Leeds United appeared to be marching towards another home win on New Year’s Day when Pascal Struijk scored in the 88th minute to give the Whites the lead. However, Blackburn Rovers scored a late equaliser to walk away with a point from Elland Road. The Yorkshire giants are still at the Championship table’s summit but squandered a good opportunity to build a bigger lead at the top of the standings. Daniel Farke could rue some of the choices he made in terms of his team selection on Wednesday afternoon.
The Whites are still leading the Championship standings and are one of the stronger favourites for automatic promotion to the Premier League at the end of the season.
However, Leeds’ failure to get the three points on Wednesday would have hurt the players as a win would have really helped them to build a healthy lead at the top of the league table.
Leeds would have backed themselves to get the result over the line given their record at Elland Road this season but Blackburn managed to walk away from West Yorkshire with a point in their bag.
Farke decided against tinkering the team too much on Wednesday and the Leeds boss admitted after the game that the team looked tired following a gruelling run of games.
The Leeds boss must share some of the blame as he didn’t really rotate his squad properly to ensure some of the key players remained fresh amidst a gruelling festive schedule.
The Leeds United boss should have rotated a bit more
Farke likes working with a small squad and a settled group of players. He is the kind of manager who doesn’t like tinkering with his team too much.
The gruelling schedule of the festive period meant he was forced to make some changes, especially in the 1-0 win over Derby County when he started a completely different front line.
However, the Leeds boss didn’t rotate as much as he should have and it showed in the performance against Blackburn at Elland Road on Wednesday afternoon.
Farke conceded that his team looked tired and it was down to his penchant for playing certain players continuously despite the gruelling schedule.
Brenden Aaronson is the prime example of Farke’s obsessive need for consistency in selection. The American attacking midfielder started and finished every game during the festive period despite the quick turnover time between games.
He looked tired and spent against Blackburn but he still finished the game despite physically struggling towards the end.
Struijk, Joe Rodon, Jayden Bogle, Daniel James and Joel Piroe are some of the players who have had little rest despite the gruelling festive schedule.
The performance levels inevitably dropped against Blackburn as the team looked tired and were struggling to cope with the physical demands towards the end of the game.
Farke will be desperate to avoid injuries
The Leeds United boss conceded that his team were tired in the game against Blackburn and there is now a risk of a few players missing games due to injuries.
Jayden Bogle has a dead leg and Farke also revealed that Sam Byram is also struggling with his fitness ahead of the Hull City game this weekend.
Leeds need to ensure that most of their best players remain fit for the rest of the season to help them push through their advantage at the top of the table.
Despite the draw against Blackburn, Leeds have had a good festive period and three more points at Hull this weekend will put them in a good position for the second half of the season.
However, Leeds will hope they avoid any big injuries and Farke will have to be careful to ensure that his best players remain fresh for the rest of the campaign.
The Leeds manager indicated that the recruitment team are ready to act if the squad pick up any big injuries but he hopes to avoid such a scenario.
