Journalist Beren Cross has predicted that Leeds United defender Max Wober will start over Pascal Struijk in the club’s next game.
What’s the word?
While their Premier League form isn’t exactly great right now, as the threat of relegation seems to forever loom, the Whites did at least manage to emphatically beat Championship outfit Cardiff City 5-2 in the FA Cup last time out.
They now return to action against Brentford at Elland Road with a chance to put some points between themselves as the four teams below them in the division.
Struijk hasn’t been in the best form most recently, and so manager Jesse Marsch will have a decision to make at left-back – especially with new signing Wober potentially ready to fill in.
While writing about it all for LeedsLive, Cross relayed his feelings on the situation, saying: “With a clean bill of health delivered for all of Marsch’s senior defenders, it seems the tightest call he has to make is on his left-back. With Robin Koch and Liam Cooper likely to reclaim the central berths, newcomer Max Wober is left fighting with Pascal Struijk on the left flank.
“While the sample size is small, Wober has looked promising in his three outings up to now, right at the time Struijk has shown some struggles. Errors at Cardiff City were followed by issues at Villa Park and Wober may just get the edge today.”
Time to impress?
Wober arrived from Red Bull Salzburg earlier on in January for £11m and he has already made three appearances for his new club. However, he had to come off after 57 minutes after picking up an injury but has since been declared likely to be fit.
Seeing as Struijk has delivered lowly 6.1 and 6.3 SofaScore player ratings in the past two Premier League games, it’s not hard to see why Marsch may be looking to change things up at left-back. Still, it would be a big call for the American to drop one of his favourites. After all, the Dutch defender has started all but one league game this term and has featured in 29 of the 34 games Marsch has taken charge of since joining the Yorkshire club.
Of course, Junior Firpo could also come in after playing the full 90 at left-back against Cardiff. But seeing as he has played just two minutes of football in the league over the last eight games, it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll suddenly start against Brentford.
Taking it all into account, it does feel as though Wober could be handed the chance to properly show his new set of supporters what he’s made of this afternoon.
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