Leeds travel to face Bolton in the Championship on Saturday.
Marcelo Bielsa has a number of decisions to make when picking his Leeds United starting eleven when the Whites travel to Bolton to face Phil Parkinson’s side on Saturday afternoon.
A defensive crisis remains, with Stuart Dallas, Luke Ayling, Liam Cooper and Gaetano Berardi all out injured. It is expected Jamie Shackleton will continue on the right side of defence.
Kalvin Phillips was played at centre-back alongside Pontus Jansson at the heart of the Leeds defence on Saturday, despite naturally being a central midfielder. Adam Forshaw was moved into Phillips’ number-four role.
But Phillips looked awkward at centre-back and was to blame for Nahki Wells breaking through the Leeds defence before putting QPR 1-0 up – a match which Leeds eventually won 2-1 thanks to a Kemar Roofe brace.
It should convince Bielsa to put Phillips back into his more recognised holding-midfield role, and bring youngster Aapo Halme in to the side to make his third appearance for the Yorkshire outfit.
The Finnish youngster helped keep clean sheets against Bristol City and Sheffield United, and the 6ft 5in colossus should start against Bolton. Forshaw, a £4.5million signing (Mail) from Middlesbrough in January, will find it hard to keep his place.
He had been playing ahead of Phillips alongside Mateusz Klich, but Samu Saiz starred against QPR. It may see Forshaw dropped, keeping Saiz in the side and Phillips moving back into deep midfield.
Elsewhere, Jack Clarke caught the eye once again on Tuesday with an excellent solo goal before grabbing an assist during Leeds’ 6-3 win over Burnley’s Under-23 side. He only played the second half.
He now has to be brought in for his first start against Bolton instead of Gjanni Alioski, who has been largely inconsistent after an excellent start to the season. Two changes then – Clarke and Halme in, Forshaw and Alioski out.
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