Phil Hay expects Pascal Struijk to replace Liam Cooper v Liverpool
Pascal Struijk will come in for the suspended Liam Cooper for Monday night’s clash between Leeds United and Liverpool, according to The Athletic’s Phil Hay.
Cooper, 29, was sent off in the Whites previous Premier League clash with Manchester City when they secured a shock 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium.
He will miss the next three games, including tonight’s visit of Liverpool to Elland Road, and that opens up a space in the centre of defence.
Diego Llorente has started the Whites’ last seven games, the last two of which have been next to the Leeds captain, but he will have a new partner against the Reds with Struijk and Robin Koch waiting in the wings.
Writing on The Athletic’s pre-match discussion board, Hay said there is a clear frontrunner.
“Liam Cooper is banned for three matches so expect Pascal Struijk to replace him,” he wrote.
Big blow for Koch
Koch would have been hoping to take advantage of Cooper’s ban but the suggestion from Hay is that he will be back on bench duty with 21-year-old Struijk restored to the starting XI.
The Belgian-born defender started the final two games of March versus Chelsea and Fulham with Cooper out with illness but he was demoted upon the skipper’s return.
Koch had only just returned to the matchday squad for those fixtures after a lengthy injury absence that saw him miss 17 matches so it was no surprise to see Struijk given the nod.
This, however, is either Marcelo Bielsa showing loyalty to Struijk or a damning assessment of what he thinks of Koch now.
We think its’ definitely the former, Koch has just been unlucky.
Noel Whelan waxed lyrical about him on West Yorkshire Radio earlier this month, labelling him as “aggressive and powerful” and it seems Bielsa’s just as keen on him.
It’s a blow for Koch with the European Championship’s coming up as he will want to get a ru of games under his belt but it looks like Struijk gets the nod.
In other Leeds United news, Liverpool Super Fan delivers lowdown ahead of Monday night clash v Whites.