All the talk at Elland Road at the moment centres on whether Daniel Farke will remain in the Leeds United dug-out, heading into an unforgiving December list of fixtures.
With five defeats from your last six games in the Premier League, the last thing a bruised Whites outfit needs is back-to-back fixtures against Manchester City and Chelsea up next, especially as City will want to immediately respond to their Champions League embarrassment at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen.
Therefore, an Erling Haaland-led effort could take their frustrations out on the pitiful away side, with the German’s grip on his job post looking even more fragile, if they’re on the receiving end of a drubbing.
The powers that be in West Yorkshire will surely have a plan up their sleeve if they do decide to finally bite the bullet and get rid.
Who could replace Farke at Leeds?
As the 49ers gear up to potentially replace Farke at Elland Road, one man who is unlikely to move to England is former Union Berlin boss Bo Svensson.
Indeed, according to reports from Germany, he is unlikely to return to the managerial game soon, having recently turned down approaches from Rangers and Union Saint-Gilloise. He has also been allegedly on the relegation-threatened side’s radar, but that looks like it will now be stopped in its tracks, before anything serious materialises.
This surely swings the door wide open for Brendan Rodgers to be a prime candidate to oust the ex-Norwich City boss.
TEAMTalk recently revealed this week that the former Celtic manager would be keen on a return to the Premier League with Leeds.
After all, Rodgers has been here before when picking up the pieces post-Claude Puel’s failed stint at Leicester City, with the Northern Irishman even going on to clinch an FA Cup success with the Foxes, before furthering his varied managerial career in Glasgow.
The out-of-work 52-year-old coming in now could well be a masterstroke as Leeds attempt to turn around their hopeless season.
Perhaps Rodgers could have the same impact at the Whites that Regis Le Bris has managed to have at Sunderland, in such a short space of time.
How Rodgers could be Leeds' own Le Bris
Scanning back to just last season, Leeds did finish above the Black Cats in the Championship promotion standings, accumulating 100 points to lift the title, while Le Bris and Co secured promotion via the more adventurous route of the playoffs.
Yet, in the here and now, the Wearside underdogs find themselves all the way up in a dizzy seventh position in the early top-flight standings, while Farke hangs onto his employment, as he drags Leeds into the relegation spaces.
Sunderland fans are rightly singing the praises of their overachieving manager at this moment in time, with Leeds now potentially wanting a Le Bris-style figure of their own in Rodgers, to bring the good times back to Elland Road.
Rodgers, before going on to manage at Liverpool and the King Power Stadium, did manage to show off a similar breakneck transition to the Premier League like Le Bris is experiencing at the Stadium of Light.
His Swansea City side jumped all the way up to 11th in the league standings, right after promotion was sealed come the end of the 2010/11 season.
Games
312
Wins
139
Draws
71
Losses
102
Points accumulated
488
He would further reinforce his reputation as a capable boss in the tough division with the Reds, as he nearly delivered a Premier League triumph at Anfield. But, it will be his transformative presence at Leicester that will give Leeds fans the most hope that he can push them up the division, much like Le Bris has managed on Wearside.
From four full seasons at the King Power helm, Rodgers would collect 64 league victories, with a fifth-place finish clinched during his first full season at the helm quite the achievement, considering Puel ended his reign with the Foxes on five defeats from his final six games.
Coincidentally, that is the exact form Farke now finds himself deep in at Leeds, with a move for such a “world-class” manager in Rodgers – as Gabriel Agbonlahor once labelled him – perhaps just what the doctor ordered in turning around the Whites’ dismal fortunes.
Le Bris is yet to receive such a wild tag, but it surely won’t be far off if he clinches an unbelievable mid-table finish for the Black Cats.
Yet, with time on Leeds’ side still, they could also mount a surge up the division, too, if they were to gain Rodgers’ services.
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1 ByJoe Nuttall