Daniel Farke could be temped to make changes to his Leeds United XI again, according to Phil Hay.
The Whites travel to the Riverside to face Middlesbrough on Monday having had a nice nine-day break since the disappointment of losing their unbeaten home record to Blackburn Rovers.
Farke made three changes to the side that faced Rovers last time out after the same starting XI picked up just one point from matches against Coventry City and Sunderland.
One of the men who came in Connor Roberts will not be available, though, having suffered a recurrence of the injury problem he suffered on international duty with Wales.
With that said, this extended period of rest and preparation could not have come at a better time for Leeds, as their automatic promotion bid has stalled since the chaos of the international break and the Easter period that followed.
Hay says Farke could make a change to his Leeds attack vs Boro
Joel Piroe was one of the three alterations Farke made last weekend, as he came in to start up front in place of Patrick Bamford, who has seen his form dip recently.
However, Piroe was arguably even more ineffective than Bamford, as he again proved the role of a lone striker just does not suit his skillset.
Calls have been growing for Mateo Joseph to be handed his first league start for Leeds but Farke has continued to resist the temptation to do so.
And speaking on the Square Ball Podcast, Athletic journalist Phil Hay believes Bamford will be who gets the nod on Monday to face his former side.
He said: “It is sometimes the sort of environment he really likes. I cannot see Farke going with the system he did against Blackburn with Piroe up front, it just didn’t really work and it didn’t bring much out of Piroe.
“On the basis of what we’ve seen from Farke you would assume Bamford comes in and plays that role. I would be tempted to try Joseph but I do get it is a gamble and it is very easy to make suggestions of changes which then don’t get tested.
“For as long as Joseph isn’t starting, it’s easy to say to play him and he will score goals. If you play him and he doesn’t score goals, there are consequences of that. You have to get that decision right.”
Bamford and Joseph involved in warm-up spat
According to Hay, Bamford and Joseph were both actually involved in a spat) during the warm-up before Leeds’ defeat to Blackburn.
It is said that Joseph had to be calmed down by some of his teammates as a result of the disagreement, with the two players clearly frustrated at not being picked.
Joseph has been pushing £7m Bamford for that striker spot for several weeks now and so to see him dropped, yet not be rewarded with a start, may have seen his temper boil over.
With that said, disagreements between teammates are not uncommon in football and so hopefully it was something of nothing, with Joseph having hailed Bamford as a big influence of his recently.