Two issues need resolving in the Leeds United team at Watford on Saturday with the ongoing absence of Patrick Bamford going unsolved and the re-emergence of Kalvin Phillips into a settled team. Daniel James continues to labour as the striker in Jesse Marsch’s 4-2-3-1 system.
James is not taking chances, overthinking passes and dwelling for too long with the ball at his feet in the box. The trouble is Joe Gelhardt can't seem to string a full week’s worth of training together and it seems like a risk to put him in from the start at the moment.
Rodrigo has been showing promising signs of late in the more withdrawn attacking midfielder role. His passes have unlocked doors for Leeds and his chemistry with Raphinha is ticking over.
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However, he seems like a better option than James at the tip of the attack right now and moving him there may hit two birds with one stone. That shift forward would allow Mateusz Klich to shuffle forward to between James and Raphinha, and thus open up a slot for Phillips to partner Adam Forshaw in central midfield.
My other preference would be to recall Robin Koch into central defence where Diego Llorente has made me wince in recent weeks with his over-elaborate touches and passes in the backline. Koch has not had a decent run in central defence for a long time and resuming the partnership he had with Liam Cooper in the early part of last season would be welcome.
Cooper was very good last weekend and keeps Pascal Struijk out, while Jack Harrison, despite scoring again, remains very quiet in the side’s attacking phase of the game. He’s the man to be sacrificed for Phillips.
Crysencio Summerville caught the eye with an under-23 hat-trick on Monday, but there are too many bodies between him and the first team to justify a full league debut currently.
Beren’s XI: Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Cooper, Dallas; Phillips, Forshaw; Raphinha, Klich, James; Rodrigo.
