Daniel Farke will assess whether to make any changes to Leeds United’s starting XI against Coventry City later this week.
Leeds fell to a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland last night in what looked like a game too far for many of the squad, amid the hectic schedule since the November international break.
Djed Spence in place of Sam Byram at left-back was the only change Farke opted to make from the side that beat Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, with nine of last night’s starters having made all five line-ups in the last 18 days.
Farke was asked about the possibility of changing his starting XI at the weekend in his post-match press conference and says it is something he will look at, though thinks his players have ‘good fitness levels’.
He said: “We will see. Normally we have good fitness levels, but we will see. Don’t think any of our injured players will recover for the weekend. Several players struggling with colds tonight.”
Farke needs to make changes
Farke needs to learn how to utilise his squad more effectively, particularly when you consider Leeds have some of the best squad depth in the entire division.
The Leeds boss said in his pre-match press conference that some of his players were struggling with illness and so that should have been a sign that a couple of changes were needed.
You could quite comfortably single out at least half the team who were not at their best last night. Even if Farke did not want to change his XI, substitutions should’ve been made earlier.
When you have the likes of Willy Gnonto, Ilia Gruev and even Patrick Bamford on the bench, Farke should not be afraid to hand them starts.
Hopefully last night was a lesson to Farke that he cannot just keep picking the same XI every game and expect the same level of performances week in, week out.
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