Winning teams are rarely changed by Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United and after arguably the finest day of the season last weekend, there will be little hankering to move his pieces around.
However, injuries to Junior Firpo and Adam Forshaw mean there will at least be two enforced changes to the starting line-up which began the West Ham United win.
One change does look nailed on. The suspended Diego Llorente will undoubtedly return to the line-up on Saturday, partnering Pascal Struijk in the centre of defence.
That shunts Luke Ayling out to right-back, which means, as ever, Stuart Dallas is the skeleton key waiting for the lock Bielsa needs opening.
Much rests on the week Rodrigo has had and the stock we put in Bielsa’s comments about Charlie Cresswell and young players earlier this season.
In the week after his debut against West Ham, Bielsa was asked about Cresswell’s development and the thought process behind when to play young players.
“The most important thing is that when a young player plays, he must do it in a positive way,” he said.
“And the second thing is trying to avoid as much as possible that the young players take on difficult responsibilities when there are players who are more experienced, more veteran, who should be taking them on instead.”
Assuming Rodrigo is ahead of Tyler Roberts and Joe Gelhardt in terms of sharpness by virtue of last weekend’s return, the debate seems to boil down to the Spain international or one of the youngsters Lewis Bate and Leo Hjelde.
In short: is Rodrigo ready to start a match and play at least an hour without jeopardising his fitness or the team’s effectiveness?
Also: is he so vastly more experienced than Bate and Hjelde he must start the game, even if he is some way from 100 per cent sharpness?
In this week’s press conference, Bielsa did not give much away on Rodrigo. He said the team would count on Roberts, Gelhardt and Rodrigo. Later, he said the team would maintain Rodrigo’s presence after 30 minutes last weekend.
Based on the onus Newcastle United could place on Kieran Trippier’s right-flank raids, Dallas may well edge the left-back debate ahead of Hjelde.
That opens up the slot alongside Mateusz Klich, where Rodrigo’s experience, in a game Leeds must attack and win, should squeeze out Bate, despite his limited minutes.
Bielsa has made it clear on more than one occasion how long it takes for Rodrigo to find form and rhythm in his play. Starting on Saturday at least kicks that process on after last weekend’s limited blast.
There will be debate around recalling one of the forward options to play in Daniel James’s place in attack, but Bielsa’s praise of the front three at West Ham could suggest he does not tinker with that, especially when Gelhardt and Roberts have only just recovered from injury.
Predicted line-up: Meslier; Ayling, Llorente, Struijk, Dallas; Koch; Raphinha, Klich, Rodrigo, Harrison; James.
