Leeds United continued their strong start to the season on Wednesday night, with a 3-1 victory over Barnsley in the second round of the EFL Cup at Elland Road.
A double from Mateusz Klich and a stunner from Luis Sinisterra on his first start for the club, were enough to secure victory for Jesse Marsch’s side despite a Mads Andersen goal, and they will now face Wolves in the third round.
It was a much changed side from the one that started Sunday’s win over Chelsea – with only Illan Meslier and Diego Llorente retaining their places in the starting XI – as avoiding injuries to key players will have been a key aim of this game.
With that in mind, we’ve taken a look at two pieces of Leeds injury news to have emerged from assistant coach Rene Maric’s post-match press conference, right here.
Kristoffer Klaesson
Given cup competitions are often used to give second-choice goalkeepers some important minutes, it was a surprise to see Kristoffer Klaesson not involved for Leeds on Wednesday.
With Meslier starting, it was Joel Robles named on the bench for the hosts, with Klaesson not in the side at all, although it is has since been revealed that it was due to an injury, that the 21-year-old missed out o the chance to add to his single appearance for Leeds to date.
Explaining why the Norwegian was not involved against the Tykes, Maric was quoted by Leeds Live as saying: “Kristoffer is just that he had an injury the last weeks, he was not fully fit. Otherwise, he obviously would have been included.”
Patrick Bamford
Bamford was another player who missed out on a chance to get some minutes under the belt on Wednesday, as he continues to battle his injury issues.
The striker has not featured since being forced off early on in the draw at Southampton on the 13th August, and after recent frustrations it seems Leeds are taken no chances as they look to gradually manage him back to full fitness.
Providing an update with regards to Bamford’s recovery, which does at least seem to be moving in the right direction, Maric told Leeds Live: “Yeah, Patrick is developing well. We’ll see when exactly it’s coming back. With the groin you never know exactly how much pressure you can put on it. So it’s more or less checking every few days how far he is developing, how well is he developing his injury so it’s not clear just so when exactly we’ll be back.“
Should Rodrigo keep Bamford out of the side on current form?
Yes
No
