Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and the removal of Luke Ayling from Leeds United’s options has opened up a world of routes for Jesse Marsch, or in this case, me, to take. The paucity of right-back solutions allows for all kinds of shapes and systems.
Time on the sidelines seems to have caught up with Jamie Shackleton. This writer has long banged the drum for a hard-working, homegrown character like Shackleton, but his stock has fallen through his repeated spells in the treatment room and memories of that brutal Jack Grealish experience in December remain fresh.
Playing Raphinha in the defensive third of the field brings the sound of bullets powering into your feet, while the centre-back options do not have the agility or turn of speed needed to bring width to a narrow attack. Daniel James does not have stellar defensive credentials, but he would bring speed, tenacity and work rate to a wing-back role at the very least.
