Here are the latest Leeds United evening headlines on Friday, 22 April 2022.
Kenny urges no Bamford rush
Former Leeds United goalkeeper Paddy Kenny has urged the Whites not to rush Patrick Bamford into action as he closes in on a return to training. Bamford suffered a ruptured plantar fascia in the 3-2 win at Wolves last month and was handed a six-week recovery timescale.
Leeds confirmed that Bamford had been nursing the problem in his foot for around 12 months, with the rupture at Molineux the final straw. Jesse Marsch is hoping to have Bamford back for the final two matches of the season, but Kenny thinks that Leeds must avoid rushing him back unless he is fully fit to play.
Speaking to Football Insider, he said: “It depends how bad he is. Would he like a couple of games before the end of the season? I would think so.
READ MORE: Patrick Vieira settles previous Jesse Marsch differences with respect for Leeds United boss
“If he should play is a different question altogether. I get him wanting to come back if Leeds are in trouble but I think they are safe now. If he isn’t going to be 100%, then don’t play him. It’s that simple.
“That being said, if he is ready to go and fully fit before the end of the season then I don’t see any harm in playing him. But don’t rush him back, that’s the last thing they should do.”
Forshaw blow
Jesse Marsch has confirmed that Adam Forshaw will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his kneecap in training. It becomes the latest on an extremely unfortunate list of injuries for the Leeds United midfielder who had stepped up brilliantly this season after his earlier lay-off.
As the Whites have not played for a fortnight, it was an impact injury that occurred in training. According to the Leeds boss, the initial diagnosis is a six-week absence which rules the 30-year-old out for the remainder of the campaign.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Crystal Palace clash, Marsch said: “We had an unfortunate injury with Adam Forshaw two days ago. He was back in training and he took a knock in a collision on his knee cap and unfortunately he fractured the knee cap.
Read more here.
Marsch clarifies ‘over-training’ comments
Leeds United manager Jesse Marsch has stated he meant no disrespect towards Marcelo Bielsa with his comments on ‘over-training’. Marsch gave an interview to talkSPORT where he explained his views on why he thought the Whites had suffered so heavily with injuries so far this season.
Bielsa notoriously worked his players extremely hard on the training field in order to boost the squad’s fitness levels, but in his final season with the club the injuries really began to stack up. Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday, though, Marsch wanted to clarify the comments he previously made, claiming he retains the utmost respect for Bielsa and the interview was in no way conducted to criticise him.
He said: “I haven’t spoken since the comments I made on talkSPORT about overtraining and Marcelo. I want to say this was not intentional to attack Marcelo in any way. It was a little bit careless and I can see how it was interpreted in some ways.
“But it was more about the state of the player pool and about what I had observed in trying to take the team forward. I think you would be hard-pressed to find an incoming coach that has spoken more positively about the person he replaced in the way I have spoken about Marcelo. It’s because I have major respect for him.”
Read more here.
