Leeds United teeter on brink of crisis at Elland Road
Leeds United are now teetering on the edge of an injury crisis after their recent volume of injuries, according to The Athletic.
The news outlet reported on 3 October that the last week had been a “cursed” one for the club with the likes of Ilia Gruev and Ethan Ampadu being sidelined for extended periods.
Others such as Max Wober, Dan James and Isaac Schmidt are also unavailable which makes Daniel Farke’s squad depth fairly minimal.
Writing for the Athletic, Nancy Froston shared her thoughts on Leeds’ current situation.
“The Dutchman [Struijk] now has the captain’s armband in Ampadu’s absence and the task of leading a patched-up side into the biggest test of the season yet when they head to Sunderland on Friday night,” she wrote.
“Ampadu’s absence is set to be lengthy and the extent of Ilia Gruev’s injury remains unknown.
“Max Wober is on the sidelines for six weeks, reducing Farke’s options for depth at centre-back, while Dan James, Manor Solomon and Isaac Schmidt are all in the treatment room.
“It has been a cursed week for United as they teeter on the brink of an early-season injury crisis.
“Having endured his own injury frustrations with five months out last season, Struijk is the man capable of leading them through a week of long away travel and tricky tests on the pitch”.
Pascal Struijk need to bring Leeds United together
The Whites have had a fairly topsy-turvy season thus far. While the West Yorkshire outfit currently sits fifth in the Championship, the vast majority of their wins have come against teams they were expected to defeat.
Those that they did manage to drop points to have been games against the likes of Burnley and West Brom who are ahead of the Whites in the second tier.
But now Ampadu is sidelined for 10 weeks [Yorkshire Evening Post, 30 September] and Gruev’s return hasn’t yet been announced [Yorkshire Evening Post, 2 October], the squad needs to come together and try to make the best out of a bad situation.
Struijk had his own problems last season when he was ruled out for the rest of the term in December after suffering an injury himself.
The Dutchman is by far and away the best person to lead the club into this challenging time as he can use his own experiences to try and rally his troops.
Only time will tell whether this injury crisis will ruin Leeds’ chances at automatic Premier League promotion once again.
In other Leeds news, James Debayo has stunned one of his teammates after what he did at Norwich.
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