LEEDS UNITED CURVEBALLS COULD DISRUPT ARCHIE GRAY AND SAM BYRAM AT THE 11TH HOUR

Moving Sam Byram to left-back for Leeds United at Watford seemed like the obvious conclusion to the international break for Daniel Farke. With Junior Firpo playing in Peru, more than 6,000 miles away, until 3.30am (UK time) on Wednesday morning and not returning to Leeds until late Thursday morning, Good Friday’s selection was obvious.

Byram may seen his sleep affected after recently becoming father, but he’s not had anything like the match load or travelling Firpo has had over the past 10 days. The full-back is ready to go, but it may be at left-back.

When Farke spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon, he stopped a long way short of confirming Byram at left-back, such is the quantity of injury doubts the manager is facing. Connor Roberts, Ilia Gruev and Wilfried Gnonto all had complaints of some kind, as of Wednesday lunchtime, and that would create a knock-on effect for the team.

“I don't want to speak too much about individual choices or who can come in today because there's too much to consider at the moment,” said Farke. “We want to wait.

“If really Connor Roberts is out, probably yes, [we] want to wait if Willy Gnonto is available or not. We need to wait [and see] what happens with Ilia Gruev. [There’s] also the possibility we perhaps also need Archie Gray then in the midfield position or whatever.

“It's a bit too early to speak about who is really in the starting line-up. Right now, we're just up to wait until all the players are there, until all the players are assessed, until I get the green light from the doctor or, sadly, sometimes the red flag.”

If Gray is drafted into midfield alongside Glen Kamara, that would open up right-back in the line-up. Jamie Shackleton might be hopeful of a start in that case, though Byram could slot in there if Farke really is happy to push Firpo again on the left flank.

“Then we can think and speak about the starting line-up,” he said. “Obviously, Sam was with us in the last two weeks. He had good training sessions, so he is prepared if I need him, but at the moment it's really a bit too early to speak about it.

“Under normal circumstances, Junior, it wouldn't be possible for him to start the game or to be in the squad because, yes, he played just literally in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday) due to the time difference.

“And he is just back tomorrow (Thursday) in the late morning, but I can't rule out anything at the moment because we have to wait for the assessment.”

2024-03-28T09:41:40Z dg43tfdfdgfd