Leeds United's transfer committee set for verdict on key arrival as pecking order reshuffles again — Leeds Live 27/12/23

Here are our four talking points from Leeds United's 2-1 loss to Preston North End at Deepdale in the Championship as a Pascal Struijk penalty does not prove enough to salvage match after Illan Meslier red card

Darlow and changes at West Brom

Everyone outside Leeds United will get, and need, the next 24 hours to work the Preston North End loss out of their system. After all of the hype, excitement and optimism of Saturday’s Ipswich Town thrashing, Boxing Day’s deflation landed like a hammer blow.

Outside the bubble, there will be time for the emotional hangover to subside before everyone has the clarity to look more rationally at the league table, the 22 games still to be played and the possibilities still open to the Whites. Daniel Farke and his players will have no such luxury.

Even before the team coach left Deepdale, the manager would have been mulling over what he needs to do in order to win Friday’s game at The Hawthorns. How many changes dare he consider?

Farke has made one change in total to his starting line-up across the last six he has named. In that time, they have taken 10 points from an available 18. More recently, they have taken just four from the last 12 available.

The German had promised, even before the Ipswich win, this set of 11 players could not start all four matches in the subsequent nine days. After no changes between yesterday and last Saturday, the switches surely have to come in the West Midlands.

Karl Darlow, we now know, is a guaranteed change unless Kristoffer Klaesson does something miraculous in training between now and Friday night. Given the 33-year-old has only had two starts in the EFL Cup and Preston’s bench appearance it would be unfair to judge him too closely.

However, in the two starts we did see in the cup, he failed to inspire confidence with his passing, kicking or general play from the back. We are about to find out whether Farke, Nick Hammond, Gretar Steinsson and Angus Kinnear were right to make him Meslier’s competition.

Deepdale was not Archie Gray’s first challenging day at right-back, see the trips to Norwich City and Stoke City, but he recovered from that blip and will hope to recover from this one. Liam Millar was Boxing Day’s man of the match and he gave the teenager a torrid time down their flank.

Sam Byram’s return to fitness, though Farke admitted he would have only managed 15 to 20 minutes, at least gives the German another full-back option on Friday night. However, Djed Spence, less than one month after his own return from injury, will be another candidate for rotation to avoid re-injury.

The attack came in for a rollicking from Farke in his post-match press conference yesterday. The manager repeatedly came back to the insipid impact of his front four through the first half in virtually every answer he gave.

Could Wilfried Gnonto finally get his first start since the ill-fated trip to Stoke City?

Struijk steps up

Amid the postmortem on Patrick Bamford’s penalty miss at Stoke, there was a revelation from Farke. A centre-back had been the only alternative to the number nine on United’s penalty-taker list at that stage in the game.

Farke does not like substitutes coming on to take spot-kicks, so looks to the best of those who have started the game. With Joel Piroe off the field and Georginio Rutter’s card marked after an atrocious miss in the Salford City shootout, the remaining options were Farke’s holding midfielders and defenders.

Pascal Struijk, it now transpires, was the centre-back in question, though he had never taken a competitive attempt until yesterday. What a calm spot-kick it was too. At the eye of a chaotic storm, the captain stepped up and sent Freddie Woodman the wrong way, despite the generally negative perception of defenders and dead-ball striking.

The 24-year-old’s not about to start taking them ahead of Piroe or Crysencio Summerville, but it was a big moment in the game and he deserves credit for that. The marching of the ball straight back to the centre circle sent the perfect message to fans and team-mates too.

A pecking order reshuffle?

Farke was at pains to stress the decision was not against Bamford, but for Mateo Joseph. And yet it will be hard for spectators not to feel a reshuffling of the striking pecking order may be upon Elland Road.

The former England international has made 15 appearances from the bench this season, but is yet to find the net. Bamford has frequently been one of Farke’s first ports of call from the bench, but it’s hard to remember the last time he influenced a match via this route.

In fact, it’s been two-and-a-quarter years since Bamford was considered a regular fixture Leeds could rely on to lead the line with a consistent final product. Injuries have wrecked his momentum and now he’s been overlooked for a 20-year-old with United needing a goal from somewhere.

It may not develop into a trend and Farke may well turn to Bamford in the first instance for the next five matches on the bounce, but the idea has become a reality for the first time. Joseph should take it as a major shot in the arm.

The England under-20 forward has regularly been talked up as a hard worker by Farke and someone who is trying to catch his eye. Joseph’s absence from United’s under-21s underlines how involved he has been with the first team, both in matches and training.

The former Espanyol forward remains raw, but there were promising moments on Boxing Day. Joseph drew big cheers for winning a header in the middle of the park and then played a role in setting Daniel James up for the penalty-winning dribble.

He seems unlikely to supplant Rutter or Piroe any time soon, but he is showing hard work will pay off in Farke’s regime. It was not so long ago he was considered behind Joe Gelhardt in the pecking order, let alone Bamford.

Letting go of third

Leeds had been third in the Championship table since beating Norwich on October 21. No more. Southampton, after a 16-match unbeaten streak which began with beating United, have finally gone past the Whites.

A 5-0 mauling of Swansea City, Russell Martin’s former club, was an especially comprehensive way to go past Farke’s side and close the goal difference down to a margin of four in the process. The obsession over catching Ipswich Town and Leicester City, now eight and 14 points clear respectively, can stop for now.

Leeds need to catch the Saints before they can even consider automatic promotion again. Taking four points from the last 12 has been damaging for Farke and his charges. Regardless of the manner of the losses and the draw, these are simply not concessions the top three are making.

The post-season analysis can focus on referees and missed chances as much as we like, but the other three are finding a way through the same kind of problems. Away form has been the obvious failing for Farke and his side to overcome.

Elland Road has proven fertile ground for points, but five wins from 12 away trips is not good enough in a year when the top two are so relentlessly impressive. There is no margin for error and, unfortunately, Leeds are struggling to colour inside the lines at the moment.