Jesse Marsch reveals 'costly' Leeds United change and considers Patrick Bamford for Norwich City

Jesse Marsch says the loss of Junior Firpo to a knee injury will be costly for Leeds United and likely necessitate a switch for Stuart Dallas against Norwich City.
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Firpo, the club's only senior left-back, was stretchered off at Elland Road in the final minutes of a 3-0 defeat by Aston Villa.

A summer signing from Barcelona who was brought in to give the club an upgrade on the departing Gjanni Alioski, Barry Douglas and Leif Davis, Firpo has struggled with injuries and form in his debut Premier League season and endured perhaps his most torrid outing against Villa.

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Marsch's initial thoughts on the nature of the injury suggested it was medial collateral ligament damage that would keep Firpo on the sidelines for a while.

Regardless of how long he will be out, it's a further blow to a winless-in-eight and confidence-drained Leeds side.

"I think it will be costly and it is any time you lose a player, so now it's two games in a row with kind of, freak, little collision that we'll have lost two players, so it's tough," said Marsch, who also lost Tyler Roberts to a ruptured hamstring tendon in the 1-0 defeat by Leicester.

The only real option for Marsch for Sunday's clash with Norwich is to swap Stuart Dallas from right-back to the left side. Dallas is another player going through a tough spell, particularly in the first two games of the new manager's tenure. He found Harvey Barnes difficult to contain at Leicester and Lucas Digne, Philippe Coutinho and Danny Ings all targeted him on Thursday night. But he has played left-back on 10 occasions this season and Marsch, who sees the Northern Irishman as a midfielder, backs him to handle it.

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"With Junior [out], that probably means we'll have to play Stuart at left-back," said the American.

COSTLY BLOW - Leeds United lost their only senior left-back Junior Firpo to a knee injury against Aston Villa, ahead of a trip to Norwich City. Pic: Jonathan GawthorpeCOSTLY BLOW - Leeds United lost their only senior left-back Junior Firpo to a knee injury against Aston Villa, ahead of a trip to Norwich City. Pic: Jonathan Gawthorpe
COSTLY BLOW - Leeds United lost their only senior left-back Junior Firpo to a knee injury against Aston Villa, ahead of a trip to Norwich City. Pic: Jonathan Gawthorpe

"I think he can manage that. He's probably a 6. That's probably his best position. We've asked him to play righ- back and now we're gonna ask them play left-back but he's incredibly intelligent and a good player that he can manage that. But that's the situation we're in right now. And again, we have to find a way with adversity to get better."

With Dallas swapping sides, Marsch could push Luke Ayling back into his normal right-back role and bring Diego Llorente into the heart of the defence, or put Jamie Shackleton at right-back.

His other selection dilemmas include the middle of the park where Adam Forshaw, Robin Koch and Matuesz Klich are his three options for two places, and up front.

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Patrick Bamford returned from the bench to play half an hour against Villa and impressed his new boss, despite being unable to make the impact the Elland Road crowd were praying for.

"I thought Patrick brought energy into the match, a couple of dangerous moments, his personality is important - he’s confident," said Marsch.

"He doesn't suffer from fear. We’ll need that. We'll need him, his quality, his personality within the team - it gives me a lot of optimism.

"Bamford will help in the attacking third, no question, he’s clever and has quality."

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Given the striker was deemed fit enough to have played just 10 minutes at Leicester, had he been called upon, and with nine games left beyond the Norwich clash, Marsch must weigh up whether or not Bamford is ready to start.

"We all know how important the game is," he said.

"We have to be calculated. We'll look at how he is Friday and Saturday, make an educated decision about what is best for him. He looked great this week, we could be optimistic but we also have to be intelligent."