Leeds United will be relying on the expertise of both Chris Armas and Ewan Sharp this week as they take on Manchester United twice in the space of five days. The pair were part of the Old Trafford coaching staff last season under Ralf Rangnick and therefore they have a comprehensive knowledge about certain players and characteristics within the Red Devils’ camp.
Both Armas and Sharp left Man United in the summer, with the latter making the immediate switch to Leeds, while Armas arrived at Elland Road a couple of weeks ago. As such, they won’t be able to provide much insight into Erik ten Hag’s thinking leading into the double-header, but the information they are in possession of could be valuable as the Whites aim to bring an end to their seven game winless run.
That recent form was enough to bring an end to Jesse Marsch’s tenure on Monday afternoon, meaning Armas will be one of three men in charge in Leeds dugout tonight, alongside Paco Gallardo and Michael Skubala. The trio have taken just one training session and as a result, extensive changes are not expected.
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However, they will have been striving to ensure the Whites’ squad is as prepared as possible before heading down the M62 to Greater Manchester this evening and Armas and Sharp have had a major role to play.
“We've got Chris and Ewan Sharp behind the scenes, who worked for Manchester United.” Skubala said during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “So they've got a lot of insight into the players there and their attributes and their profiles.
“Obviously the staff has changed there recently so their manager will play in a different way but we've got a lot of good insight into certain things.”
Skubala will be the man dealing with the club’s press duties while United remain without a permanent head coach and that’s something he has done on a regular basis during his time covering the club’s Under-21s. However, the faces of Armas and Gallardo won't be quite as familiar to supporters.
“Chris has worked with Jesse and come in a couple of weeks ago,” Skubala said when asked to profile the pair. “He's still new to the team and still needs to get to know the squad but he's been around the Premier League before with Manchester United as well, so Chris is in there with the staff team.
“Paco Gallardo was working with me the under-21s as a development coach, he’s got experience in Spain and B teams so we've got a good staff team. We've got Marcos (Abad), the goalkeeping coach as well. So it will form as any other technical staff team will work.”
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