Daunting Leeds United evidence before Wayne Rooney and Plymouth visit as Daniel Farke eyes change
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The Whites' last enjoyed a Saturday-to-Saturday spell of preparation at the back end of September, between a 2-0 win over Cardiff City and a 3-0 victory over Coventry City. Since then the league schedule has intervened and an international break that barely delivered Farke's players back in time to train together before facing Sheffield United.
Farke's delight at getting to 'calm the load' for his players after a gruelling period is understandable and there were some heavy-looking legs as the goalless draw with Bristol City wore on at the weekend. A full week before the Elland Road meeting with Plymouth Argyle will allow players like Brenden Aaronson to catch a breath. The attacker played seven games for club and country in the space of 26 October days, totalling 596 minutes of action not to mention his journeying from England to Texas, Texas to Zapopan in Mexico and then the 9,000km trip back to the UK.
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Hide Ad"Yes for the players, especially those on international duty, for them it was immense, so much travelling, so many games," said Farke. "Then [after the international break] three games in eight days. Tomorrow [Sunday] and Monday we'll calm the load down but then at the latest from Tuesday we concentrate on the next home game because we know we're in a good shape with good performances and many points but we need to keep going and improve our situation further on.
"I'm looking forward to having a proper training week. It's a while since I had the team together so it's always beneficial to have a training week at Thorp Arch with the whole team."
The benefits obviously also include a chance to prepare in full for whatever Wayne Rooney and Plymouth might have up their sleeves as they look to pick up a first away win of the season and what would be a first Elland Road triumph since 1962.
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Hide AdBut more recent events suggest that Argyle will have their work cut out, because Leeds traditionally return to action from a full week of training with a spring in their step.
This will be the 15th time in his Elland Road tenure that Farke has had the luxury of a full week, or more, with his players at Thorp Arch without interruption and of the previous 14, 10 resulted in victories and one was a draw. Only one club has ever managed to win against Farke's Leeds in such a scenario and as it happens that club, Southampton, did it three times including the play-off final at Wembley. But when Leeds come back to the pitch well rested and fully prepared, they tend to come roaring back - their 10 wins brought a stunning 29 goals and a total of six clean sheets. A weight of evidence that could be daunting for a man as full of self belief as Rooney.
With no midweek game to pull focus, Farke and his players have plenty of time this week to address what he has admitted is an ongoing issue and work on their efficiency in front of goal as they attempt to return to action with another goal glut.
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Hide AdThe German will have to make do without right-back Jayden Bogle after he picked up his fifth booking of the campaign in the Ashton Gate draw. Farke admits it's a blow, because he believes Bogle has overcome a difficult start to show his worth for Leeds in recent outings, but he does have Junior Firpo to come back in. That change will likely see Sam Byram swap to the right side of the defence, having filled in for Firpo on Saturday, though versatile new boy Isaac Schmidt continues to wait in the wings for a first start.
"I got the same feeling [that he's a big miss]," said Farke."After difficult years in the last two years for him for his former team, when you lose many games and suffer relegation and also a difficult start because he arrived after not playing too many games, he needed a bit of time. I also got the feeling in the last weeks he's stepped up a lot and had really good, important performances for us. It is what it is in the Championship. Sometimes a player is not available due to injury, or a fifth yellow card. For that Junior comes back, we'll also find some solutions going forward. We have to adapt to the situation."
It was Firpo who was missing from the back four last weekend thanks to a suspension of his own but Farke would not go so far as to say his absence or that of the injured Largie Ramazani, played a part in Leeds' inability to win the game.
"I also missed Max Wober, Ilia Gruev and Ethan Ampadu," he said. "It's difficult to say that with Junior we would have won the game, but obviously like with Largie he has added many end products in the last weeks or so. Junior is always there with a good assist or sometimes even with a goal. Of course we would have preferred to have them available, but we also had many players available who could have scored and we were in good positions. I think we could have been a bit more tidy and clinical in the finishing. It's a bit the ongoing problem. We create a lot, we're dominant so I'm pleased with our game but sometimes we could be more efficient."
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