Leeds United: ‘Common sense’ Max Wober has to start vs Fulham amid Saturday Patrick Bamford verdict from Phil Hay
Phil Hay expects Max Wober to make a crucial return to the Leeds United starting line up vs Fulham while Patrick Bamford could be involved.
The Austrian centre-back was injured in international duty on 24 March and the Whites defence has fallen to pieces in his absence, conceding 11 goals in the previous two games heading into the trip to Craven Cottage (22 April).
He was fit enough for the bench for the 6-1 Liverpool defeat on Monday (17 April) and Javi Gracia suggested he had improved during the week in his pre-match press conference [Adam Pope, via Twitter, 20 April] so Hay is expecting him to be named, while Bamford missed the last game after going off in the 5-1 hammering by Crystal Palace but has trained.
In his Q&A for The Athletic ahead of kick-off he said: “Common sense tells you that Max Wober starts today. Surely he has to. The defence needs something added to it, some fresh leadership and organisation, and he’s been a big player since arriving from Austria.
“Patrick Bamford has a chance of being back in the squad after injury but there’s still no Tyler Adams. It looks increasingly unlikely that he’ll be back before the season ends.”
Badly needed
A return for both men would be a positive but the key one is very much Wober because without the former Red Bull Salzburg captain the Leeds United defence regresses into the sort of mess that has racked up far too many thrashings in the past two years.
After nearly a month out of action he could be rusty but he is going to need to get back up to speed as quickly as possible for the sake of the relegation battle.
The fight at this stage is as much mental as physical and over the past two games it hasn’t taken much to see early impetus drain away on the route to heavy losses.
If Wober can lift Robin Koch and Junior Firpo as he has done previously then that would be a major boost and give the team a stronger platform to build from.
If Bamford can’t start there are certainly a greater variety of options in attacking areas, but it would be very surprising if star man Willy Gnonto is once again left on the bench by Gracia in the capital.
The Italian has appeared out of favour under the Spaniard but there is no use in holding anything back at this stage.
In other Leeds United news, an Elland Road chief has reached the end of his time as an investor in the club.