Leeds: Phil Hay expects Maximilian Wober to start tonight

Phil Hay believes Maximilian Wober could be set for his full Leeds United debut this evening.

Wober came off the bench against Cardiff City in the FA Cup last weekend in a slightly bizarre position of centre midfield, somewhere he’d never played this season for RB Salzburg and may not have been totally comfortable as he picked up a yellow card on his debut as Leeds struggled against the Championship outfit.

Tonight against Aston Villa with the stakes a lot higher than in a cup competition Jesse Marsch would be a very brave man to not play Wober in his most natural position because if not it could be an ugly evening for the Austrian.

One big benefit Leeds now have with Wober in their ranks is that he’s a versatile defender who can play as both a left-sided centre-back and also as a left-back, which is where he’d been playing for RB Salzburg prior to his move.

This is where Hay believes he will play tonight when making his debut from the start as he spoke about on The Phil Hay Show.

(41:45) “I’m very much expecting a Max Wober debut I think tomorrow night [Friday] which I think would be sensible.”

Hay was then asked further about where Wober would play to which he replied:

(41:56) “If Liam Cooper is fit then I think Liam Cooper will play as the left-sided centre back, therefore I could see Wober playing as left back.”

TIF Thoughts on Wober…

Given that Wober, who was labelled as ‘naughty’ for a tackle he put in last time out, has never played English league football in his career it would make very little sense to try and shoehorn him into a less familiar position to him this season at least, such as midfield or centre-back.

While it’s great that Wober can play in several positions, the fact that he’s turned out at left-back for the majority of this season and Leeds have had woes in that position this campaign with Pascal Struijk featuring there quite often.

It would make sense to throw Wober into the spotlight straight away in the Premier League as he would very likely thrive having been labelled as a ‘captain, leader and organiser‘ by Beren Cross not too long ago.