Llorente to be unleashed at last by the whites
Diego Llorente faces a baptism of fire in the absence of skipper Liam Cooper when Leeds take on Burnley at Elland Road today.
Spain defender Llorente is poised for his full Premier League debut, three months after joining from Real Sociedad.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche declared this week that his side will target Leeds’ vulnerability at set pieces and Cooper, ruled out due to an abdominal strain, could be sorely missed.
The Leeds captain has had his fair share of criticism during the club’s rise back to the Premier League, but boss Marcelo Bielsa has only expressed admiration for the former Chesterfield defender.
“Cooper has lost out the most in the aerial duels in these last 14 games,” Bielsa said when reviewing last week’s 6- 2 defeat at Manchester United. “It’s like this because he always defends against the best opposing header.
“In this game he scored and neutralised Harry Maguire, who is a very a good header of the ball. That’s the process I am looking for, to get closer to the best.”
The Scotland international was forced off at Old Trafford and joins fellow centrehalf Robin Koch on the sidelines. Koch will be out for three months after undergoing knee surgery recently and his absence places even more onus on Llorente, who is expected to partner right- back Luke Ayling in central defence.
Bielsa responded to criticism of his all- out offensive tactics after his side’s heavy defeat at Old Trafford by claiming English football would suffer if the emphasis was placed on defence.
“I feel it was less humiliating to lose 6- 3 or 6- 4 rather than 6- 2,” he added. “I will always gamble for the hurt to be a smaller one, even if there’s a risk of it getting bigger.”
Sean Dyche has no intention of devising a different strategy to cope with Leeds as the Burnley manager is confident his side’s usual approach to matches has proven successful.
“I don’t think we’ll prepare too differently,” Dyche said. “We found a consistent way of working with the team and when it’s working correctly, we’ve proven we can be effective in the Premier League against many different styles.
“Leeds is a different style again, but there are lots of different styles. They’ve been up and down with a lot of goals going in, but they’ve scored a few as well.
“We’ve got to capitalise on all the right things and do all the right things we do to win a game. That will be our focus.
“We’ ll make the players aware of Leeds, but we will be focusing on us of what we can do and what we’re looking to achieve.”