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‘Absolute pain’ – Many Leeds United fans flock to Phil Hay’s concerning update

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Leeds United face Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Friday night, with Marcelo Bielsa currently struggling to piece together a back four.

Leeds have dusted themselves off from a humbling at home to Liverpool and are looking to get their second Premier League season up and running this weekend.

A trip to the North East is on the cards with a clash against Steve Bruce’s Newcastle the fixture on Friday night.

There’s been plenty to digest at Elland Road this week after the defeat against the Reds, with the main talking point our failed appeal to overturn Pascal Struijk’s red card and three-match ban.

As much as every Leeds fan and member of the club protested Craig Pawson’s decision, the ban stands and Leeds are without a key defender.

On top of that, the club have been sweating over the fitness of the man Struijk replaced on Sunday, Diego Llorente, who hobbled off with another muscular injury.

Ahead of tomorrow’s clash, Marcelo Bielsa offered a pretty damning update on the Whites’ centre-back options (via Phil Hay):

Koch has been absent since the defeat to Manchester United, while Llorente’s ongoing issues are a big concern.

Fans weren’t too happy with confirmation of the bad news at the back for tomorrow…

It’s not looking great for us at the back heading into our next two league games.

Not only are we struggling against Newcastle, but we’ve got to face a West Ham side after this who are firing on all cylinders already.

I’m still confident that we’ll be able to beat Newcastle regardless of our threadbare defence, but it’s concerning how often these crises come about.

I do also wonder how close Bielsa is to deploying Charlie Cresswell for a League game, given how well he’s developing.

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Leeds United season ticket holder since 2013/14, currently situated in the middle of the FA5 noise. From Pablo Hernandez to 5-1 drubbings, I've seen it all at Elland Road.