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Danny Murphy slates Leeds United trio as he calls for wholesale changes from Javi Gracia

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Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk had a game to forget last time out against Liverpool, shipping six a week after letting in five against Crystal Palace.

Leeds’ defence has often come under intense scrutiny ever since promotion, with Javi Gracia being the third manager unable to get a tune out of the defence and organise them to more solidity than previously displayed.

However, sometimes it has to come down to the quality of the individuals on display for the side, rather than the coaching structure in place.

How is Pascal Struijk doing?

The injury to Max Wöber in the international break has seen Pascal Struijk finally get a string of games at centre-back after playing for the majority of the first half of the season at left-back (where he was solid).

A defeat at Arsenal brought four goals conceded for Leeds and the Dutchman, before they produced a big reaction to beat Nottingham Forest, again conceding though – to a side who had netted just four away goals all season in the league prior to that game.

Then, the next two games against Crystal Palace and Liverpool brought abject displays from the defence, seeing Leeds ship 11 between the two matches, tipping their goals conceded tally to the worst in the division.

Struijk was at fault for a few of these goals, with Liam Cooper sat on the bench watching on after recovering from injury recently.

What has Danny Murphy said about the defender?

In terms of what Gracia can do to rectify this ongoing problem for Leeds, there’s little other than changing the personnel that he can do.

BBC pundit Danny Murphy believes that the Spaniard needs to start by dropping Struijk for the foreseeable, as he spoke on talkSPORT about Leeds’ defensive woes.

It wasn’t only Struijk taking the brunt of criticism from the former Liverpool midfielder, though, as he said:

“It might be worth a change just to take him [Illan Meslier] out of the firing line, he’s struggling, he was at fault for a couple of the goals. But, he’s certainly not the worst performer…

“[Marc] Roca hasn’t got the legs to play at this level, tries his best but he hasn’t got the legs. If he does play, he’s got to play in a three, not a two. I mean you’ve got to know your players haven’t you, surely?

“Struijk, he struggled like hell at left-back, he went back to his familiar position at centre-half and in the last couple of weeks he’s been destroyed. He can’t play, he can’t play again.”

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All three of the names Murphy mentions here are fortunate they are in the lineup at the moment, given the lack of depth to drop them.

Roca has shown he has a good range of passing, but he cannot cope with the pace of the Premier League, and similar can be said of Struijk, who was slow and slugging to react to every Liverpool attack.

Weak in challenges, slow to react to dangers and loose balls, and strangely poor on the ball, Struijk needs to be dropped for the trip Fulham – especially with Liam Cooper and Max Wöber fit again.

Meslier hasn’t been good enough either, but perhaps a more solid defence masks his deficiencies more, rather than just amplifying them.

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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.