Many of Leeds United’s squad were forced to play through the pain barrier against Hull City last night.
The pressure was very much on Leeds at Elland Road after watching both Leicester City and Ipswich Town pick up victories earlier in the day in tough matches against Norwich City and Southampton.
But Leeds were certainly not able to do it the easy way as they were without key trio Willy Gnonto, Ilia Gruev and Connor Roberts for a second successive match, which made for a slightly makeshift defence and midfield.
It is not often Sam Byram and Junior Firpo have actually played together this season, while Glen Kamara and Archie Gray were also starting as a midfield two for the first time ever.
Joe Rodon, Crysencio Summerville and Kamara were all also not at 100 per cent fitness, with the former taking pain killers for a back spasm, the Dutchman failing to get through Leeds’ morning session, and the latter struggling with a cold.
Farke says 30-year-old Leeds player told him at half-time he could no longer sprint
But they were not the only players who were forced to do it tough. It has been a manic week for many of Farke’s squad, considering Leeds’ last international in Firpo was still in action on Wednesday morning.
And in the second half, Leeds even had a player who had told Farke at half-time he was unable to even sprint anymore, but simply had to stay on the field.
That man was Byram. The 30-year-old has struggled with injuries for much of the last four or five months, but for the first time in a while, has had to play twice in just four days.
Clearly that was always going to be a challenge for him but due to Roberts’ injury and the need for Gray in midfield, Farke didn’t really have any other option.
Byram was up against Hull City’s most dangerous player in Jaden Philogene, and despite his inability to sprint, actually did a superb job to nullify his threat.
In his post-match press conference, Farke said: “Byram told me he could not sprint at half-time anymore. Thank God, Jamie Shackleton could play, but had no play rhythm.”
Byram risks serious injury to get Leeds over the line
Byram knows his body better than anyone else and has had to go off injured in quite a few matches already this season.
However, for him to stay on the field when he knew he was struggling, and produce the performance that he did defensively, is brilliant.
Philogene is regarded by many as one of the best wingers in the Championship, yet was able to complete just one of his 10 attempted dribbles in the game.
That was down to Byram always being on the front-foot and failing to let him turn. Hopefully the next few days provides him with the time he needs to recover for Coventry City.