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matt millington

Leeds United fans deliver verdict on player to replace Cooper in Millwall clash

Dominating the headlines at Elland Road since Tuesday night's win against West Brom has been how Marcelo Bielsa will look to shuffle his team to deal with a growing list of injuries.

Liam Cooper limped off against the Baggies, with the club later confirming he will miss out for up to six weeks. With a host of other injuries in midfield, the focus is on who will play where and if we'll see any new faces make the squad for the trip to Millwall.

In our latest Whatsapp poll, we put the question of a replacement for captain Cooper to readers via our dedicated WhatsApp service for Leeds United news.

Hundreds voted with options for Gaetano Berardi, Luke Ayling, Kalvin Phillips and 'one of the young lads' ie. Ollie Casey or Pascal Struijk - both mentioned in Bielsa's press conference on Thursday.

Here's a look at the results:

As you can see, two names ran away with the votes. Gaetano Berardi looked solid when he replaced Cooper in that match against West Brom and the majority of fans agreed he is the man to take that defensive role alongside Ben White. Here's what some of the 42 per cent of fans who voted for him had to say on his selection:

Fans wanting Berardi to take the place of Liam Cooper in defence - via Leeds United Live WhatsApp (Alex Dodd/CameraSport)

Luke Ayling enjoyed a welcome return to the field at Elland Road on Tuesday, albeit while the Whites were under the cosh in those final nail-biting stages of the match. He took just over 32 per cent of the vote with WhatsApp users to replace Cooper, but could instead be back in his preferred right-back position with talk of Dallas going into central midfield. We'll have to wait and see:

The results showed fans are as happy to see one of the younger players step up as see Kalvin Phillips moved from defensive midfield to the back line. We'll have to keep an eye out for that all-important team news come Saturday afternoon at The Den.

If you haven't already, make sure to sign up to our WhatsApp group for the latest news and to get involved:

Visit our  dedicated Leeds United page  for the latest news, views and analysis from Elland Road.

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