Daniel Farke will be looking to improve his side in any way possible ahead of a potential play-off campaign for Leeds United.
Having been top going into the March international break, Leeds endured a miserable April which means their automatic promotion hopes going into the final day are all but over.
Leeds sit third in the table three points adrift of Ipswich Town in second, who just need to avoid defeat at home to a Huddersfield Town side who are almost guaranteed League One football next season.
Farke’s side had strung together a run of 12 wins in 13 matches between the turn of the New Year and the 2-0 win over Millwall, but have just not looked the same since returning from the break.
There are various reasons why that has been the case, with the defensive record regressing considerably, injuries to key players and the attack not firing like it once was.
Farke says Leeds working on something in training they’ve been so ‘poor’ at lately
If Leeds are to be in the play-offs as expected, Martin O’Neill believes it is going to take some serious work to get the side back up for it.
Ultimately, however, all Farke can do is work on the weaknesses Leeds have shown in the last few weeks so they do not resurface in what will be a tense play-off campaign.
One major thing Leeds have struggled with lately, even when they were winning matches, is attacking set-pieces. In fact, Farke’s side have not scored from a single corner since Pascal Struijk got injured on Boxing Day.
Struijk scored from such a situation in the penultimate game before his issue, and in the 22 matches that have followed, Leeds haven’t found the net once.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference earlier today, Farke admitted it is a weakness of his Leeds side and they have been working to improve that this week.
He said: “Both is important. You’re not only working on the weaknesses. We want to gain the momentum back of being the best team scoring from set-pieces during the first half of the season.
“Recent weeks, deliveries poor, runs not timed, players not available who are capable to score in these situations. We had players, our takers, due to individual problems, muscular problems, couldn’t train it with this consistency.
“It has to do a bit with busy spell, Cree Summerville always struggling, Dan James muscle injuries. We had the time this week to also focus on strengths and the little weaknesses, scoring out of set-pieces also one of them.”
Leeds ranked 22nd for set-piece goals in Championship
As per an article from TriggerThePress, there are only two sides in the entire division less efficient than Leeds at scoring from set-pieces.
Leeds have scored just eight goals all season from them, with both Plymouth Argyle and Blackburn Rovers on five the only two worse.
In comparison, the side who look set to beat them to second place Ipswich, are also in second for most set-piece goals this term.
The Tractor Boys have 19 and are only bettered by Cardiff City. It is little details like that which can make the difference, and clearly it has.