Phillips starts, Marsch regular axed: Two changes that'll help Leeds dominate Wolves – opinion

This is part of The Transfer Tavern’s Talking Tactics series, where we analyse two changes a manager should make in their upcoming fixture.

Leeds United travel to Molineux this evening to face Wolves, looking to build on Jesse Marsch’s first win as manager against Norwich last time out.

The Whites have the chance to stretch the gap between themselves and the relegation zone and have Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper available for selection for the first time since December, meaning Marsch has some tough selection decisions to make.

Leeds have missed Phillips in recent months, with Marsch now going with a double six in midfield compared to Marcelo Bielsa’s 4-1-4-1 system.

Phillips is used to playing in a similar role for England alongside Declan Rice, so it would make sense for Marsch to hand the 26-year-old an immediate start, given he has selected three different midfield options in his three games as boss. [SofaScore]

Adam Forshaw and Mateusz Klich were picked against Norwich, meaning one of those two would have to make way for Phillips to come in, and having been selected as the Three Lions’ player of the year in this exact role, starting the returning superstar is a no brainer.

Struijk hasn’t had the best of times under Marsch despite playing every minute of action under the new boss.

He was outperformed by Luke Ayling against Leicester, failed to make an interception against Aston Villa and was outperformed again by Diego Llorente against Norwich. [SofaScore]

Marsch now has Cooper, Leeds’ best-rated centre-back, as per WhoScored, available to play, so it could make sense to hand Struijk a rest. Robin Koch is another option to come in for start, although that would leave Leeds with two right-footed centre-backs,