It’s actually quite rare for a Marcelo Bielsa teamsheet to shock you an hour before kick-off with Leeds United.
Ever since he began naming teams for United in 2018, his changes have been limited and generally either enforced or announced days in advance.
If Bielsa can avoid making changes he will. He is loyal to a fault with his players, though that approach, evidently, has paid so many dividends during his tenure.
There were hints of something brewing in the corners of Bielsa’s mind last Friday when he, unusually, sat on the fence with discussion around team selection for Leicester City.
There was, of course, the caveat the match remained three days away and it was simply too early for him to make final decisions with so much training and preparation still to do.
Nevertheless, Pascal Struijk’s omission was a surprise, to me at least, when the line-up dropped at 7pm, or more specifically, Mateusz Klich’s absence from midfield.
Struijk had been taken off early in the previous match, yes, but that has never previously meant an automatic withdrawal in the next game for Bielsa.
Klich has been such an impressive fixture in Bielsa’s sides as the quintessential number eight, the link-up man between attack and defence who springs so many attacks for United.
Absolutely, there was evidence of what that set-up can achieve in the mauling of Aston Villa once Jamie Shackleton emerged, but this was a different game with a different opponent.
Leicester did not make Monday the open, free-flowing affair it was at Villa where the onus was on the hosts to draw blood and exert some form of authority.
The Foxes were happy to give up territory and possession, deny United space and nullify the running and energy of someone like Shackleton.
Klich has faced pretty much every kind of opponent as the eight in Bielsa’s Leeds. He knows where he needs to be, when and how to break down those deep, stubborn defences.
What Klich is less accustomed to is playing as the defensive midfielder in a Bielsa system. There were too many times Klich was caught out of position, made the wrong decision or pass in that role.
The defence did not get the protection they needed from the countering onslaughts of Jamie Vardy, Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans.
A recall for Struijk makes sense on Saturday at Selhurst Park where, based on Roy Hodgson’s track record and this season so far, Crystal Palace are going to defend.
With the threats of Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend on the break, Palace are highly likely to stick their banks of four in front of their own box, heading, kicking and blocking everything away.
Klich and Pablo Hernandez are familiar with that kind of match, that kind of opponent. Allow them to dovetail and find the pockets. Bring Struijk back in for the passing range and defensive know-how.
