Georginio Rutter and Ilia Gruev were both absent from Leeds United’s defeat to Chelsea this evening.
Daniel Farke opted to rotate his side as he said he would but Leeds ran Premier League opposition right until the very end, with Conor Gallagher’s 90th minute goal proving decisive.
Leeds had taken the lead early on through Mateo Joseph’s first ever goal for the club, before Nicolas Jackson and Mykhaylo Mudryk turned the game around before the break.
Joseph then headed in his second of the game on the hour mark but it was Chelsea who were able to scrape through to the last eight, where they will face another home tie against Leicester City.
Farke opted to leave the likes of Crysencio Summerville, Willy Gnonto and Glen Kamara on the bench, but the absences of Rutter and Gruev from the squad completely are the biggest concern.
Farke explains Rutter and Gruev absence
Speaking on ITV before the game, Farke said both players had ‘some problems’ in training on Tuesday, while Jamie Shackleton was also a late omission due to illness.
He said: “A few players were just not available. Gruev and Rutter had some problems yesterday in training, Summerville and Bamford just made the bench because they weren’t able to train on Monday, normally Jamie Shackleton should have started today but he felt unwell so Junior Firpo comes in.”
Hopefully neither Rutter or Gruev’s problems are too serious and they are back in the squad for the quick turnaround against Huddersfield Town on Saturday lunchtime.
Farke was not happy with the scheduling of Leeds’ fixtures before the game which is why he felt compelled to rest a few.
Leeds should feel pleased with their efforts on the night and with three Championship games to come in the next six days, the result may not be the end of the world.
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