Pascal Struijk has expressed his disappointment at Leeds United’s failure to win last night but is happy to be back on the pitch.
Struijk made his return from injury at Rotherham United on Friday after making a quick recovery from surgery on a hernia that only kept him out of the win over Plymouth Argyle.
The 24-year-old only made his return to full training on Wednesday but was called in action inside the final 10 minutes as Liam Cooper limped off with a ‘slight injury’.
After the game, Struijk posted on Instagram to share his happiness at returning to action in what has been a very quick recovery from the Leeds centre-back.
Due to Cooper’s injury and his importance to the side, Struijk is likely to come back into the starting XI for Wednesday night’s match with Swansea City at Elland Road.
Leeds need Struijk back starting
Writing on his official Instagram account after the game, Struijk was disappointed that Leeds did not take three points but is happy to be back playing.
He said: “Happy to be back out there, shame we couldn’t take the win.”
For the time Struijk was on the bench last night, Leeds really missed his ability to progress the ball from the back with Rotherham, understandably, happy to sit back and soak up pressure.
Cooper was too often happy to play the simple option inside to either Joe Rodon or Ethan Ampadu, which allowed Rotherham to reset defensively, and slowed down Leeds’ attack.
Struijk, though, is arguably the best centre-back in the league at finding forward passes and so in matches like that, where Leeds have to be creative to break teams down, he is severely missed.
Hopefully he is now straight back into the XI alongside Sam Byram on Wednesday, which is a combination that has worked well this season.
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