Daniel Farke says he is relieved one of his key Leeds United players did not come away with a broken ankle today.
The Whites were beaten 2-1 by Southampton at Elland Road in a final day clash that very much turned into a dead rubber amid events elsewhere.
Leeds headed into today’s game needing a miracle in order to finish in the top two and never at any stage did it look like happening as Ipswich Town swept Huddersfield Town aside comfortably.
And in truth, Leeds looked second best for the majority of today’s encounter with the Saints, which is a tad worrying going into the play-offs, as they could potentially meet in the final at Wembley.
Leeds supporters are not exactly confident going into the next few weeks after their drop off in form recently, but hopefully they can pick themselves up again.
Farke relieved Crysencio Summerville did not break his ankle
With Ipswich coasting to second place fairly swiftly after half-time, it would not be an exaggeration to say the second half at Elland Road was played like a testimonial.
Leeds barely created any clear-cut chances as Southampton were happy to sit deep, having actually started quickly after the break.
Much of the second 45 minutes was spent seeing Leeds pass the ball from side-to-side, but despite that, Crysencio Summerville was lucky to escape a serious injury late on.
Summerville was involved in a challenge with Kamaldeen Sulemana that saw bothJoel Piroe and Joe Rothwell booked for their reactions.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Farke says he is relieved Summerville did not come away from that challenge with a broken ankle.
He said: “Overall, I hope first assessment of Cree was not too bad. When you see a foul against Piroe, this scene, I’m happy it’s not a broken ankle for Summerville. Nasty and dirty foul against him. Hope he is okay.”
Farke should’ve subbed Summerville
As mentioned, it was pretty clear early on that Leeds were not going to get the miracle they needed, and that should’ve been the sign to take Summerville off.
The £1.3 million man is Leeds’ main attacking threat and so to risk him playing 90 minutes in a dead rubber encounter was a little naïve from Farke.
Instead, Farke should’ve wrapped him in cotton wool for the final 20 – 30 minutes to keep him fresh and injury free ahead of the play-offs starting next weekend.