Burnley: Scott Parker should be cautious of Leeds United exploiting hit-and-miss mainstay - View | OneFootball

Burnley's Lucas Pires is a potential weakness in Scott Parker's back line that Leeds United and Daniel Farke will hope to exploit.

Leeds United play host to fellow promotion hopefuls Burnley on Saturday afternoon at Elland Road in what looks like a battle between two of the Championship's early promotion favourites.

Burnley signed off for the season’s first batch of internationals with a 1-1 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers and have put in some mixed performances so far, despite accruing seven points in four games. They are now winless in the last two, with Leeds the opposite after consecutive impressive 2-0 wins prior to the international break.

One player who has certainly had mixed form so far is Lucas Pires, with Burnley's €2.5 million left-back signing from Brazilian side Santos in the summer. The 23-year-old spent last season on loan at Spanish side, Cadiz, and moved to Turf Moor to replace Charlie Taylor, who signed for Southampton.

Lucas Pires and Burnley's full-back issue

Burnley laid down a marker during their opening game of the Championship season, with a 4-1 thumping over promotion rivals Luton Town. Albeit the first game of the season, attention will be on the Clarets this season to impress, and they lived up to the billing.

One of the headlines from the Clarets' impressive opening day victory at Kenilworth Road was Pires. As far as debuts go, they do not get much better, with the Brazilian providing two assists for Scott Parker's men and also unlucky not to nab a goal himself in the process.

Although it was early days, it appeared as though they could have signed a bargain, as Pires played in his favoured left-back position for the Clarets, and showed his potential at both ends of the field. At €2.5 million, the deal to bring Pires to Burnley seems like a relatively low-risk transfer.

The 23-year-old may have his best years ahead of him. However, after the bright start, Pires has found it much tougher in recent weeks against the likes of Sunderland and Blackburn, and he has come in for criticism from supporters for some uncertain and less-assured displays.

The full-back area in the Championship is one of the stranger areas, with players who can both defend and attack highly unlikely to be playing second-tier football for long. It highlights that there are polarising qualities that the players in those areas possess, with many either good going forwards or more comfortable at defending their own box, but rarely capable of both.

Teams like Leeds, Burnley, and others vying for promotion, are more likely to have attack-minded full-backs, who are capable of looking at their best when their team has more of the ball to play on the front foot, but perhaps struggle against the better wingers in the league.

The same for Pires could be said of Jayden Bogle and Junior Firpo, perhaps. However, Leeds have kept three clean sheets in the last four games in the Championship. Although that will be an area Parker is keen to exploit, Leeds have home advantage and there should rightly be more concerns for a player like Pires when considering his recent displays for the Clarets.

Leeds and Farke to exploit Burnley's recent full-back dilemma

It could well be a period of acclimatisation is required for Pires, hence why he has been less consistent and more up and down in terms of his performance levels, but Farke will want to deploy wingers who can exploit that, either on the break in transition or when Leeds are in the ascendancy and pinning Burnley back.

And their hopes of another important victory looked like being boosted by the return of both Dan James and Patrick Bamford after James (pictured above with Willy Gnonto) missed the international break with Wales due to a knock. Leeds Live were reporting that both he and Bamford will at the very least be fit enough to make the bench this coming weekend.

James’ speed and direct running threat in behind could have proven to be a valuable weapon for Farke. However, Leeds' chief has since confirmed in his pre-match press conference that James has aggravated the hamstring issue during his rehab, and is now set for four weeks on the sidelines.

That being said, Farke still has numerous threats out wide, which is arguably where both Leeds and Burnley's strength lies this season, even after Wilson Odobert and Crysencio Summerville's departures. Farke has good options to choose from, and against Hull City, James had to watch from the sidelines as two of Leeds' new signings impressed against his former side.

Manor Solomon started the game and showcased his directness and explosiveness over short distances, as well as excellent ball control in tight spaces. Largie Ramazani's cameo from the bench was eye-catching in a similar fashion, with the speedy winger also extremely direct and agile in terms of changing direction quickly.

With Gnonto likely to take plenty of minutes directly against Pires as well, it highlights their embarrassment of riches out wide. Leeds arguably have the strongest pool of wide options in the division outside of Burnley, with Brenden Aaronson and Joe Gelhardt supporting the likes of James, Gnonto, Ramazani, and Solomon.

Between them, they each have plenty of speed and trickery, as well as the output in the final third to do serious damage to any team in the division. Pires and Parker will be well aware of that, but it's difficult to stop players like that from working their magic, and Parker has nowhere else to turn, with Pires the only specialist left-back at the club currently, unless he looks to a central defender as a makeshift option down Burnley's left.