Daniel Farke reveals injury extent of Leeds United's midweek casualty ahead of Blackburn Rovers trip

Not much ongoing, expect a pretty quiet January. Have to stay awake if you have a big injury like Ethan/Ilia and have to be spontaneous. If nothing happens, I expect a really, really quiet January. With overdoing things you can sometimes, with a group that’s tight together, without meaning it, they lose their togetherness. If they deliver like this, they deserve to earn the spotlight. At the moment there’s no need to hurry anything. I want a pretty quiet January, but we’re also prepared in case we have to react.

We want to be flexible and not that predictable. Choose a bit more to have Ao [Tanaka] in a bit wider position where we’ve used Joe [Rothwell]. Sometimes we’ve done this with Joe on the right side. It depends on what the opponent is doing. Mix it up sometimes, to not be predictable. The players know what we have to do. We don’t want to play 46 games in the same structure with same players. Flexibility is something we’re working on. It’s something to improve. One of our main topics against a man-orientated side and it paid off.

Overall you know I am a big fan of Junior Firpo. I have supported him and put him in when he’s fit. He’s repaid my trust with shining defensive behaviour and in the offense. Takes more responsibility for the team. Not the easiest period for him. Red card and suspended for yellow cards. Not that much of team training, had to train with a smaller group. Not the easiest to stay fit and competitive, he remained working hard. There are no gifts, everyone has to earn his right to play again. Use this chance to impress, lots of competition in Junior’s position. Nobody’s name is permanently written in the starting lineup.

It has no effect. We are in a top position. There are five or six teams around us. The Championship is such a competitive league. Our whole focus is just on us and our performance. We know we have to be at our best to give ourselves a chance.

It’s outstanding, I think the supporters are the most valuable asset of this club. Very enthusiastic, they can play the important part to be 12th man. Sometimes these emotions can be a bit difficult for young players, it’s up to me to help them keep their nerves in emotional situations. We have one big unity with our supporters. To have such travelling support is amazing, extra motivation to make our supporters happy. We want to send them back with a positive performance and result.

If they win their game in hand and you should expect this they sit in the top six. They’ve proved this with good results and performances. We know it’s not an easy place to go. They had a bit more time in the past week to recover and on the training pitch. It’s a tough test and will be another difficult game. Expect a tight game, have to fight and use every per cent to win as many points as possible.

Yes, they have to accept it. They know my door is always open, they’ll always get an honest answer. It depends on the player if he wants an explanation. Sometimes you also have the feeling, proactively you have to explain why, it depends on the gut feeling and experience of the coach. Overall they know we have so much load, know we will rotate and know it’s due to the load. Sometimes tactical reasons, sometimes performance but everyone accepts my calls in a perfect fashion.

They are just 100 per cent happy when I play them every second, but that’s normal. When you have three days in six days not on the easiest pitches, it’s quite normal in this position that there’s always intensity, creativity, have to be sharp and fresh - you can’t play every minute. I have to praise my lads, they accept this. The value of these players is so important, not if you always play 90, 19 mins or 19 seconds, you play an important role. When there’s a time to shine, grab your chance. There is great spirit and togetherness, everyone is buzzing for the team.

He was out for several weeks, just back in team training more or less a few days. I was able to give him 10 mins, showed some glimpses [vs Luton]. He needs a bit of time, he won’t be a topic for starting lineup this week. Can create something out of nothing, it’s a good option to have on the bench. There’s two more days training that’ll help him a bit.

We have to take a decision if Sam is not available. Would prefer to have him. In the last game he played really excellent, not just because of the goal. Good possession, his experience, strengths, attacking and defending set-pieces. Important player for us with maturity in the dressing room. We find some good solutions to replace him.

Alright. He had a scan, we’re waiting for the results, it’ll be a tight call if he’s able to travel with us.