Ebbs have not come much lower under Jesse Marsch than Sunday night’s with an eight-match winless run and the Leeds United crowd turning. The head coach has clung onto his job this week and then right when he’s trying to organise a masterplan for Anfield he suffers another setback.
Or should that be setbacks? News Liam Cooper, Tyler Adams, Rodrigo, Luis Sinisterra and Joe Gelhardt are no better than questionable for Saturday’s trip landed like a hammer blow in Thursday’s press conference.
Just as Marsch needs to catch a break, he catches several of the wrong kind. If I were in the dugout on Saturday I would have to treat each injury doubt on its own merit.
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Of course, I am not privy to the precise diagnoses each player has had, nor the severity of the assorted knocks they are carrying. The only one in that quintet which has a decent, or at least unknown, injury history is Adams.
A combination of his importance and solid availability until last Sunday means I would take the risk with him in the middle. I would not take that same chance with the others.
All of them have a poor recent history when it comes to injuries and if you’re considering taking a risk it’s in the eminently more winnable match a week on Saturday at home to Bournemouth. Yes, it weakens the team against a very tough opponent, but you have to look at the big picture.
Even in the absence of Cooper, I would drop Luke Ayling too. If I were to play him anywhere it would on the right side of central defence, but square pegs in round holes have not worked especially well with Leeds.
Ayling’s difficult night in central defence at Liverpool last season sticks in the memory too. Rasmus Kristensen comes back into the side for me. He had done well before his axing on Sunday and has seemed more robust in defence than Ayling.
The temptation to shift Ayling inside comes from an aversion to starting either Diego Llorente or Junior Firpo. The former’s errors at Brentford survive as fresh scars, while the latter has failed to demonstrate the attributes necessary to cope with someone like Mohamed Salah.
The last trip to Anfield was another night on the referee’s tightrope for Firpo and that’s the fear of him coming back in on Saturday night. Llorente has at least shown an ability, in isolation, to have good games and he is, for all of his flaws, a more natural centre-back than Ayling.
The other changes come in the front four. Patrick Bamford in for the doubtful Rodrigo is an easy decision, especially if Gelhardt is struggling too.
Mateusz Klich seems due a turn to start. Brenden Aaronson has arguably looked at his best when playing down the channel as a wider option and the Pole’s introduction to the centre would allow for that.
Crysencio Summerville, as admirable as his dribbling was late on against Fulham, still flatters to deceive at this level and starting at Anfield does not seem the right place for his talents.
Beren’s XI: Meslier; Kristensen, Koch, Llorente, Struijk; Adams, Roca; Aaronson, Klich, Harrison; Bamford.
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