Daniel Farke provided a positive injury update on Thursday.
Leeds United have welcomed Noah Okafor back to team training this week at Thorp Arch but he won't be wrapped in cotton wool after a hamstring injury according to Daniel Farke.
Okafor has missed the last four Premier League games and the FA Cup win over Norwich City with the hamstring issue he picked up in the previous round of the cup at Birmingham City. The winger has made 23 top flight appearances since joining the Whites from AC Milan, scoring four goals and becoming a key part of Farke's offence. Whether he's fit to start on Saturday night against Brentford remains to be seen but he will be available for selection.
"[He's] better, back in team training since the beginning of the week so everyone is available, no one is out," said Farke. "Good situation to be in, in March. Of course he was out for several weeks so it's a question of how many minutes he's got in his tank. It's definitely good news for us."
Farke admits it's rare to reach March with no injuries and just the suspension of Gabriel Gudmundsson hanging over them for the Brentford clash, but insists that being overly-cautious is not the secret to avoiding injuries. So Okafor and others will not be held back from full involvement in team training when they have been passed fit by the medical team.
"There is something in the DNA of the players - if you're lightning quick like Noah there is the risk, the same with Daniel James," he said. "There's not the same risk with players who are not as quick. My answer is never to put players in cotton wool during the whole week, they're available then but not ready to perform. We try to build resilience with a relatively hard training regime. If you just put them in cotton wool they can't deliver with consistency and sustainability in the mid and long-term. Hard work is always the answer but then to look into their sleep, nutrition, support their recovery. So far so good we've had players with big injury records, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Lukas Nmecha, Sam Byram when he came to us, Junior Firpo. It's very unusual that right now in March every player is available, apart from a yellow-red card, so it's praise to our medical team and it's a bit our DNA. I believe hard work always pays off."
While Farke has a decision to make on whether he sticks with the offensive set-up he went with at Crystal Palace last weekend, when both Nmecha and Calvert-Lewin started, it isn't likely to take him long to decide who fills in for Gudmundsson at left wing-back.
"We have also the chance to change the line-up, we've done it several times but JJ [James Justin] is the most natural replacement," he said. "He's used to playing on the left. We have other options, if we play there with a winger type or Sam Byram. I don't see Pascal Struijk, who has played there in previous years, in this position running up and down the flank. It's not that we have too many natural replacements but I still trust my squad that we've found a good solution for this game."
As for the rest of his line-up, Farke was not ready to reveal whether or not he sends the same team out that started last weekend, with Nmecha and Calvert-Lewin both involved.
"It's difficult to judge," he said. "On the first half we haven't allowed the home team any chances, had a clean sheet, had the better chances, Dominic with two good chances with headers, we had a great chance for Brenden, we had the penalty situation. The ball was rarely in play, so many dead ball situations but even there it was important to have physical players on the pitch. It was not an unbelievably fluid game of football. Then we had the situation before half-time, with one man less. I can always count on Lukas, he trains well, delivers good performances in the cup competitions and it's always an option to start with him. It's good we can be picky for this game."
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