Beren Cross has spoken on Leeds United Live about how Jesse Marsch could stick with a back five for Leeds United this weekend.
On Saturday evening Leeds United lined up against the Premier League champions at Elland Road with a back five, although it was slightly changed just before kick-off due to Liam Cooper’s injury in the warm-up and then Stuart Dallas was injured during the game, forcing Raphinha to play as a wing-back.
Who would you rather start this weekend?
Llorente!
Cresswell!
Despite losing 4-0 at home, the formation appeared to do okay against City as Leeds had a few good chances to score and kept the best team in England to just six shots on target, the only problem was four of them went past Illan Meslier.
Therefore, Cross admits he wouldn’t be shocked to see Leeds stick with a back five this weekend, but wouldn’t expect Raphinha to be a wing-back again.
(8:55) “With Cooper out, it hasn’t actually been made clear why Llorente missed out, I did see murmurings that there had been sort of talk about a knock or something that put Llorente back.
Either way, you’ve got Llorente or Creswell, I know fans are divided and many fans now probably put Cresswell above Llorente given how quickly the Spain International has fallen in recent weeks, but either way, my point is the personnel is there to shift Ayling out to right-back and bring another centre back in and play that back five if you wish Firpo now the only option at left-back.
It’s also away from home, so in theory, you would think they’re going to be more under the cosh so I wouldn’t be surprised to see that.”
TIF Thoughts on Leeds using a back five…
Of course, after being destroyed by Manchester City with five at the back and Paul Robinson even coming out and sharing his concern over the tactical switch, it would be a huge call to stick with something that hasn’t really been proven works at this crucial stage of the season with potential relegation in the picture.
Leeds will be hoping they can pull off their first win ever at the Emirates this weekend and their best chance of that happening may well be by frustrating Arsenal and limiting the number of chances they have, so in theory, a back five would make sense, it just then depends on who gets the nod to start.
Against Man City, it was Ayling, Koch and Struijk that started the game, but with Ayling likely to shift to a more natural right-sided role, it then leaves one spot open, likely for either Charlie Cresswell, who’s only been afforded 141 Premier League minutes this season, or the Spain international, Diego Llorente. It will likely come down to does Marsch want experience or someone hungry and wanting to prove themselves.
In other news: Familiar face drops worrying Leeds claim live on Sky Sports