Daniel Farke is now blessed with plenty of options across different positions in his Leeds United squad.
It feels like a lifetime ago since Farke was unable to fill a nine-man substitute’s bench in matches against Birmingham City and West Brom, that also had to include two goalkeepers.
The 46-year-old has been afforded the luxury of rotating his Leeds side in recent weeks without actually weakening it, due to how much quality he now has at his disposal.
Last weekend, though, Farke perhaps sprung the biggest selection surprise to date by moving 17-year-old Archie Gray to right-back, with Luke Ayling dropping to the bench.
Gray had played there before at youth level but in all of his senior appearances for Leeds, was in central midfield, making it a huge surprise to see him in defence.
Farke must resist urge to recall Ayling to Leeds XI
With that said, though, Gray produced an incredibly impressive 90 minute performance, making it look like it was a position he had played for several years.
Gray did not give any of his opposing wingers a sniff and also offered Leeds a much tidier outlet on the ball than what Ayling has done all season.
In a difficult away game like Norwich City, Farke will undoubtedly have some temptation to bring Ayling back into his starting XI to provide more experience to his backline.
However, Farke simply must avoid falling into that trap as Gray has more than proven he can now perform Ayling’s role to a better standard.
Leeds have a busy week of matches when the season resumes after the international break which Ayling will undoubtedly play a part of, but in arguably their toughest game of that period, Gray needs to start.
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