Selection dilemmas have been a luxury for Marcelo Bielsa in a season where Leeds United’s line-up has generally been decided by who’s fit at kick-off.
Seldom has Bielsa been able to stack his bench with experienced, game-changing options in 2021/22. If you’re fit with any semblance of senior experience on the Leeds roster, you’ve generally started matches.
The euphoria of Pascal Struijk and Rodrigo’s returns to the matchday squad on Sunday was punctured by the quickfire withdrawals of Adam Forshaw and Junior Firpo within 25 minutes of kick-off.
As the injury hex struck again, you were left laughing or crying at the state of this season and Rob Price’s neverending list of absentees.
While Forshaw has delivered an upbeat update on his condition, we await a more formal verdict on his and Firpo’s chances in Thursday’s press conference.
Newcastle United are the visitors to Elland Road on Saturday in a match the Magpies simply have to win to harbour realistic hopes of pulling Leeds back into the relegation scrap.
Eddie Howe’s side are now 10 points behind the Whites having played the same number of matches. They remain second from bottom and two points from safety.
For Leeds, the match presents a real opportunity to land a killer blow on Newcastle’s attempts to pull them into the mire. Bielsa’s side are already nine points from danger with a game in hand on 18th-placed Norwich City.
With momentum behind them after two consecutive victories, a home game against one of the league’s worst teams could see the stars aligning for Leeds.
Bielsa’s new injury blows do present fresh dilemmas for the Argentine, however.
As ever, Stuart Dallas holds the key. Diego Llorente will return from suspension to partner Struijk in central defence, while Robin Koch looks a good bet for the defensive midfielder role once more.
Luke Ayling is then released to right-back and Bielsa must consider putting Dallas at left-back or central midfield.
A few week ago, nobody would have debated the merits of Leo Hjelde vs Rodrigo for very long, but the Norwegian teenager’s encouraging performances in Stratford have opened the door.
If Rodrigo was fully fit and match sharp it’s unlikely to be much of a contest, but with the best part of half an hour in his legs for the past six weeks, Bielsa will be cautious.
Just as he was cautious with putting Rodrigo straight on for Forshaw on Sunday, he will know there are risks with selecting him from the start on Saturday.
The Spain international’s recall would mean Dallas at left-back, but Hjelde barely put a foot wrong in either of the West Ham United games, which included playing for more than 70 minutes at full-back against Jarrod Bowen.
Experience does generally win out for Bielsa, but it’s a real mark of Hjelde’s start to senior life with Leeds he is even being thrown into the mix as a viable alternative to the most expensive investment in the history of the club’s playing staff.
