Leeds United boss Javi Gracia between rock and hard place as he eyes change for Leicester City

Three defeats on the trot, two of which had embarrassing scorelines, have threatened to bring about what any manager arriving mid-season sets out to avoid. One of the first things managerial appointments do, if they supplant a peer in January, February, March or even beyond, is shore up the defence. There's lots of talk of making teams hard to beat. Jesse Marsch wanted to make Leeds more competitive in games when he arrived, after watching them get blown away by Liverpool and Spurs immediately prior to his replacing Marcelo Bielsa. Gracia's stated aim was to try and reduce the concessions when he replaced Marsch, and that's why compactness has been a watchword under the Spaniard. As both men found, however, the Premier League does not always let you do what you want.

Stopping goals going in at the wrong end with quite such frequency has an obvious benefit in that it keeps teams in games and increases the chance of nicking a point or three. Another upside to close scorelines and narrower defeats is that it fosters a sense of the team not being away from getting the results they need. You can generate a form of momentum, even if it's only the psychological form. Crucially, you can keep collective headloss at bay. Nothing whips up a cloud of doom quite like lopsided beatings, in a relegation battle.

The other thing that happens when a team facing the threat of Premier League expulsion through the trap door does suffer heavy defeats, or two on the trot like Leeds did so recently, is that it makes it almost imperative for a manager to try something or someone else.

And yet that in itself carries danger. Bielsa spoke often of the clamour for a different player, when an area of the pitch became problematic or results did not come. Few, least of all Bielsa, will have an appetite to revisit the exhaustive Patrick Bamford v Eddie Nketiah debate and the seminars he felt duty-bound to deliver on the topic.

Gracia nodded in that direction on Saturday when his selection, or rather continued non-selection of Willy Gnonto was brought up after the Fulham defeat. Many feel that the Italian spark plug should be starting. It's difficult to understand why he isn't, particularly when Brenden Aaronson continues to plough such an earnest but unfruitful furrow, and Gracia chooses not to show his working out. Many players deserve to play, he said.

In that one selection dilemma there appear to be few downsides to trying Gnonto at this stage. He has provided match-changing impact on enough occasions, in a way Aaronson has not. But Gracia is an experienced, well travelled and well respected head coach who must have his reasons.

Other decisions facing Gracia are not so apparently simple. At right-back all and sundry suggested that, after a handful of poor and costly individual performances by Luke Ayling, Rasmus Kristensen should be given another go. The Dane got his go and Leeds got more of the same, reminding all and sundry why Ayling won his shirt back in the first place and kept it for so long. Does Gracia now go back to Ayling and hope that he rediscovers the form that eluded him in his final few starts before being dropped?

And what of Illan Meslier? The youngster is suffering from both Leeds' collective defensive frailties and individual errors that have crept in to devastating effect. He has never been dropped over form, as a Leeds player, and you could argue that he has never really been pushed to the point where his position as number one was under significant threat.

In Joel Robles Gracia has a number two with experience, size and presence. That has been enough for some to scream change from the rooftops and yet what happens if the veteran comes in and drops a clanger? Where does Gracia go then? Is it back to Meslier for Bournemouth? And what happens to Meslier if he's dropped? Would it kill off his confidence or simply take him out of the firing line and let him recover?

Change is surely inevitable in a couple of positions at least after that insipid display at Fulham but it's just not as simple as plucking players from the line-up and dropping in their most obvious replacement.

An unintended but very possible outcome of chopping and changing, then changing back when the change doesn't work, is that it starts to reflect a coach who doesn't know his best side or, worse, doesn't know where to turn for answers. There are a number of positions that have a dreaded rock and hard place feel to them for Gracia. Fulham was Weston McKennie's Leeds nadir, yet Tyler Adams is out injured, Adam Forshaw is making his way back from injury and Darko Gyabi is a very young and entirely inexperienced player.

The head coach admitted on Monday that there are better environments for developing young talent and blooding them into senior football, than a relegation dog fight. He also suggested that there are more ways to skin a cat than replacing players in the line-up.

"I try to look for the players in the best condition to compete, because we have to recognise that we need to compete better if we want to achieve better results," said Gracia on Monday.

"We need to change something but the solution is not always to change players. We have to find a way to have a better balance, like we did in many other games. With a good balance we'll be closer to better results in my opinion. The solution is not always to change players."

Whether it's different players or not for Leicester, Leeds need a different result. Gracia needs to change the course of direction.