The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Friday 5th March) Robbo - Koch is going to struggle to get in the team

[Ellandback1]

Good Morning. It's Friday 5th March, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...


Koch is going to struggle to get in the team

Former Whites shot stopper Paul Robinson believes that German International Robin Koch may find it difficult to displace his team mates between now and the end of the season. Koch has returned to light training following knee surgery last December. The Ex England star (Robbo), winning 41 caps for his Country believes that the partnership between Cooper and Llorente is begining to blossom, which may mean benching the the 24 year old.

Liam Cooper plays and Llorente is really finding his feet so I don’t think they’ll take him out of the team. Robin Koch is going to struggle to get in the team between now and the end of the season.

Saying that, we don’t know how long Kalvin Phillips will be out for and Koch can play in the holding midfield position. If Kalvin Phillips is out or he isn’t 100% fit then Koch could get a game there.

First team players back in action

Expect to see a few familiar faces line up for our U23's at 1pm today against Wolves! Bielsa revealed during his press conference yesterday that undisclosed players, who are on the come back trial, will take part in today's Premier League 2 clash in the Midlands. The Argentine has kept tight lipped about the participants! You never know - perhaps Forshaw will play!!!

The link to the game is as follows...

Douglas Costa available at cut down price

Italian news media outlet Italian Calciomercato have revealed that Juventus may be willing to part with Douglas Costa at a cut down price. Marcelo Bielsa is a a big fan of the Brazilian winger, and the technical qualities he has. The 30 year old is out of favour under current Manager Andrea Pirlo, but has hardly set the World alight at Bayern Munich. A fee of £9.4m may make it financially worth taking a risk. He cost Juventus 40m euro's just three seasons ago!

However, the news coming out of Italy is that Bielsa is a huge fan of the Juventus winger, who is currently on-loan at Bayern Munich. Leeds' interest could become more serious in the 'coming weeks', the report claims, with Juve willing to sell the 30-year-old for £9.4m.

[Smudge3920]

Robbo - Koch is going to struggle to get in the team
What a great position to be in ...although I am pretty confident he will get plenty of game time

First team players back in action
Again great news

Douglas Costa available at cut down price
Still not sure how I feel about the deal age etc...But if MB wants him...

[Irish Ian]

So in two games where one team pressed us for 30 minutes and the other defended for 85 minutes our CB partnership began to blossom.

Really?

[HarryofOz]

It'll be interesting to see what Bielsa does when Koch is available - I doubt he'll get back until he is match fit though playing for the U23s and maybe a few short spells late in the game for the first eleven depending on the circumstances.

As for Costa - well it depends on what happens with our Costa, Harrison and Poveda. As long as we keep all three (plus Raphinha of course) I doubt we'll be bringing in another winger, especially a 30-year old.

Anyway I thought that Hay had confirmed we were about to sign that left wing back mentioned the other day, so that makes another winger even less likely.

[Byebyegeegee]

Either Llorente or Koch would be better at dm than Struijk, Struijk has been tried at dm numerous times now and it just does not seem to work, his best position is definitely centre back. I think Phillips will be back before Koch is fit anyway so, when he is, he will be vying for a centre back position with Llorente, Cooper and Struijk. But until Phillips is fit again Llorente at dm and Struijk alongside Cooper at cb please.

Costa at 30 years old, nah!

[weasel]

This article suggest Struyjk has done well at DM but the team's poor performance have stemmed more from the other changes, such as Ayling moving to CB.

https://allstatsarentwe.medium.com/exam ... 5f0bfc453b

[HarryofOz]

More relief for me (and maybe Chilli D). Just looked it up on Wiki (not a perfect source but reliable enough in this case I reckon).

In the period between 2007 and 2011 when Alan Martin was at Leeds, he didn't make a single appearance for the first team.

[Cjay]

This article suggest Struyjk has done well at DM but the team's poor performance have stemmed more from the other changes, such as Ayling moving to CB.

https://allstatsarentwe.medium.com/exam ... 5f0bfc453b

Interesting read that, thanks

I read it slighly differently.

I read it more as Struijk is ok at the defensive side but struggles more in the buildup?

As evidence by the distance in progressive passing between Struijk's best game and KP worst.

KP played more during his worst game.

I think that sums it up really.

Struijk is ok defensively in that role as you would expect/hope for a cb playing dm. But for me the issue is he looks like what he is at dm, a cb playing out of position.

The same as KP and Ayling do as cbs, they look like players out of position.

[Cjay]

Koch.

Will play with Llorente eventually at cb imo. I cant see any way this isnt allowed to happen unless Koch and/or Llorente flops and Orta has made more errors.

If Koch and Llorente arent good enough to eventually replace Coops in the starting line up then something has gone wrong somewhere.

U23s.

Hopefully will see Rodders, Poveda and KP get through it. Know some arent convinced by Poveda but i like him (that Man City game shows his potential).

Douglas Costa.

Cant see it, over 30, big wages, injury prone, actually Orta will love him. Tbf to Costa he has always had tons of talent and a few years ago youd have been delighted as a newly promoted team to sign him, but not anymore imo.

Had some real skills though, like Raph turned up to 100.

[TatleyK]

Koch.

Will play with Llorente eventually at cb imo. I cant see any way this isnt allowed to happen unless Koch and/or Llorente flops and Orta has made more errors.

Not sure you could blame Orta if a current German or Spanish international flop

[Cjay]

Not sure you could blame Orta if a current German or Spanish international flop

Thats his job?

Recruitment.

So he takes responsibility if it goes wrong.

If you cant blame him for failed signings then he has the greatest job.in the world, no accountability

Anyway hopefully neither Llorente or Koch will flop and we have our cb partnership for the next 3,4 years

[The Subhuman]

Both Koch and Llorente were really cheap, I think we'll get our money's worth out of both. Both look the part but I'm not sure they'll play together.

[BGwhite]

So in two games where one team pressed us for 30 minutes and the other defended for 85 minutes our CB partnership began to blossom.

Really?

Yep. .. journo trash.

Sent from my moto g(8) power using Tapatalk

[onemoreslogan]

Hullo everyone,

Really enjoyed that article Weasel. I've been down on Struijk as DM, but the stats cited there aren't as bleak as my eyes-only appraisal. It's encouraging. But even if Struijk isn't as bad as all that, everything seems to work better with KP in that role.

Can't believe we've played around 30 games and we still haven't seen Llorente and Koch on the pitch together yet. I'm sure Bielsa and Orta both had different ideas at the beginning of the season. The fact we've done as well as we have given our injuries at CB is quite an accomplishment.

[Lumiukko]

Koch:
Can play DM as well as Llorente (and Struijk it would seem). Koch and Struijk will see plenty of minutes when KP is fit again as this opens up so many more options like two DMs with 3 CBs behind (e.g. KP with Koch, and Llorente, Struijk, Cooper or variations thereof). Also, have seen Koch play left-sided CB in a back 4 for Germany so he's certainly also capable of playing that position. I would say having all our CBs being fit is a massive advantage from a tactical point of view as well as strength in depth.

U23s:
Late to the party here living in California means I woke up after the game. My impressions of the U23 game will go in the relevant thread. But to summarise, I was impressed with both Rodders and Poveda.

Douglas Costa:
Imagine signing D.Costa as well as Rodrigo De Paul and having two Costa's and two Rodrigo's in the same team

But onto Dougie, I don't think we will go down this avenue. LB and two CMs will be the first targets this summer. Harrison will likely sign and at 24 years old and 10mill will still be good value. We know he has some very good attributes and is worth more than 10mill after a season in the prem, even in-spite of his inconsistencies. That all said, 9.4mill and at 30 isn't bad value for strength in depth and if MB likes him then fine. Not sure he has much room for improvement at his age, and I'd certainly not pay anymore than 9.4mill.

[Lumiukko]

Douglas Costa:
Imagine signing D.Costa as well as Rodrigo De Paul and having two Costa's and two Rodrigo's in the same team

But onto Dougie, I don't think we will go down this avenue. LB and two CMs will be the first targets this summer. Harrison will likely sign and at 24 years old and 10mill will still be good value. We know he has some very good attributes and is worth more than 10mill after a season in the prem, even in-spite of his inconsistencies. That all said, 9.4mill and at 30 isn't bad value for strength in depth and if MB likes him then fine. Not sure he has much room for improvement at his age, and I'd certainly not pay anymore than 9.4mill.

After just watching a Douglas Costa highlight reel (50 players humiliated by Douglas Costa), I may need to re-evaluate my thoughts. If (big if) he still has those skills and pace in the locker, plus the drive to succeed, he'd be an amazing acquisition at 10mill.

[CHAPELALLMAN]

Thats his job?

Recruitment.

So he takes responsibility if it goes wrong.

If you cant blame him for failed signings then he has the greatest job.in the world, no accountability

Anyway hopefully neither Llorente or Koch will flop and we have our cb partnership for the next 3,4 years

Hopefully he has accountability for Casilla, JKA, Costa, Wiedwald, Douglas etc and for failing to sign Haaland in 2018....Someone reputedly on around 1m a year ought to be accountable. I've heard that the 18m JKA saga is still rumbling on, and that the club may yet still be liable for this transfer fee...

[danhirons]

Koch.

Will play with Llorente eventually at cb imo. I cant see any way this isnt allowed to happen unless Koch and/or Llorente flops and Orta has made more errors.

If Koch and Llorente arent good enough to eventually replace Coops in the starting line up then something has gone wrong somewhere.

U23s.

Hopefully will see Rodders, Poveda and KP get through it. Know some arent convinced by Poveda but i like him (that Man City game shows his potential).

Douglas Costa.

Cant see it, over 30, big wages, injury prone, actually Orta will love him. Tbf to Costa he has always had tons of talent and a few years ago youd have been delighted as a newly promoted team to sign him, but not anymore imo.

Had some real skills though, like Raph turned up to 100.

Be extremely harsh and unlike bielsa to drop coops after the season he has had.

Only way I can see a Llorente Koch partnership is if coops gets injured or if his form dramatically drops. He's our captain as well

[Ron Swanson]

Struijk’s statistics probably don’t look too bad as a defensive midfielder - he does the defensive aspect pretty well, it is the play making side that he just can’t do.

All he does is pass the ball sideways, which in ordinary teams would be okay.

I’d prefer Llorente to him there. Seems to have more confidence on the ball at this stage.

As much as Cooper has improved this season, I don’t see him being able to hold down a guaranteed starting spot if Koch and Llorente are fit and in form. It makes no sense.

Again, you could select the three of them if you wanted, playing Ayling and Dallas wide.

Wingers... until one of the players we’ve got at the club is moved on, I don’t want to see us buying any more.