It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Luke Ayling take more of a backseat role this weekend when Leeds United travel to face Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup. Jesse Marsch is expected to name a strong side to take on the League One outfit, but he’ll be keen to rotate in a couple of positions and hand some of his star performers a rest at the Wham Stadium.
Ayling may well be involved off the bench, but the head coach could go with Rasmus Kristensen or Cody Drameh on Saturday. The full-back should and probably will start the club’s next Premier League contest against Nottingham Forest, though, and that shows just how far the 31-year-old has come to wrestle back his place at the top of the Elland Road pecking order.
The defender was always going to have a battle on his hands this season if he was to keep the spot he has held for six seasons prior to this summer. The arrival of Rasmus Kristensen was seen as natural squad progression as the club backed Marsch by bringing the Denmark international, who he had at Red Bull Salzburg, to West Yorkshire.
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As expected, the early indications were that Kristensen would be the man to take Leeds forward under Marsch, with his forward-thinking mentality being preferred to the veteran. The 25-year-old would be guaranteed a run in the side at the start of the season, too, as Ayling continued to recover from the surgery.
He made a fleeting appearance off the bench against Brentford in September, but it was October before Ayling was in a position to really compete for a starting spot and even then he had to be patient. He had made just one start by the time the World Cup break arrived in November, getting the nod against Fulham as Marsch rotated his side to cope with three games in a week, with six appearances coming late in games off the bench.
However, while Kristensen, who struggled for traction over the first few months of his time in West Yorkshire, was away with Denmark at the World Cup, Ayling was under Marsch’s nose training at Thorp Arch and in Spain. It seems he did enough during that time to give the head coach some food for thought, too, as he came into the starting line-up to take on Newcastle United at St James’ Park on New Year’s Eve.
The former Arsenal and Bristol City man looked a little rusty at times in the driving North East rain, but he contributed to a fine defensive performance and he hasn’t looked back since. Three straight starts have come since under Marsch, with his last outing against Brentford being his most impressive yet.
“Yeah, I think it's a combination of his leadership, his fearlessness and the quality and level at which he's playing right now,” Marsch said recently when asked about Ayling’s standing at present. “So I’ve been really happy with him.
“I think Luke's playing really well, really well and we have to be fair, we went with Junior and Diego and Rasmus more midweek (against Cardiff City) and I thought all those three played really well. So the group is coming together.”
Ayling may have won out for the time being, but he’s not in a position to be able to rest on his laurels and take his foot off the gas as Leeds enter the second half of their Premier League season. The defender will see Kristensen and Cody Drameh competing for the attention of Marsch every day on the training ground and he’ll know a couple of poor performances could be enough to tempt the head coach to tinker.
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