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."