talkSPORT pundit Danny Mills has suggested that Ben White is not Marcelo Bielsa’s answer to replacing Kalvin Phillips, with the Leeds United midfielder suspended for this weekend’s West Yorkshire Derby.
Phillips was issued his fifth yellow card of the season during Saturday’s 4-0 rout of Middlesbrough, and will have to sit out our trip to Huddersfield Town this weekend.
The 5 ft 10 anchor has started each of his 19 Championship appearances to date, scoring once and assisting two goals from the heart of midfield, but will now lose his 100% record.
Bielsa has suggested that he could turn to White as his answer to filling the Phillips-shaped void in midfield, noting, via quotes by Leeds Live: “Yes, he’s our most important option.”
But Mills does not feel that would be the best way for Bielsa to go about organising the side for this Saturday’s West Yorkshire Derby, and should instead allow White to maintain his 100% appearance record in our defence when we take to the pitch at Huddersfield.
“I would leave Ben White exactly where he is, I wouldn’t tinker with it,” Mills told Football Insider. “I think he is a fantastic player.
“I think it’s very, very difficult. As a centre-half, everything is in front of you, you have certain pictures. Flip it the other way round, when Fernandinho drops into centre-back for Manchester City – you can get away with it for two or three games, to do it long term you have to rely on instinct.
“You can’t react, you can’t wait for things, you have to be almost pre-emptive, you almost have to do things and be in the position before they happen. That’s the problem when you’re not used to playing that position day in, day out. Occasionally, you just get caught out.
“Leave your strongest players in your strongest positions rather than moving two or three around and making two or three positions weaker.”
Who should replace Phillips in midfield vs Huddersfield?
White
Klich
McCalmont
Dallas
White is not Bielsa’s only option to take on the defensive midfield role against Huddersfield, but the boss faces reduced alternatives among the senior fold with Adam Forshaw still on the sidelines following the hip injury he initially sustained in September.
If Bielsa does opt to move White into the holding midfield role, it would likely come with a return to a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-1-4-1 shape, after the Argentine favoured a 3-3-3-1 against Reading and Middlesbrough for our last two league games.
Phillips has been our top-tackler in the Championship this season with 70 successful tackles from 99 duels, while White ranks fourth with 34 from 39, behind Stuart Dallas (40 from 61) and Mateusz Klich (37 from 53), per WhoScored data.
White ranks first overall among the United squad for interceptions, though, with the Brighton & Hove Albion loanee breaking up opposition play 50 times in his 19 appearances.
In other Leeds United news, fans have been reacting to an update on reports linking the Whites with a £7m deal for a Premier League striker.