The Leeds United fights waiting to break out as Daniel Farke faces a story alien to Marcelo Bielsa - YEP 12/9/23

In the season that saw Marcelo Bielsa lift Leeds United out of the Championship and into the Premier League a single fight dominated discussions for months on end.

By Graham Smyth

The Patrick Bamford v Eddie Nketiah narrative that sprung up and kept springing up in the first half of the campaign might not quite have driven Bielsa to despair but it drove him to lengthy, detailed explanations of his thinking.

No matter how many words he used, though, the Argentine could not seem to satisfy the craving for debate or quell the calls for Nketiah to feature more. He suggested that the on-loan Arsenal youngster would go on to become one of the 'important strikers' in England, which looks all the more prescient now that Nketiah is scoring for the Gunners and involved with the Three Lions. But Bamford's selfless running and his efforts to help link the play were hugely important to Bielsa, regardless of the number nine's 10-game goal drought.

In the end the argument was settled by the players themselves because Bamford's six goals in eight games across November and December nailed down his spot and by the turn of the year Nketiah had run up the white flag of surrender and was heading back down the M1 to The Emirates.

Beyond that specific dilemma there were few arguments to be seen that season because Bielsa ran a small squad and within that 10 players started 30-plus games. No one was calling for an alternative to Ben White, Kalvin Phillips, Stuart Dallas, Jack Harrison or Mateusz Klich.

In the injury-riddled context of Bamford's more recent history, he might well be delighted to find himself at the centre of another selection debate and, as luck would have it, there is one to be had.

But where the major difference lies between the 2019/20 discourse and the one that could engulf Daniel Farke's current team, is in the sheer number of arguments to be made.

Picking a strongest XI is a difficult task because there are numerous positions in which solid cases can be made for more than one player. Picking a match-day squad, in the hypothetical scenario of everyone being fit, is almost impossible because even with nine substitutes some decent options must miss out.

Starting in goal, Illan Meslier currently looks like one of the safest picks, as he has for much of his time at Elland Road, but the presence of an experienced stopper like Karl Darlow should keep some pressure on the youngster. Meslier's start to the campaign and Darlow's difficult outing at Salford City has quietened any real debate around the position, however.

At right-back the choice between Luke Ayling and Djed Spence is already a difficult one, even if based solely on the latter's dynamic cameo against Sheffield Wednesday. Spence did not come out on loan to sit on the bench, but Ayling will not take a usurper lightly as he showed with Rasmus Kristensen. Both men know what it takes to escape the division, one could provide more mobile insurance against balls in behind but the other provides a huge amount of leadership, nous and experience.

That headache is a good one for Farke and there will be others. Pascal Struijk has steadied himself after last season's understandable and positional-influenced loss in confidence. His contribution to the way Leeds play out from the back is significant. Liam Cooper, when fit, would restore a level of leadership and organisation that Struijk, a more introverted character, does not yet bring. And if you're going to replace the club captain it is very much a case of being able to beat the man to be the man. The jury is out on whether the younger man has been so good as to keep the skipper on the bench upon his return.

At left-back Sam Byram represents a solid defensive option for a side with such an attacking front four, while Junior Firpo carries more of an offensive upside.

Ethan Ampadu is in no danger of being dropped right now thanks to the way he has eased so comfortably into life in Farke's midfield and the same could be said for Archie Gray, were he not 17 and in need of more minute management. The presence of Glen Kamara, an older, more experienced head with so much senior international exposure and big-game expertise, will allow Farke to take Gray out when necessary.

Then you have five wingers for two, or three positions. Crysencio Summerville will surely play when fit, either out wide or at 10, because he, like Willy Gnonto, possesses talent and a quickness of both feet and mind that should prove too much for Championship defences. But Jaidon Anthony has done it in the second tier and played Premier League football. The same can be said for Daniel James. Ian Poveda is in amongst it too, although the furthest from a guaranteed starting position you would imagine.

At 10 the debate might focus more around whether it's the right position for Joel Piroe, who looked lost against Wednesday but found space and joy against Ipswich.

Up top it's not going to be a case of Bamford versus A.N. Other but more a case of whether Bamford should play there ahead of Piroe or Georginio Rutter. Writing off the Englishman would be folly, when his ability, hold-up play and link-up skill is factored in, and the prospect of him playing just ahead of Piroe is one well worth exploring. Fitness, of course, will dictate first before Bamford can stoke the debate with whatever he does with the ball.

And then even on the bench Farke could be faced with difficult, razor-thin calls. If, for example, Farke went with a starting XI of Meslier, Spence, Byram, Joe Rodon, Cooper, Ampadu, Kamara, Summerville, Gnonto, Piroe and Bamford, then who would miss out on a matchday squad place from the remainder? A total of six would have to miss out, from the list of Darlow, Ayling, Struijk, Ilia Gruev, Gray, James, Rutter, Firpo, Shackleton, Charlie Cresswell, Anthony, Joe Gelhardt, Darko Gyabi, Mateo Joseph and Stuart Dallas if he returns to full fitness.

When memories of an unfilled bench containing two goalkeepers are so fresh in the memory and when Bielsa, either through contentment or circumstance, routinely packed his with untried youngsters, such depth is to be welcomed - even if a fully-fit and available squad is still to be regarded a unicorn.

Let the fights begin and the arguments rage. Just don't expect Farke to deliver lengthy explanations of each dilemma because with so many big decisions to make and discuss, there simply are not enough hours in the day.