The Welsh trio for Leeds United, who play Rotherham United this evening, had a race against time to recover from their international match on Tuesday.
Leeds’ trip to Rotherham United this evening is the first game back in the top two divisions of English football following the international break.
Due to the game’s change in date to a Friday night and its broadcast on Sky Sports, Daniel Farke’s team may have serious concerns regarding their level of fitness following international matches.
Concerning tonight’s game, who is it?
A few Leeds players enter this week having had little rest after international matches, aside from Djed Spence, Jamie Shackleton, Sam Byram, Pascal Struijk, Joe Gelhardt, and Stuart Dallas, who are all recovering from injuries.
Willy Gnonto scored twice in a full 90 minutes of action for Italy’s U21 team on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Dan James, Ethan Ampadu, and Joe Rodon all participated for Wales in their pivotal Euro 2024 qualifying match against Turkey. During his pre-match press conference, Farke stated the following about the quartet, according to the YEP:
Overall, we’ve had a pleasant international break and are in good physical condition. Having a few victories going into the break is a good thing. We eased the load in the first few days, and in the middle of last week, we had proper training in small groups. The group is expanding daily. There will be some late calls because of the heavy load and extensive travel [for internationals]. The way things are, we have to adjust to the circumstances.
“I am unable to assign James, Ampadu, and Gnonto to a typical team meeting tomorrow. A few players won’t have had a single team practise before this game. I don’t like Friday night kickoffs.” My instinct tells me that Saturday afternoons should be the first start. The television
What’s the most recent?
These four players appear to be healthy enough to be included in the squad for the trip to South Yorkshire this evening. Leeds Live, who also share the matchday roster for the trip to New York Stadium, claims as much:
“Meslier, Ayling, Byram, Ampadu, Cresswell, Struijk, Cooper, Firpo, Piroe, Kamara, Bamford, Shackelton, Summerville, Anthony, Klaesson, Rodon, James, Gray, Rutter*, Byram, Poveda, Darlow, Gnonto, Gruev, Gelhardt.”
