More Leeds United rotation, another injury over the international break, and what we learned from Farke
Daniel Farke’s pre-match news conference took place at Thorp Arch on Thursday afternoon before Leeds United’s Championship match against Southampton, and here’s what we discovered.
Daniel Farke spoke to the media at Thorp Arch on Thursday afternoon, looking ahead to Saturday’s Championship match between Leeds United and Southampton. The manager spoke for around 20 minutes on the training grounds, and here are the highlights of what we learned.
The worst time to play Southampton
The form book would have you believe that this is the perfect moment to play Southampton, but Daniel Farke sees a wounded, cornered animal with the claws to take down Leeds United on Saturday. Kyle Walker-Peters, Adam Armstrong, Che Adams, and Ryan Fraser are all capable of hurting second-tier opponents on their day.
Farke emphasized not only Southampton’s ability to recover, but also the carrot of beating Leeds. The Whites’ game of the season has been and will continue to be the division’s.
“I couldn’t think of a worst moment to play against them because they are there with four losses in a row,” he stated. “It’s difficult to change things when you have a busy schedule and three games in six or seven days.”
“If you have a normal week and time on the training pitch, you look under every stone and speak about every detail that needs to be improved for such a big club with such high ambitions and also many, many quality players.”
“I’m pretty aware they would have done exactly this and then the home game against Leeds is a big opportunity because playing against us is more or less always the game of the season for our opponent.”
More rotation is on the way.
Having only recently completed a three-games-in-six-days patch, the next is already on the way. The trip to Southampton is followed by a visit from Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday and a week later by Bristol City at Elland Road.
Farke was questioned about his center-back conundrum in Hampshire for this weekend, but he made it plain that everyone will play their part in a difficult week ahead. The guys who did not play on Saturday may be frustrated, but they will most likely play against QPR or Bristol.
“It’s not the easiest part you have to disappoint player, but, right now, we’re also heading into a busy week with three games within seven days and for that we need all our players in the squad and I’m happy we have many of them available,” he stated.
Behind closed doors, Joseph
Mateo Joseph has yet to appear in any of United’s teams this season. The 19-year-old attacker injured his ankle in the penultimate week of training before the season began, forcing him to miss several weeks.
That injury came at a worse moment than we could have imagined. Since then, Joseph has returned to the matchday squad on two occasions, but he could have had so much more.
There were four games before Joel Piroe arrived at Elland Road where the young striker would have had a very strong opportunity of starting with or instead of Georginio Rutter, who was injured. Joseph stood out in the summer’s behind-closed-doors friendly with Barnsley.
“I was very impressed and pleased with him during preseason.” He played well in all of the friendlies, including the behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly against Barnsley.
“Unfortunately, he had this long-term injury.” It’s never easy for a young player who is just breaking into the first team if you miss such a large portion and are out for more or less two months and require a bit longer to get back in shape.”
Firpo will be absent for yet another international break.
Junior Firpo had returned to team training before breaking down again, but Farke revealed on Thursday that the left-back would be out until after the forthcoming international break. It’s another setback for Firpo, who has already been out of commission for months.
Costa resolution is being sought.
With Helder Costa still on the books at Leeds United, nearly all of football’s various transfer windows have officially closed. The 29-year-old continues to train on his own and will not be a part of Farke’s plans in the future, but Leeds are now wasting a weekly wage on someone who has no say over their fate.
“Everything’s professional, everything is clear between all parties and the club is working behind the scenes on a good solution, but he’s not in our plans because we want a group where everyone is really fully focused and fully committed,” stated Farke.
