Adam Forshaw reveals change to Leeds United training approach to protect priority number one

The midfielder went under the knife for a hernia in October but the World Cup break has allowed him to catch up on fitness in preparation for the Premier League resumption later this month. Although he says he missed Wednesday's session in order to save himself for the friendly, Forshaw has taken part in every other training activity for the past fortnight. This week's training camp has had a singular focus.

"It's been really good, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere in the greatest respect, so we've literally woke up, trained two sessions. gym sessions, recovered really well and it's been a great week," he said on Thursday morning after a light set-piece run through.

"It's been tough, it has been really tough. Off the top of my head, Monday was really hard, we did some tough runs after the training session. The lads have definitely felt it, the physios have been working hard, keeping us getting ready to train again and exactly what we need.

"I've managed to train all week, trained last week so since we've been back in, I've been involved, I'm feeling like I'm getting fitter and fitter and hoping for some minutes again tonight."

The friendly with Elche is one of three Leeds will play during the break, with Real Sociedad and Monaco visiting Elland Road in the coming weeks. These games are a precursor to what lies beyond - Manchester City at home - and Forshaw is prioritising the games, which means making a slight adjustment to his approach to training.

"I want to build and build as much as I can to be involved for the Man City game, I definitely want to play a part in the second half of the season and try and help the team back up the table," he said.

"I am that type of player [who goes into 50:50s full blooded], I do get into collisions at times but I wish it was less often to be honest.

"It is part of my game but it's something - I was speaking to Jesse about it yesterday - I've got to curb a little bit, especially in training, not in games. Like yesterday I just didn't train, to save myself for tonight. I kinda need people to tell me that because I would have trained. Jesse thinks it is a plus to my character but ultimately I want to play more games."