According to reports in the Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds United manager Thomas Christiansen has hinted that goalkeeper Felix Weidwald’s spot between the sticks isn’t under threat for the clash against Reading at Elland Road on Saturday.
The Yorkshire outfit signed the German stopper from Werder Bremen during the summer, and he quickly became the first-choice keeper with last season’s number one Rob Green eventually leaving to join Premier League side Huddersfield in August.
Christiansen moved to bring former Whites goalkeeper Andy Lonergan back to the club as cover towards the end of the summer transfer window, but the 33-year-old has played back-up to Wiedwald in the league ever since.
The 27-year-old’s spot had been called into question after Leeds lost three of their last four Championship fixtures and conceded nine goals in the process to drop them down to fifth in the standings, but Christiansen has come out and shown public support for his signing.
However, here are three reasons Wiedwald should be dropped for the visit of the Royals…
He is yet to win some fans over
While Wiedwald and Christiansen can certainly point to the six clean sheets in a row earlier in the season as proof that the German goalkeeper isn’t doing too much wrong right now, it wasn’t as though he was kept busy during those fixtures and in fact he often had very little to do.
The nine goals conceded in four Championship matches since then means that there are still more than a few question marks over his head, with his distribution and lack of command of his six-yard box just a couple of aspects of his game that have come under scrutiny from the Elland Road faithful this term.
Following a bit of a horror show in the defeat to Sheffield Wednesday last time out, now may be the ideal time to drop the 27-year-old.
He needs to be kept on his toes
It is never a good situation to have a player that thinks they are undroppable, and sometimes taking them out of the firing line can make them more motivated and determined to work harder and improve to win their spot back in the side.
With Wiedwald perhaps not being as effective in the last few Championship fixtures as he had been earlier in the season, maybe now is the time for Christiansen to drop the German to the substitutes’ bench and bring Andy Lonergan into the fold.
Andy Lonergan’s experience
Having played at Championship level for the majority of his playing career – including the 2011/12 season with Leeds previously – Lonergan knows all about the division, how to deal with opponents and what is needed to be successful there.
While sometimes it can be seen as a bit of a risk to thrust your second-choice goalkeeper into the action, that certainly wouldn’t be the case with the 33-year-old and there is no doubt that he would be an experienced and calm figure between the sticks following a tough run of results for the Yorkshire outfit.
Having also been one of the heroes of Leeds’ penalty shoot-out win against Burnley in the EFL Cup last month, perhaps he has earned his opportunity to start in the league.
Do you agree, Leeds fans? Let us know below.
