Leeds United boss on Rodrigo impact, Patrick Bamford load and transfer window striker question - YEP 16/8/22
The impressive nature of Leeds United forward Rodrigo's start to the season is plain to see in black and white.
By Lee Sobot
By the close of the weekend's action, the Premier League's
top goalscorer charts were not topped by Erling Haaland, nor Harry Kane. Mo
Salah? Gabriel Jesus? Nope.
Instead, after two stop start seasons since joining Leeds
for £27m from Valencia, United's record signing Rodrigo found himself sitting
top of the pile.
Yet Whites boss Jesse Marsch says the most obvious aspect to
the Spaniard's impressive beginning to the campaign - his goals - are just a
fraction of what he is bringing to United's side.
At a time when Patrick Bamford is still seeking a smooth
return to the side from injury, Rodrigo's strikes have been particularly useful
to Leeds in their first two games of the new campaign.
Without them, the Whites would be sitting on just one point.
Instead they have four and that ought to be six after Rodrigo's double put
Marsch's side 2-0 up at Saturday's hosts Southampton only for the Saints to hit
back and salvage a 2-2 draw.
The late strikes from Joe Aribo and Kyle Walker-Peters
denied United a perfect start to the new campaign, one week after Rodrigo's
strike had put the Whites en route to a 2-1 victory at home to Wolves.
The Spaniard has already netted half as many goals as he
managed during the whole of last season yet Marsch says the importance of the
thriving 31-year-old extends far further than his headline-grabbing strikes.
"The goals are one thing," said Marsch.
"But for me even more so the quality at which he's
playing, the clarity, the tactical awareness, the discipline, the work rate.
He's putting new full performances together.
"I could go through each one of the guys right now and
say, there's still so much more that they can continue to develop into so
that's a good feeling.
"I think we sense in our group that we have positive
momentum and a good thing going but we can't be complacent and in some ways
maybe that's what this is, it's a little bit more for us to know that as good
as it's been in the early stages we have a lot more to do."
Sunday's visit of Chelsea is next and Marsch is optimistic
of having his full range of attacking options available, despite losing both
Bamford and young star forward Joe Gelhardt during or before Saturday's clash
at St Mary's.
Gelhardt did not make the match day squad after suffering a dead
leg during the week whilst Bamford was taken off injured after 28 minutes.
Marsch, though, said the decision to withdraw the Whites no
9 was just precautionary after the England international felt a little
tightness in his abductor and that both he and Gelhardt were set to train this
week.
Two striker options down, Dan James was sent upfront for the
remainder of the first half at St Mary's as Rodrigo stayed in the no 10 role
but the Spaniard was then sent up tops after the break as part of a tactical
reshuffle.
As part of some Whites musical chairs, James moved to the
right flank as Brenden Aaronson moved inside into the 10 role vacated by
Rodrigo moving upfront
Fifteen minutes later the Spaniard had netted what should
have been a match winning brace.
"I think the idea was that maybe we could challenge
their backline with Dan’s speed, but we weren't getting enough of that,"
explained Marsch.
"Dan had a big chance at the end of the first half that
maybe would have rewarded that idea.
"But then I just felt like making the rotation of
putting Rodri in a more dangerous spot putting Brenden in the middle to help
find pockets in their team and also to help press and win balls and then Dan in
the right flank to be a little bit more aggressive to be running in the deep
and being vertical.
"Rodri, obviously, I thought the first goal was a
really good goal, a really good connection between him and Jack and Brenden, I
thought was fantastic.
Marsch added: "Rodri is playing so well and he has
flexibility to play in the 10 or the nine, or the nine-and-a-half is really
good and he's been incredibly important."
As for Bamford, Marsch readily admitted that the striker is
in need of getting on a roll having missed the vast majority of last season
with a variety of injuries.
Leeds have been keen to add another striker option this
summer as competition and cover but top target Charles De Ketelaere held out
for a move to AC Milan despite Leeds agreeing what would have been a club
record 40m euros fee with De Ketelaere's former side Club Brugge.
Asked if Bamford going off injured at St Mary's again
refocused the mind in the transfer market, Marsch reasoned: "I understand
that transfers are always a lightning rod and people want to talk about this a
lot.
"The transfers have I think got us to where we're at,
which is we made them early, we brought in players that we think fit the way we
want to play and are playing quite well and at quite a high level.
"Now we're just trying to be prudent with how we make
our last decision. A striker has always been in our mind, but we're doing it in
a way that we think makes sense.
"But yes, obviously, we think that that's something
that we need to continue to evaluate on what kind of move we make."
On Bamford, asked if the Whites no 9 just needed to get on a
roll, Marsch admitted: "It's the reality and again, we've even tried in
the week to modify his load and to make sure he's been feeling great, but it's
obvious that when you're out for so long that there's going to be little things
that pop up.
"What I'm most pleased with is that he was honest with
us and made the decision that it just wasn't right.
"Maybe we could have made the decision not to play him
but he felt good and in the end we have to manage him appropriately."