Good Morning. It's Tuesday 27th February, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Farke vs Bielsa Although heavily tipped for automatic promotion last Summer, the state of play when Daniel Farke arrived in West Yorkshire was both chaotic, and somewhat bleak. The nucleus of his squad had left (or were in the process of leaving), moral was low and time was running out, with the start of the season just 32 days away. Off the field, Farke has had to deal with disciplinary issues involving Gnonto and Cresswell, whilst Bielsa chose to deal with the Pontus Jansson situation in a completely different way. Farke has had better players at his disposal if compared to Bielsa, but the competition this season has been that much difficult too. We must also remember that it took the Argentine two tries to get Leeds up, and if Farke manages it in just one, how would their success be compared? please log in to view this image Do Leeds go all out at Chelsea A victory tomorrow night at Stamford Bridge would propel Leeds into the last eight of the FA Cup, but at what cost? Nine straight wins in a row have seen Leeds rise to second place in the Championship, just six points shy of leaders Leicester City, but a slip up in the league at this stage of their campaign could spell disaster. With only goal difference separating them from the Tractor boys, and Southampton not that far behind, can Leeds afford the luxury of fielding their strongest side in the Cup? please log in to view this image Summerville's rhythm has been affected by lack of training Crysencio Summerville's rhythm on the pitch has been affected by a lack of training over the last few weeks according to Daniel Farke. Summerville is widely thought of as being the best player in the Championship this season, but with that accolade comes it's drawbacks. He is one of the most fouled players in the Championship, and with that, he has picked up his fair share of knocks. Whilst this hasn't hampered his game time, it has effected his training. According to Farke, the flying Dutchman has missed many training sessions in the last few weeks, and it's affecting his rhythm during matches. Farke went on to say that this is something he must learn to adapt to. “It’s never easy because 46 games, two cup competitions for a young player who was not used to playing week in week out, it’s a new experience for him and his body,” “We have to be careful, he’s one of the standout players with many end products. Many opponents try to play aggressive against him, he gets many hits and knocks but he shouldn’t change it, his quality in 1-v-1 duels. There will sometimes be little hits and injuries, something he has to learn to adapt to. “There are no complaints about this. Recent weeks it’s been difficult for him, it’s been a little bit stop-and-go, he was not involved in too many training sessions in recent weeks and this isn’t helpful for rhythm.” please log in to view this image
According to WhoScored, Rutter is the most fouled player in the EFL with Summerville at no 14. Mind you, according to FotMob, as of Dec 23, Bamford has the most shots on target at 2.2 per game!
Would be nice to have a go at Chelsea with a fully fit squad but any doubts of the fitness of any of the starting 11, don't risk them, Saturday is far more important. Don't think I'd even let Summerville travel, give him physio and light training over the next 3 days.
Agree with you but it would be a shame to bring the winning streak to an end. Hopefully it doesn’t break momentum if we were to lose to Chelsea.
Get what you're saying but think Farke prefers to keep everyone together and in the routine so my guess is everyone will be there and ready if needed from the bench. Whether he uses them is a different matter altogether. Morning all by the way
Also it would have been good to see how we faired against them with a fully fit 11, chances are we'd lose anyway, so not worth risking anyone. We have Sat/Tues/Fri games coming up, we need to be more focused on those.
Chelsea were anything but impressive or unbeatable on Sunday. What's the point in taking part in the cup at all if you're not willing to give a quarter final place a shot. That's one game from Wembley and Id dearly love to have one more visit there. All this nonsense about minding players. They're as liable to get injured in training or a warm up. Start with full strength side. If we're being hockeyed then make the substitutions and rest whoever. Many of our squad don't play more than an hour anyway. And how about Heidi and about 5k fans travelling to London, Ive a mate flying over too. Do they not deserve 100% effort
Agree, but we have players already carrying knocks, why risk them furthur. Fully fit squad then play the best 11, sounds like Summerville and possibly Rutter won't pass a fitness test anyway
Can see both sides of this one. I think he'll play a strong side (likely not the strongest)... and I think he should. Trade off is cup run is good for morale v injury/fatigue risk. Fck it, I say go for it. Then when our best players get crocked and we lose our next 3 games i'll blame the manager. Hey he gets paid to take flack.
Well if we’re not going to have a go at least do the decent thing in future years and play the under 21’s from first round and make fans aware of it
Morning all, Play the strongest side we can without taking silly risks. If Summerville and Rutter are d doubts then don't risk them. Anthony, Joseph & Gnonto h have shown to be good enough replacements in the cup so far. James and Gnonto either side with Joseph on front of Piroe works for me. Put Byram in at LB and Shack at Rb. Again, good enough to give good accounts of themselves. Leave Grueve and Kamara in the middle for balance and give Cooper ago alongside either Rodon or Ampadu, rest one of them
Morning all I find it difficult to say something about what is best to do. On one hand, I want to go for it and set up the best team to win the match.On the other hand, I want to play all the fringe players.There is little doubt that the league is the most important thing and getting out of this league is pri 1. If we play with a reduced team, we can be outplayed and lose big, but I don't think it will have such a big impact on the league games and our confidence. If we play with the best team, we can win the match, but also lose, but then probably not be outplayed and lose big.If we were to be outplayed and lose big with the best team on the pitch, I think that would be the worst outcome as it could crush all self-confidence and derail any promotion plans we might have. But then again as soon as the game starts, I want us to win. It is like a Jekyll and Hyde thing.
Rather bow out of the cup tbh, a lot of travelling and effort so far and we need to push on for the rest of the season Can see us being humbled by Chelsea tomorrow, They are hit and miss but they've some talent too
I think too many see this as an either or setup. Chelsea have had two days less to rest plus the negative impact of losing a cup final to contend with. We’ve no travelling at the weekend and playing a hopeless Huddersfield. Absolutely no reason we can’t field a full side say for first hour and still win saturday
