingers in that way.

The American will face the press for the first time on Thursday afternoon when he is sure to be quizzed on his philosophy or expected shape based on the squad he has inherited.

In the meantime, we are left looking at the narrow 4-4-2, a 4-2-2-2 and 4-3-1-2 he used in Austria or the 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 which were tried in Germany.

Rudimentary reading around his approach would suggest those four are going to play a lot more centrally.

The more pertinent question may be around whether they play in the frontline or in the support options behind the strikers.

Raphinha, of course, has emerged as the star player in this squad and found himself carrying the side at times in an attacking sense through what has been a difficult campaign.

How Marsch gets the best out of the number 10 could be critical to finding success with Leeds in the final 12 matches of the season.

While Summerville has had to wait for his opportunities because he is younger and less experienced, the other three were cast-iron Bielsa favourites because of their speed and work ethic around the final third.

All eyes are going to be on whether Marsch continues to give them as many minutes as Bielsa did and how he intends to retrain them within the system we expect him to play.

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