Daniel Farke shuffled his cards again on Wednesday night as he brought Wilfried Gnonto back into the starting line-up, with Dan James the man to make way against Luton Town.
The Leeds manager was faced with a difficult decision to make on Wednesday. James laid on three assists at old side Swansea, Manor Solomon scored a brace and Gnonto came on as a sub to net the winner.
Solomon and James are coming back from injuries, while Largie Ramazani is back in the squad, too. So, Farke decided to keep Solomon in the side and drop James, bringing Gnonto back into his starting XI.
Typically, Solomon and Gnonto impressed without scoring or creating any goals – but James came off the bench to score his third goal of the season, and Leeds‘ third goal on the night during the 3-0 triumph.
Dan James wants to make decision hard for manager Daniel Farke
The turnaround is obviously quick and on Saturday, Leeds travel the short distance to Lancashire to take on Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. Farke is set to make more changes to take on John Eustace’s side.
Solomon played 90 minutes on Wednesday, while Farke says it will be “a while” before Ramazani can start. The chances are, Gnonto and James start and the Welshman has discussed rotation to BBC Radio Leeds.
He wants to start every game, and wants to make it hard for Farke to drop him: “The manager spoke to me. You’ve got to be happy with those decisions, I want to play every game but we have a great squad.
“The way we rotate players is great. The manager, it’s up to him, he’s got to make the decisions. It’s about making it hard for him to make those decisions, the manager is doing well to keep everybody happy.”
Daniel Farke’s four wingers compared as Dan James scores again
Farke does have a selection headache when it comes to choosing who starts out wide. But there are other headaches, too with Ilia Gruev and Ethan Ampadu’s return likely to make it difficult on picking midfielders.
Even at left-back. Byram has a goal and an assist in his last two games while covering for Junior Firpo and even if it is expected that Byram does drop out, it is particularly harsh that Byram will drop out of the side.
| Name | Games (Starts) | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Minutes per G+A |
| Largie Ramazani | 9 (5) | 442 | 3 | 1 | 110.5 |
| Wilfried Gnonto | 17 (16) | 1312 | 3 | 5 | 164 |
| Dan James | 11 (7) | 622 | 3 | 2 | 124.4 |
| Manor Solomon | 10 (6) | 548 | 2 | 1 | 182.7 |
But who starts out wide when looking at the numbers? Gnonto tops the numbers in terms of total, with eight goals and assists this season. James now has five, Ramazani has four and Solomon only has three.
When all four are fit and at the top of the game, it remains to be seen who will start on the right and left. Even if, it looks likely that James and Gnonto will be Farke’s choice when Leeds go to Blackburn.
Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox
