Daniel Farke will have to delve deep into his Leeds United squad over the next two weeks to give his side the best chance of coming through the festive period with maximum point.
Leeds face five matches across the next 15 days and on paper, they are all winnable. However, due to the sheer number of games, it increases the possibility of dropping points.
Oxford United at Elland Road this afternoon are Leeds‘ first opponents of this little run and represent a good opportunity to return to winning ways after the draw at Preston North End.
The visitors have managed just two points from their nine matches on the road all season and will not yet have Gary Rowett in the dugout after only being appointed on Friday afternoon.
David Prutton has backed a comfortable Leeds win and although no one can be underestimated in the Championship, anything less than three points would be inexcusable.
Why Leeds vs Oxford could be now or never for Isaac Schmidt
Leeds have been far stronger at Elland Road than on the road this season and so with back-to-back away matches coming up, resting one or two players would be wise today.
With Max Wober nursing a knee injury, and Junior Firpo out until January with a hamstring issue, Leeds aren’t currently blessed with fully fit full-back options.
Sam Byram and Jayden Bogle look like they are Leeds’ first choice pairing right now but it is always important for the former to be managed.
Given Byram’s history of injury issues, there is simply no way he will be able to start all five matches over the Christmas period and so this feels like a good one to leave him on the bench for.
As such, Farke should hand Isaac Schmidt his long-awaited full debut for Leeds, particularly due to the attacking threat he can offer against a side likely to sit deep.
Even in his very brief cameo appearances since joining from St Gallen for £4.6m, Schmidt has looked really sharp on the ball and if he isn’t going to get a start in a game like today, then it’s hard to see when he ever will.
Byram’s physicality will be much more suited to away matches such as Stoke City on Boxing Day and Derby County just a couple of days after. Keeping him fresh for those would be the smart thing to do.
- READ MORE: Predicted Leeds United XI to face Oxford as Pascal Struijk decision made and attacking duo return
What Farke said about Leeds squad rotation
One of the first topics that came up in Farke’s press conference on Thursday afternoon was how he’d look to rotate his squad.
Farke revealed it is certainly something he will be doing in the next two weeks, and so hopefully Schmidt can be apart of that.
He said: “We have done this in the last weeks with three games in six days. It’s more in the offensive positions where you have to be sharp, creative and recover for high intensity runs.
“We don’t rotate too much at centre-back. There will be rotation in the coming days, especially in the next five games. Lots of load in a short period. Especially in the wide positions, there is lots of quality and competition.”
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