By Danny Wright

7th Nov, 2017 | 8:17am

Christiansen mainstay in dire straights, Leeds must strike January agreement with ex-boss

COMMENT By Danny Wright

There are a lot of questions being asked about the recruitment strategy at Leeds United at the moment with Thomas Christiansen finding his side in an awful run of form.

The Whites have plummeted from top of the Championship table in September down to 10th, where they currently sit following defeat at Brentford on Saturday.

One of the biggest underperformers in recent weeks is right-back Luke Ayling, who has been a mainstay of Christiansen’s side this season, starting every single match across all competitions – 20 in total.

The 26-year-old has appeared to be in dire straights with his form ever since penning a new contract in October and that is a very worrying sign about his commitment to playing well for the Yorkshire giants.

While the Elland Road boss has rotated his squad for most of the campaign, the right-back slot has been left untouched even though Vurnon Anita and Gaetano Berardi can both play there too.

Leeds do have another right-back in their ranks and that is Lewie Coyle who is currently on loan with Fleetwood in League One.

Coyle, 22, was shown a straight red card on Monday night for a nasty-looking challenge on a Chorley player in his side’s FA Cup First Round win, but besides that he has been in fantastic form this campaign.

He joined Fleetwood on a season-long loan in the summer and has so far made 17 appearances across all competitions, assisting four goals and picked up countless man of the match awards.

Leeds must find a way to strike up an agreement in January with Fleetwood boss, and former Whites boss, Uwe Rosler that will see Coyle return to Elland Road early, because right now he could easily force Ayling out of his spot in the team.

Fans pride themselves on players that have emerged from the academy and Coyle is a prime example of someone that is desperately needed in the side at this moment in time.

Leeds’ awful run of form may take some time to be completely turned on it’s head but by the time January comes around the likes of Christiansen and Victor Orta will have a lot to answer for if their hopes of promotion to the Premier League have completely gone out of the window.

In other Leeds United news, Whites fans on Twitter reacted to Coyle’s performance on Monday night.

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