Versatile Phillips out to defend Leeds
LEEDS United could again be missing three first-choice central defenders for tonight’s game at West Brom after Diego Llorente’s latest injury setback.
Marcelo Bielsa was without skipper Liam Cooper, Robin Koch and Llorente for Sunday’s home win against Burnley, but Leeds responded by keeping a rare clean sheet.
Summer signing Llorente had been expected to make his first home appearance for the club, but broke down in training after appearing to have recovered from a muscle strain.
“He had a setback on Wednesday and from there he hasn’t evolved,” Bielsa confirmed. “He stopped being an option for the game (on Saturday).”
Bielsa was unable to say last week when Cooper is expected to recover from an abdominal strain, and Koch is in rehab following knee surgery.
Midfielder Kalvin Phillips was deployed in a back three against Burnley alongside Luke Ayling and Pascal Struijk.
That make s h i f t d e fe n c e held firm under concerted second-half pressure from Burnley, and Bielsa took heart from a first clean sheet in five matches.
“Phillips is a player with a big capacity to adapt to playing in different positions on the pitch,” said Bielsa.
“The times where he has had to play as a centre-back in a backthree, every time he has had good responses and played with authority.”
Leeds climbed three places to 12th after their sixth league win of the season and could finish the year in the top half of the table.
“Our objective was to compete on an even keel with all our opponents in the Premier League, but it’s not an easy task,” Bielsa added.
“If you look at what happened at the end of the second half (against Burnley), in which we had to adapt to a situation which we hadn’t faced up until now.
“The result was in danger. Every game in the Premier League is a big challenge.”
Meanwhile, West Brom boss Sam Allardyce admits breaking down leaky Leeds will not be as easy as it looks.
United and Albion have the joint worst defensive records in the Premier League, with both having conceded 30 times.
“I’ve got to work out why it’s so crazy. His (Bielsa’s) intelligence and his unique style serves the players and stands the club in good stead,” said Allardyce.
“We have to find a way of scoring against them, which sometimes seems pretty easy but it is never going to be as easy as that.
“On the pitch they try to go out and score as many goals as they can so we have to cancel that out. It will require some interesting thought from myself.”