Jesse Marsch faces the media on Friday afternoon for his first pre-match press conference in four weeks. The Leeds United head coach will take questions from television, radio, print and online journalists at Thorp Arch ahead of Aston Villa’s Sunday visit.
Here is a run-down of some of the main topics on the agenda for the American to address at the training ground today.
Injuries
Four weeks is a long time for injuries to heal and crop up. We know Rasmus Kristensen has recovered from the problem which kept him out of the Brentford game, but there remains a question mark on Rodrigo.
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The initial prognosis from Marsch in the days after he dislocated his shoulder had earmarked this match with the Villans as a possible return date. The head coach was keen to stress it could be sooner or later than this match too.
The under-21 match against Southampton earlier this month gave us a crucial look at some of the other players who were injured, but are now firmly on the recovery pathway.
Selection dilemmas
With the return of stricken bodies to the fold, Marsch has some meaty selection dilemmas to pick through. While the American is unlikely to reveal anything definitive about Sunday’s line-up, he is sure to be asked for clues.
Diego Llorente’s decline in form and Liam Cooper’s return to fitness make central defence an obvious line of questioning, while Rasmus Kristensen and Luke Ayling are head to head at right-back.
Waking up as September ends?
There is little chance the Whites have been following Green Day’s lead, so Marsch is sure to be asked how his squad have spent 29 days without a competitive fixture. The players have mentioned intra-squad training games and there was a behind-closed-doors fixture last week too.
Managing under a ban
It has been so long since it all happened it’s become quite easy to forget Marsch was sent off in the last game and then subsequently banned from the touchline. The head coach is sure to be quizzed on how he expects to control matters away from the technical area, where he will watch the game and how he has prepared this week with the players knowing he won’t be on the touchline.
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