While Leeds United will have two weeks to process their heartbreaking draw against Sunderland, the additional time off might help them welcome back a few injured players to full condition.
In the days ahead of Leeds’ match against Sheffield United, a number of players are scheduled to go for international duty, and Daniel Farke will be praying that nobody is hurt.
With an incredibly thin team, Leeds came within minutes of defeating Championship leaders Sunderland 2-1 on Friday night.
At the Stadium of Light, Illan Meslier’s late mistake cost them a crucial three points, and instead of Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev, Manor Solomon, Dan James, and Max Wober, they would have won.
After a short break from Tuesday night’s exhausting trip to Norwich City, Leeds appeared out of sorts in the last moments on Wearside, but they played outstanding defence to nearly seal the victory.
Farke had very few like-for-like replacements on the bench, thus he waited until extremely late to make any changes during the game last night.
In an attempt to shut down shop, Isaac Schmidt and Sam Byram both entered during stoppage time, with Mateo Joseph being Leeds’ first substitute in the 76th minute.
It was impressive for Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell to complete 90 minutes because they had both had incredibly hectic weeks following a stretch of matches in September with very little playing time.
Despite Farke’s remarks on Largie Ramazani’s need to increase his fitness after Norwich, both Gnonto and Ramazani played nearly the whole match.
With Farke optimistic that both Solomon and James will be fit again, it appears as though Leeds will at least have some options to switch it out wide in their upcoming game against Sheffield United.
“Hopefully, Solomon and James will return,” he stated to Leeds Live. Wishing Wober a speedy return. will not fade away.
