Leeds United welcome Tottenham to Elland Road this Sunday in their final game of the season knowing they need a huge turnaround in order to stay in the Premier League.
Sam Allardyce looks to have tried in vain to keep Leeds in the Premier League, with a valiant point against Newcastle United not backed up by a good performance against West Ham.
A 3-1 defeat in the capital leaves Leeds on the brink of relegation, needing a win while they also need Everton to lose and Leicester to fail to win in order to stay in the top flight.
The limp performance at the back is going to need some changes in order for Leeds to stand a chance of stopping Harry Kane and co.
Here, we look at two defensive tweaks that Leeds and Allardyce need to consider for Sunday…
Struijk dropped, Cooper in
Junior Firpo has served his suspension, and will be available for the game, but he’s surely played his final game for the club after his red card further compounded evidence that he is not good enough.
A change at left-back is still needed, though, with his deputy Pascal Struijk also struggling a lot as he failed to keep up with the pace of the Irons’ attack.
A full-back in a low block needs to be competent in 1-v-1 situations, which Struijk is, but they also have to be quick to react to threat in behind, which Struijk hasn’t been.
He stepped out of position to close down Pablo Fornals for no reason, leaving Jarrod Bowen in acres behind him as West Ham scored an equaliser last time out.
In his place should be Cooper, with his leadership massively important alongside Max Wöber.
Leeds v Spurs predictions?
Leeds win
Draw
Spurs win
Who plays left-back?
The issue then with Cooper coming in is that we have two centre-backs playing on the left half of the defence, and one of those has to play as a left-back.
For Allardyce, he has to decide which of his two options is better suited to the position, and Wöber would make sense, given he joined Leeds off the back of playing there most weeks for Red Bull Salzburg.
He can offer us great balance on the left flank, supporting whoever plays on the left wing, while working hard to get back to defend.