Stuart Dallas highlights Nations League inconvenience but Leeds United just have to buckle down - David Prutton

I thought Stuart Dallas’ comments on the current international break being disruptive were interesting last week.

Obviously the fixtures this weekend haven’t come at an ideal time for anyone, let alone a manager as meticulous as Marcelo Bielsa.

I understand where Stuart is coming from, but I don’t agree that it is ‘madness’ or ‘silly’ that the Nations League games take place, as he said.

Players will arrive back with their clubs just before the new season, which isn’t brilliant timing. The thing you’d say, though, is that we’re in a world that is ever-changing at the moment.

Yes, if you’d have said it was the case a year ago then it would’ve seemed slightly crackers, but things have changed fundamentally and we’re now playing catch up.

I understand what he is saying and the convoluted element of the matches coming in a disjointed order because it has broken up preparation for Leeds ahead of a hugely important year.

It’s just the way of the world at the moment. Unfortunately there is an element of risk in anything we do at the moment, but it is as safe as it possibly can be for elite footballers.

I know he is having a little moan about it taking place, and he’s looking at it from a player’s point of view, but what you’d say to him is have some perspective of the bigger picture in terms of the actual game.

It is absolutely not ideal, but in the grand scheme of things it is a bit of an inconvenience. It’s not the normal run up to a season, but welcome to the world at the moment – nothing is normal.

From a footballing perspective it would be nice to have that pre-season where you take a month or six weeks working up to that game against Liverpool but it was never going to happen this summer.

We can sit there and pull apart the decision to play these tournaments but they were scheduled before the coronavirus and they need to take place. Another delay just pushes the issue further down the line.

The Championship came to a close, as did the Premier League along with the Europa League and Champions League, so at some stage it was going to become a squeeze and this is where it begins unfortunately.

It’s going to be a hectic year but players just have to buckle down and get on with it. We can’t start picking and choosing between what competitions we do and don’t want to play.

We’re operating in a hugely different set of circumstances both domestically and in European football, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t play for your country or fulfil your international commitments when it is possible to do so.

It’s the nature of being a very, very good footballer that you’re going to play a lot of games across the season both for your club team and country.

Seeing Rodrigo lead the line for Spain against Germany was probably a bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment for a lot of Leeds fans, especially when Robin Koch came on late too.

In an ideal world, of course you’d want them both training with the team before the season kicks off – and that is where Stuart is coming from – but playing 90 minutes against Germany can’t be a bad thing for Rodrigo’s match sharpness.

We all know Bielsa is forensic in his preparation and it will be there as it always is for the players still at Thorp Arch ahead of the trip to Anfield next week.

In terms of the game itself it does feel like as good a time as any to play Jurgen Klopp’s side.

I’m not saying it’s a free hit, of course it isn’t, but every team is in the same boat with players coming back from international duty with schedules out of sync.

I’ve no doubt Leeds players won’t need any motivation going to Liverpool – it’s where they have fought to be for a long, long time.

We talk about it being the pinnacle for the players playing in the Premier League but it must be right up there for Bielsa to manage in the top division here.

He’s achieved so much in the game but I imagine it will be a proud moment for him.

As a player, the final week of pre-season was always the best for obvious reasons. There’s that excitement and buzz around the training ground.

You know you’re going to be playing for proper points and in games that really do mean something after the hard slog of getting back up to speed.

Leeds have been waiting for this for the best part of 16 years and the only real shame is that they won’t be able to enjoy it with the supporters who stuck with them through all the ups and downs.

I imagine this next week will almost be like an elongated Christmas Eve for everyone at the club, with people extremely excited to open that wonderful present on the opening day.