Marsch-less Leeds
This will be the first time Leeds United have played under Jesse Marsch without him on the touchline. The head coach has confirmed he will be watching from the gantry throughout proceedings and communicating accordingly with those in the technical area.
Rene Maric and Mark Jackson will have to step into the void and be a presence for the players in the technical area. As Marsch himself has admitted, Leeds need someone fighting their battles with the officials from the sidelines and look to influence events in their favour.
Seeing how the players cope without the head coach, how the bench copes without Marsch and how Marsch copes on the gantry is going to be fascinating.
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Stick or twist at right-back?
Perhaps the closest call for Marsch to make this afternoon is at right-back. Rasmus Kristensen and Luke Ayling each have compelling cases for inclusion from the start against Aston Villa.
The Dane only lost his place through injury, impressed with his country last week, is barely a couple of steps into the transition he’s trying to make and commands loyalty from Marsch. Ayling is a leader in the dressing room, the team’s vice-captain and produced better attacking statistics in 20 minutes at Brentford than Kristensen has all season.
An abundance of strikers
With only one striker slot in the conventional 4-2-3-1 Marsch generally uses, he has a lot of forwards he needs to keep sharp and happy in the coming weeks. At long last, this feels like the obvious time to hit reset on Patrick Bamford’s season and get him going from the start.
Rodrigo, one of the division’s red-hot strikers before his injury, is another case Marsch will have to manage carefully. Could he indeed sneak into the line-up from the off?
The bench, and how it is deployed, will be similarly intriguing this afternoon. Wilfried Gnonto’s first impressions have thrown up the question of the pecking order between him and Joe Gelhardt.
Nipping it in the bud
The barnstorming zenith of that win over Chelsea feels like a very long time ago now and suddenly Leeds are staring down the barrel of a fourth match without a win. While the losses to Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford had elements of acceptance to them, the draw with Everton stands out as the missed opportunity.
Villa, resurgent as they are, still represent a more than winnable encounter back at Elland Road. Three points would just ease any tensions rising at the edges of the fan base.
Lasting memories from summer?
Archie Gray will be unavailable for selection on Sunday. The 16-year-old is wearing a protective boot after fracturing a toe last month, but there were short-lived fears in the summer he would be missing this fixture for very different reasons.
When John McGinn left him in a crumpled heap on the Australian turf in pre-season, concerns for the teenager were only amplified by the emergence of a stretcher on the pitch. As he was carried away, the fears were it could be a season-ender before the campaign had even got started.
McGinn was public enemy number one and glances were cast at the fixture list for the fans’ first opportunity to let him know what they thought of him. It transpires the stretcher was a little over the top and Gray was walking about the day after the tackle.
Still, injury or not, the tackle looked reckless and unnecessary on replays. Perhaps there will still be a few curt words sent the Scot’s way.
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