Leeds United 'red flags' behind selection decision as Farke reveals injury latest after Blackburn — YEP 1/1/25
By Graham Smyth
Daniel Farke says Leeds United’s recruitment department is
prepared for any scenario but believes the injury situation against Blackburn
Rovers will not be serious enough warrant transfer activity in January.
It looked all-too-briefly like Leeds would make it 10
straight wins at Elland Road on New Year’s Day when Pascal Struijk put them
ahead with an 88th-minute penalty. But a scrambled equaliser two minutes later
from a Blackburn corner, finished off by Danny Batth, gave the visitors the
point they came for.
Leeds, who were frustrated by Rovers’ defensive solidity and
spoiler tactics for the vast majority of the fixture, piled forward in search
of a winner but Blackburn stood strong. The game was a costly one for Farke,
who had to replace Sam Byram at the break and then lost Jayden Bogle to injury
inside the first five minutes of the second half. According to the German,
Byram was suffering with a cold and tiredness while Bogle’s problem was not a
significant one.
“[Byram] looked a bit tired in the first half, struggling a
bit with a cold and was not at his best,” said Farke. “At half-time he looked a
bit pale and complained a bit, felt a bit exhausted. With Jayden it's unlucky,
he got a dead leg and wasn't able to move. I hope it's not too serious, I hope
to have them both available for the trip to Hull. Hopefully they can use the
next 48 hours to recover.
“Our recruitment department is prepared for each and every
scenario. You can of course lose a player to injury but we'll just be reactive.
We can't afford to have four or five for one position. In the background we
prepare a few things but I don't think these injuries are so serious. It could
be Jayden misses the Hull game but after that I'm quite sure he'd be
available.”
As for the performance, Farke admitted Leeds were not at
their best and though he credited Blackburn’s defensive nous, he detected
tiredness in what he saw from his own players and rued the defending for the
equaliser.
“It was definitely not our best game today,” he said. “You
could feel that the lads looked a bit tired. In the first half we moved the
ball a bit too slow, were not strong in our offensive duels and didn't create
too many chances. They're always well structured in defending, credit to
Blackburn. It's obviously always difficult when they just have to concentrate
on defending, this is what they did today.
“We tried to change the momentum with a few changes, a
change of base formation, later on instead of our fluent football we went for
crosses, crowding the box, two strikes and a bit more steel. I like that we
didn't allow a counter attack and forced the penalty situation to go fully
deserved in the lead. The rest is just football. One team just concentrating on
defending, you open them, score and then one corner kick can change everything
again. I think we could have defended the channel a bit better, it was unnecessary
to give the corner away, then second phase, deflected ball, it goes in. More or
less their only chance.
“I feel for my lads. They kept going, didn't lose the nerve,
opened spaces for counters. We know we can't win all the games, the problem is
you want to win all the games. We're a bit disappointed with just one point but
you can't win them all so you take the point and move on.”
Farke rang the changes again for this fixture, most notably
taking club captain Ethan Ampadu out of the line-up despite his dominant
display against Derby County. Ampadu was needed from the bench in the second
half when Farke sent him on to play right-back and then as a right-sided
centre-back but Leeds had spotted ‘red flags’ in the Welshman’s data that
suggested he was due a rest.