Leeds United welcome Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough at Riverside Stadium in the Championship on Monday night, and here are five things to look out for during the encounter.
Daniel Farke will need to make one change tonight as Leeds United deals with Connor Roberts’ injury. The Wales international has experienced a recurrence of an injury he sustained on national duty last month.
The manager said that he had done his utmost to manage the right-back’s return, but he was not careful enough. Is Archie Gray instantly returned to that position on the field, or does Farke wish to maintain his budding engine room connection with Ilia Gruev?
Roll some dice in attack?
Patrick Bamford has only made one effective start in attack since mid-February, and Joel Piroe has not looked like the answer in the lineup or from the bench this year. With only one win in five games and do-or-die territory approaching, is it time for Farke to throw caution to the wind?
Mateo Joseph came of age in 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge against Trevoh Chalobah and Axel Disasi, scoring twice, and he has barely looked back since. Farke has already stated that he loves to adapt his attack if it fails to produce results in the previous game, so everything appears to be set up for the Spaniard.
A half-century for Farke.
Tonight marks Farke’s 50th game as Leeds manager. Since his arrival last July, he has won 29 games, drawn 11 and lost nine. That’s a 59% win rate, the best in the club’s history for managers in charge of more than four matches.
Of course, we’re only talking about one season in the second tier with a squad good enough for promotion, but the German deserves a lot of credit for how this season has gone.
Part one of the big Ipswich pressure plan
If Leeds want to really press the screw on Ipswich Town while they go a week without a game, they must win tonight and execute phase one of the plan. A win today moves Leeds back into the top two, one point ahead of Queens Park Rangers, and a second win on Friday night increases the lead to four points.
That kind of pure air should raise some doubts in the minds of Suffolk residents who will be watching the Leeds game from their East Yorkshire hotel rooms on Friday night.
Avoid having the season’s poorest record at the worst time.
If United does not win tonight, it will be the Whites’ longest losing skid of the season, and it comes at the worst possible time. Going four games without a win isn’t going to cut it in an April promotion run-in.
