Last season, many said that one reason that Leeds United’s Sky Bet Championship campaign was derailed and fell to the wayside was a lack of cover when injuries bit and bit hard.
When looked at together, there were over 50 instances of injuries at the Elland Road club which required trips to the treatment table for injured Whites players. With resources already stretched thin by Bielsa’s preference to run with a pared-down squad, United ended up being threadbare stressed many fans.
Whilst there are players currently on the injury list at the West Yorkshire club, the situation is nowhere near as stark as last season’s where it appeared at times like the plague had hit the Whites. Jamie Shackleton and Adam Forshaw are two of the longer-term absences due to injury, there are others with more niggly concerns.
One of those ‘lesser injured’ players is club captain Liam Cooper. Cooper missed today’s 2-0 victory with what was termed a slight calf strain. Some were saying that he’d be back in time for Tuesday’s game against Hull City but Marcelo Bielsa doesn’t think so.
💬 "We could have scored more goals" Marcelo gives his views on today's 2-0 win over Huddersfield https://t.co/gtH0cObBJK
— Leeds United (@LUFC) December 7, 2019
Speaking after the game, Bielsa said (4m50s) that playing Cooper today would have been “a risk” and he added (5m00s) “doesn’t think that the situation is going to change on Tuesday.” Bielsa went on to say (5m13s) that the club was going to look at the possibility of Cooper coming back for next Saturday’s game against Cardiff City at Elland Road.
That means that the Whites are likely to persist with Luke Ayling moving inside and alongside Ben White against Hull City on Tuesday, what with Kalvin Phillips returning after his one-game suspension. It will also be a strong test of the Leeds United system in the face of a Tigers attack containing the dangerous Jarrod Bowen – a player with 14 goals already this season in a struggling side.
