What effect will the break have on Leeds United?

Article by Alex Schroeter

With yet another round of pointless international friendlies on the horizon, Leeds’ season could greatly benefit as we look to continue our positive recent form.

Ross McCormack and his FOUR-midable (sorry, couldn't resist) performance against Charlton has caused great excitement and an unusually positive mood, with more fans seeing us in eighth, two places from the play-offs rather than eighth, only fourteen places above the relegation zone. However, despite his recent good form, he still failed to secure a place in Strachan’s latest Scotland squad, but this should not be viewed as a negative for Leeds. After the a-FOUR-mentioned (again, sorry) performance against Charlton, Ross received widespread praise, including from both managers and Eddie Gray who believes that he is already of “Premier League class”. I can’t help but feel that it would be good, for both club and player, to not have international distractions whilst staying fresh with no disruptions in order to continue playing an instrumental role in our season. Aside from McCormack, arguably our other two outstanding performers so far this season will not play on the international stage.

First of all, Rodolph Austin pulled out of the latest Reggae Boyz squad but this should also be good as he will not be travelling thousands of miles and will allow the bulk of the squad to remain together with little disruption over the international break.

Another player to have pulled out of an international squad is our latest shining talent from our academy, Alex Mowatt. Even though the experience of pitting his wits against some of the other top young players in football may have been greatly beneficial, he is only in his first professional season so it could be better that his club form will not have significant disruptions at such an early stage.

There are positives to be gained for the players who have been called up, Marius Zaliukas for Lithuania and Paul Green for Republic of Ireland. Our latest recruit, Zaliukas, could well be expected to be short of full match sharpness so an outing on the international stage so could benefit both his own form and increase competition for places in our defence. Paul Green, however, may be an interesting player to keep an eye on during the break as he has failed to make much of an impact on our season so far. Therefore, he will not only be looking for the opportunity of ‘proper’ game time to maintain fitness and get match sharp but, perhaps, to boost his confidence and to prove to McDermott that he can stake a claim on a place in the Leeds side.

With two Nike Academy youngsters on trial, the international break will allow the club to take a good look at Doriano Kortstam, a 20 year old Dutchman, and Darren Johnstone, a defender who is also eligible for Holland. Both put in good, solid displays for our development squad in a 3-0 victory over the Nike Academy.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you could argue that our recently improving form may be compromised by a disruption to the squad, however with just two players departing the squad for the international break, the core of our squad will remain together to prepare for our next game, against Middlesbrough so we may turn out to be a more cohesive unit, as other squads will be broken up and more tired as a result of international duty.

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