Good Morning. It's Wednesday 9th February, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Selection dilemma for Bielsa Marcelo Bielsa faces a selection dilemma ahead of tonight clash with Aston Villa. Junior Firpo has not recovered significantly to take part this evening, which leaves a massive hole at left-back. Normally Stuart Dallas would fill in, but surely we need the Northern Ireland International to add some much needed bite in midfield! With Adam Forshaw returning to defensive midfield duties, Koch could drop back to partner Llorente at centre-back which leaves Pascal Struijk free to occupy the No 3 role. Alternatively, Bielsa may entrust Leo Hjelde to fill the void. The Norwegian U21 International impressed the Elland Road faithful when called upon last month, prompting questions why he was dropped against Newcastle several weeks ago. please log in to view this image Unfair to judge Leeds - Gerrard Ahead of tonight's clash at Villa Park, Clarets Manager Steven Gerrard has given a respectful opinion of Leeds Utd, and suggests it is not fair to judge the (Leeds) players this season due to their injury crisis. The former England midfielder also commented that Leeds are a very exciting team, and he enjoys watching them:- “My opinion on Leeds is, as a team and as a squad, they’ve got really talented players, really dangerous players,” “They haven’t had the best of luck in terms of injuries, so it’s not fair to judge them too strongly. “I’ve only focussed on Leeds over the last few weeks, as I was in Scotland up until November, but from the outside, I’ve always enjoyed watching Leeds. I think they’re a very exciting team. “They’re getting players returning from injury, and I’m sure once they get Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford back, it wouldn’t surprise me if they find a higher level of consistency.” please log in to view this image Cresswell delighted with return to action Following their 3-0 victory over Liverpool on Monday evening, U23's Captain Charlie Cresswell spoke of his elation, not only at the result, but returning to action from a two-month lay off. The 19yo skipper had been sidelined after injuring his shoulder during training, just before Christmas. It coincided at a time when he was playing his best football, and was due to be rewarded with a rare start in the first team. According to Cresswell:- "It was good, the fans helped us but I thought we did really well from start to finish. I was dusting off my rust to start with, first 30 minutes were a bit rusty but apart from that I thought we carried out [our task] throughout the game solid, I thought we dug in and it was amazing to do that, getting a win in front of the fans. "There was a bit of nervousness, a bit of an anxious feeling before the game because we needed a win, it's tight at the bottom," "To go in there [changing rooms] after and put the music on and start having a good time and smiling, it was good to see, nice to be a part of, it's good to be back." please log in to view this image
Morning all It’s all a bit too predictable for me to be honest, Hjelde and Struijk provide excellent LB cover but Bielsa will drop Dallas back. We’ll see Koch in midfield and James as the lone striker. I don’t feel confident about tonight but we’ll see
I liked the look of hjelde, I think he’s a genuine prospect. However for all the plaudits we rightly gave him in the West Ham game, he did concede possession a fair bit… the stats back this up and it won’t have escaped MBs notice. If he goes with Dallas at lb, there will be fair logic to it… not favouritism. Flipside of course is we’re very light in midfield and sticking stuey at fb weakens midfield. Think that’s what we’ll see though. Koch has done well since he came back… interesting honest comments from him recently about having to adjust to the pace and physicality of English football. My concerns with him at dm, will be dealing with the mobility and movement of coutinho.
Morning all in case you missed my post yesterday. I am at Blackpool and a young guy stopping here doing scaffolding work asked if i was a leeds fan and wanted to buy my drink. Turns out he is Lewis Loftus the son of our very own chris murdered in Turkey. If i see him tonight i will be buying him a pint.
Would be happy with Dallas or Struijk at LB, Hjelde is a good prospect and not a starter just yet, especially not over Dallas and Struijk. If Dallas goes into LB we have Struijk and Llorente as CB’s with Koch and Forshaw in midfield and if he goes with Struijk at LB we’ll have Koch/Llorente as CBs with Forshaw and Dallas in midfield. Either way this should be a very solid midfield defensively leaving the selection dilemma of Rodrigo, Roberts or Klich as our 10. James will start as the number 9 which is fair due to his pressing, make should we make it count and then bring on Gelhardt with 20-30 minutes left.
Morning all I think it will be Meslier Ayling Llorente Struijk Dallas Koch Forshaw Klich Raphinha James Harrison We should have a good bench to switch it up though, for a change.
agree Villa have two 'wingers' whose careers have frequently seen them used as 10's in buendia and coutinho, he might shuffle the pack a bit depending on who he thinks is best suited to pick up guys more likely to come inside than hug touchlines, but all things being equal... think blono has it right.
Afternoon all, I would have no problem with Dallas at lb and Koch in midfield. Koch has been getting better there with game time and is an adequate stop gap to allow Forshaw to be more of a box to box midfielder. I am confident for tonight. All the talk of villa improving under Gerrard, look at their form, it's not that great so no reason if we turn up we can't walk away with points.
If we can start with an actual forward tonight, be it Joffy, Roberts or Rodrigo, we will win. We played well enough and created to have been Newcastle last time. We need to be more clinical, ie Harrison against West ham.
