Rodrigo and Pascal Struijk still missing for Leeds United v Burnley – Phil Hay
Rodrigo and Pascal Struijk are still set to be sidelined for Leeds United when they take on Burnley at Elland Road on Sunday, according to The Athletic journalist Phil Hay.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Marcelo Bielsa offered updates on numerous players. He confirmed that the game will come too soon for Patrick Bamford, adding that Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper, Jamie Shackleton and Charlie Cresswell are long-term absentees.
Bielsa also shared which players are ready to return to play against Burnley but there was no news about Rodrigo and Struijk, who’ve also had their injury issues as of late.
Writing on The Athletic website ahead of Leeds’ clash against Sean Dyche’s side, Hay suggested that Bielsa will be without the duo.
“Bielsa didn’t mention them in the list of players who are back so we took that to mean that Rodrigo and Struijk are still missing,” said Hay.
Depleted
Leeds would be a lot better off with Rodrigo and Struijk but they are also two players who we can handle without.
With Bamford short of match fitness, Rodrigo would have been played up front if he was fit but there’s an opening there for Joe Gelhardt to play, which the returning Daniel James is also an option.
James hasn’t dazzled us fans when playing up front but Bielsa has opted to do that on numerous occasions and could again versus Burnley.
As for Struijk, we’d rather see him in the defence instead of Robin Koch.
Struijk and Diego Llorente look to be a solid partnership and if they played, it would offer Bielsa the chance to play a right-footer and a left-footer in the heart of his defence.
Koch’s yet to really impress us since joining from Freiburg last year so we’ll be watching him closely to see if he can perform well against Burnley’s attack, which is the second-worst in the Premier League based on goals scored this season.
In other Leeds United news, a left-field signing is on the cards at Elland Road this month.