Daniel Farke reverted back to his tried and tested starting XI for Leeds United’s 4-0 demolition job of Norwich City.
Farke sprung a couple of tactical surprises in the first leg at Carrow Road by moving Archie Gray into a three man midfield, with Georginio Rutter leading the line for the first time since December.
Though both Gray and Rutter struggled on the ball on Sunday, on reflection those changes paid dividends as Leeds secured a 0-0 draw to take back to Elland Road, where they were absolutely rampant.
In what was a raucous atmosphere, Leeds were the better side from start to finish and got the scoring underway inside just seven minutes, through Ilia Gruev’s brilliant free-kick.
Joel Piroe was the only change Farke made last night and rewarded his manager’s show of faith, as he scored the second. It was arguably his best performance in a Leeds shirt.
Rutter then capped his return to form with a third just before the break, with Crysencio Summerville capping a fine evening by tapping home Junior Firpo’s cut-back.
Farke says he would’ve started Sam Byram for Leeds
Though Piroe was the only man to come into the side from Sunday’s first leg, there certainly was a large tactical reshuffle in terms of where players were on the pitch.
Rutter was back in his more favoured number 10 role, while Gray was shifted all the way to right-back.
Sam Byram was the man to come out of the side and when it emerged that he was not even on the bench last night, it quickly became apparent it must have been due to injury.
Amid his injury problems this season, two games in such a short space of time is not always good for Byram, but he will have been gutted to miss out on such a big occasion. It could’ve been his last ever game at Elland Road.
It was certainly a big call from Farke to go with Gray over Roberts at right-back, and speaking in his post-match press conference, the Leeds boss has revealed he would’ve started Byram had he been fit.
He said: “Yes, the plan after a first game was to go for it in the second game. Leaving Byram out was forced. Hip flexor injury. I probably would have started him because of his injury, but it would have been a fourth offensive player on the pitch too.”
Farke needs to stick with same XI at Wembley
After missing the two semi-finals, it will be interesting to see if Patrick Bamford is fit enough to return for Wembley in nine days’ time.
Had been Bamford been in for Piroe, that was effectively the starting XI that served Leeds so well in that run of form in the regular season that saw them win 12 of 13 matches.
However, unless there are any fresh injury concerns, the side he started with last night has to be the one he goes with at Wembley as well.
Everyone did enough to earn their place and even if both Bamford and Byram are fit, the two players who started ahead of him don’t deserve to be dropped.