Daniel Farke has revealed that Anton Stach has been playing through a broken toe and a broken finger, and the Leeds United boss admits his side are not in the easiest place going into Saturday’s game against Tottenham, “especially offensive-wise”.
Farke rarely goes into detail on injuries, but he made an exception in his Thursday press conference after the midfielder posted on Instagram earlier in the week about going through a testing time.
Spurs travel to Elland Road for the 12.30pm UK kick-off on Saturday sitting three places and one point above Leeds in the Premier League table. Roberto De Zerbi‘s side have a goal difference of zero, while Leeds are on plus one.
What is wrong with Anton Stach?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. Stach picked up an injury against Brighton at the end of last season that was still on his mind earlier this term. Since then he has broken a finger and, a few weeks ago, his little toe.
Farke explained why he was speaking out. “I didn’t want to speak in public about exactly what his injury is, also to protect him a little bit,” he said. “Anton has been playing with a broken finger, with tape around his hand. Obviously, the finger for outfield players is perhaps not that decisive, but it’s of course not ideal. But also since a few weeks he’s dealing with a broken toe. His little toe is broken, and that is of course painful.”
Stach has had pain-killing injections so he can be available on matchdays, but that isn’t possible every day, so he has been doing individual rehab work at Thorp Arch instead of training with the group. It ended a run of seven Premier League starts in a row, although he still came off the bench against Sunderland and Bournemouth.
Farke accepts Stach is “perhaps not ready to be in the starting line-up” but still wants him in the squad for “a moment of magic, perhaps with a good free-kick or corner kick.” He also said the international break after the Spurs game “comes at a good time”, with a chance to “get rid of all the problems of Anton, of Noah Okafor, of Dominic Calvert-Lewin”.
Leeds vs Tottenham: where the goals are not coming from
That is the theme of the week in West Yorkshire. Leeds lost 2-0 at Bournemouth last weekend, and as we pointed out in our Leeds vs Tottenham preview, they have now gone five league games without a win and scored only twice in that run.
Jayden Bogle, speaking this week, put it down to small details. “I still think we’re in a good place now,” the defender said. “But it’s just, like people said after the game, the fine margins with the decision-making, probably in the final third, just to turn those draws into wins and take those chances when we can.”
He insisted nothing had changed in training, with the focus at Thorp Arch on getting “those goals flowing again because we haven’t scored as much as we’d probably want to at the moment.”
Do Leeds fear Spurs?
Respect, yes. Fear, no. “I think you have to be respectful of the fact that they’re a big club with fantastic players,” Bogle said. “But again, it’s so early in the league. Everyone’s close together. You can’t really pay too much attention to league position at the moment. We’re full of confidence. I’m sure they’ll be full of confidence. I think it’ll be a good game.”
Farke’s message was more about grit than goals. “It’s not the easiest situation at the moment, especially offensive-wise,” he said. “But we want to stay together and fight together, and also make sure that, in perhaps not the best situation, we still are able to dig in and grind out a result in this important game, because each and every point matters.”
Advantage Spurs at Elland Road?
We think so. A Leeds United side carrying a half-fit Stach, with doubts over their forwards and a manager openly talking about grinding out a result, does not sound like a team ready to go toe to toe with the side that has won three on the bounce.
The danger is that Farke gets exactly the game he wants: tight, scrappy and decided by one set piece, which is precisely where Stach’s delivery from the bench could matter. If Spurs move the ball as quickly as they did against Palace and make Leeds run, the hosts’ final-third problem will only get worse. Our Tottenham predicted lineup vs Leeds United has the XI we expect De Zerbi to trust with that job.
