Jesse Marsch delivers verdict on Leeds United's strongest centre-back pairing and best player - YEP 2/9/22

Whites boss Jesse Marsch has delivered his verdict on Leeds United’s current best centre-back pairing and the possible stand out performer over the start of the new campaign.

By Lee Sobot

Captain Liam Cooper and Spanish international Diego Llorente were largely the first choice pair when fit last season but Cooper injured his Achilles over the summer and has yet to bag any league minutes so far this term.

In his absence, the versatile German international Robin Koch has bagged a run of starts in his natural centre-back position alongside Llorente – and Marsch feels Koch has possibly been United’s best player over the first five games of the new term.

Pascal Struijk is another of Marsch’s leading centre-back options but the 23-year-old has recently been playing as a left back in the absence of Junior Firpo and Stuart Dallas through injury.

Firpo and Cooper are now back in training, leaving Marsch with an upcoming decision to make.

Asked with everybody back who was the best pairing at the heart of the defence, Marsch reasoned: “I think Liam is an incredibly important person in this team and I think he brings a lot to us in all moments.

"Certainly when he's on the field, even coming off last year, looking at it, it was Liam and Diego and what they had accomplished.

"Robin has emerged as an incredible player and maybe our best player in our first five games.

"I think he's really inserted himself into the future in a really good way.

"Then Pascal, in this left-back quasi centre-back sometimes three build-up, sometimes four build-up, has also been fantastic, much better than we had hoped.

"All four of those guys are going to play a big role.

"I think there's competition now in the squad, in a really healthy and competitive way.

"I think guys understand that first, they have to be fit and they have to be sharp, and that the team is getting better, in order to stay on the pitch you have to be ready to perform in training.

"I've talked to a lot of guys, that I watch training every day, I run training every day and the main reason is I want to make sure that we're getting the most out of every single guy at every single moment.

"It looked like Diego and Coops but Robin has emerged and Pascal is playing great."