Changes Jesse Marsch made on Thursday night show how unpredictable the Leeds United head coach can be. It makes anticipating Sunday’s clash with Fulham that little harder, but the insipidity of midweek compared to last weekend has to mean a reversion to something like the Arsenal line-up.
Captain Liam Cooper shored things up in the backline on Thursday at Leicester City and having had his minutes managed, he is set to return to the starting line-up. Diego Llorente did not do enough at the Foxes to transform perceptions of his ability in the middle of defence.
If Pascal Struijk is fit, as Marsch hopes, then the Dutch defender needs to be restored in Junior Firpo’s place. The former has barely put a foot wrong this season, while the latter again showed the lack of defensive nous needed to protect the United backline.
READ MORE: Leeds United line-up vs Fulham as errors are reversed with Cooper, Struijk and Harrison back
Crysencio Summerville got more involved in the Leeds attack than he has done in his bench cameos, but the 20-year-old failed to test Danny Ward with the two efforts he had in the first half on Thursday. He still just looks a little out of his depth and while Jack Harrison may have gone off the boil in recent games, he is far more influential than Summerville.
The rest of the team should have enough credit in the bank with Marsch to preserve their places. Patrick Bamford was poor and isolated in midweek, but it was clear how much better the attack worked with him on the frontline last weekend.
Predicted line-up: Meslier; Kristensen, Koch, Cooper, Struijk; Adams, Roca; Harrison, Aaronson, Sinisterra; Bamford.
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