Daniel Farke held a press conference at Thorp Arch this afternoon, looking ahead to Leeds United’s match against Rotherham United on Friday. It had been 11 days since the Whites’ 2-1 Championship win over Plymouth Argyle at Elland Road, when Daniel James and Joel Piroe scored twice in the first half.
The United manager is looking forward to the visit of interim manager Wayne Carlisle’s team on Friday, who are 20 points and 19 places lower in the Championship table than the Whites. Farke was naturally asked for the most recent injury update on the squad, with Stuart Dallas, Jamie Shackleton, Pascal Struijk, Djed Spence, and Joe Gelhardt all missing from the previous victory in West Yorkshire.
Here’s a run-down on the headlines from the briefing and what we took from reading between the lines after facing Farke.
Following the Plymouth victory, Farke warned that scheduling this game on the Friday following an international break would be detrimental to his traveling players. He was concerned that several of them would play on Tuesday of this week, return on Wednesday, and then be ready for only a minor role with the team on Thursday.
Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu, and Wilfried Gnonto all played 90 minutes for their respective countries on Tuesday. Daniel James also had a minor role for Wales. Farke confirmed that none of those who played 90 minutes will be involved in any meaningful way with the Leeds team before kick-off.
Crucially, though, Farke admitted he could not afford to leave them all out of his line-up on Friday. Absence from training and preparation will not be a barrier to his best players featuring in a potential banana-skin fixture.
There were growing concerns in the medical room as the international break approached. Djed Spence, Jamie Shackleton, Sam Byram, Pascal Struijk, Joe Gelhardt, and Stuart Dallas had all missed team training ahead of the Plymouth game.
There were hopes that Spence, Shackleton, and Gelhardt would recover before Rotherham, but names like Byram and Struijk would have to wait a little longer. Farke, on the other hand, confirmed all five were in team training as of Wednesday.
Spence, Byram, and Struijk are especially important additions for Farke and the Whites because they represent potentially three-quarters of the team’s strongest defense. Farke will be forced to leave some very good players out of his matchday 20 lineup this week.
When it comes to the Whites, there can never be unqualified good news. Farke’s confirmation of five consecutive returns to team training left everyone in the media room feeling very good about the squad’s health.
Then there was Georginio Rutter’s situation. The mercurial, talismanic forward has been a joy to watch this season, starting all but two league games so far.
Farke had addressed Rutter’s France under-21 call-up after the Plymouth win, and his only hope was that his striker returned with a clean bill of health. An abdominal strain makes him a major doubt, and it appears unlikely that they will risk aggravating it with such a busy schedule ahead.
Farke was not going to be tempted, as he had been two weeks before, to reveal who might replace an injured player in his team. When he confirmed Struijk’s surgery, the manager assumed Liam Cooper would take his place, but the manager did not bite.
In today’s press conference, Patrick Bamford was mentioned as the obvious replacement for Rutter, but Farke did not comment. Unlike Cooper for Struijk, however, Bamford is far from the only viable option for the manager.
Gnonto’s international minutes may not help his case, but Piroe’s success at nine and Jaidon Anthony’s availability open the door to another path.
In the four-and-a-half months Farke has had in the job, it must feel like his feet are only just starting to touch the floor. The German has had so much on his plate from transfers, to training, to pre-season, to tactics, to players on strike, to building relationships around the club.
Looking beyond the first team must have seemed fanciful up to this point. During the international break, however, this changed. Farke revealed that he recently watched half an hour of an under-13s game, much like Marcelo Bielsa would take an interest in all levels of the academy.
Only the most secure managers with the longest uninterrupted tenures can claim to have a close, meaningful influence on their clubs’ youth categories. Farke will be hoping that he stays at Leeds long enough to make an impact outside of the first team.
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