OPINION
Leeds United are set to make at least one change for Saturday’s Championship showdown against Middlesbrough as they look to bounce back from the defeat to Norwich City.
Marcelo Bielsa did not name his starting XI at his media conference on Thursday, as senior trio Pablo Hernandez, Adam Forshaw and Mateusz Klich are all injury doubts ahead of the Riverside trip.
The Argentine’s team news update was quite confusing, but Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent Phil Hay re-listened to it later in the day and tweeted that eight of the players are “definite starters”.
He named them as goalkeeper Kiko Casilla, defenders Liam Cooper, Pontus Jansson, Luke Ayling, attacker Kemar Roofe, Patrick Bamford and Jack Harrison, and the versatile Ezgjan Alioski.
He explained that Kalvin Phillips, Jack Clarke and Jamie Shackleton will replace Forshaw, Hernandez and Klich respectively if they miss out.
It appears more likely than not that the trio will all start, as Bielsa said “they are not serious (injuries) because they have the possibility to play”.
That would mean the only change from last weekend’s 3-1 loss would be Bamford replacing Tyler Roberts, the attacker signed for £4million (source: Daily Mail) from West Brom in January of last year.
With rarely-seen Patrick Bamford set to start a league match for the first time, that is likely to mean a formation change and a new role for Kemar Roofe.
He could be pushed out to the left flank, with Hernandez used in the central playmaking role where he can dictate the play and conduct Bielsa’s orchestra.