Kalvin Phillips’s long-awaited return to fitness will throw up the biggest selection dilemma for Jesse Marsch and Leeds United this weekend. Strangely, Robin Koch was the example the head coach turned to when he weighed up what he saw as the most important factors in his team selections.
Asked about the importance of training performance, match form or the type of opponent they will face, Marsch said: "I would say I look at all of them. I am a big believer training means something.
"There are different kinds of managers, there are some that run everything, some that don't run anything and just watch to try to evaluate how players are performing. Right now we're certainly in a phase where I need to be on top of training because I am really reinforcing the behaviours we need every day, but I have also developed an eye that, while I am doing that, I can also evaluate how guys are training and who's grasping concepts at the fastest rate.
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“So an example for me is Robin Koch has performed very well in training, but he hasn't always been rewarded with decisions on matchday, but I am very much aware, when we need him, if we need him or we need to think carefully about how to use him more on game day, his performances mean something. Then, it's looking at the opponent every day and thinking about what's the best formation, what's the best group and how do we use all of the tools we have available and players and qualities to give us the best chance to perform and win games.
“My job is to do all of those things and then make sure I reinforce, with the player group and the team as a whole, I believe in them and I am helping them how to get better as individuals and as a group. That will lead us to decisions on game day.”
Adam Forshaw and Mateusz Klich are the two candidates under threat from Phillips’s return to fitness. The Poland international has been substituted early by Marsch in all of his starts under the American, while Forshaw has started the last four and came off early in the Aston Villa loss.
