Leeds United suffered a shock defeat against Queen Park Rangers at Loftus Road, and that result piles the pressure on them for the upcoming games as they now sit on the third spot. The Whites have failed to find any rhythm for the past few weeks. Even in their win against Bolton Wanderers, they were labouring for the most parts.
One of the underperformers for the Whites has been Luke Ayling. Ever since his comeback from injury, the experienced fullback has failed to get going. Whether it’s defensively or on the attacking front, the 27-year-old has been a liability on the pitch for the most parts.
Often the Englishman’s touch has been off, and he has been struggling to find a pass from the right flank. His work rate is still there, but there isn’t enough quality from him when he gets on the ball. Bielsa too had recently acknowledged a few weeks back that there has been a drop in his performance. Nevertheless, he sounded like there wasn’t much to worry about at that time.
The manager had said (Leed Live), ”For me, Bill Ayling is a great player. A complete player. When I say complete, I mean he can manage all the aspects of the game. The only thing I can tell about Bill Ayling, that he is contributing a little less in attack and usually he was getting a grade of more than 7. Now it’s more than 6.”
These comments were from two weeks back, and we believe that Ayling has been performing at a grade of 4 or 5 now. Therefore the manager needs to drop him in the upcoming game weeks. Bielsa has got some decent options available right now as Stuart Dallas has recovered from injury and he should be a strong candidate to start in the right-back role if Ayling is dropped.
Dallas had an impressive cameo after coming on as a substitute in the last game, and he should be in the reckoning to start against West Brom. Apart from that, the manager can also call upon the services of Jamie Shackleton who has filled in at right back on various occasions and has looked impressive on the attacking front. The youngster has shown much better composure in the final third, and we believe he could be the difference maker in this Whites’ team that is struggling to open up defences at the moment.
Someone like Gaetano Berardi is also an option as he featured on the bench against QPR after a long term injury layoff. Therefore with three plausible options, its time for Bielsa to give Ayling bit of a break from the first team.
