Managerless Wolverhampton Wanderers will dictate how Leeds United approach the World Cup break from next month. Jesse Marsch has set out a rough idea for how the Whites will negotiate the second, extended break of the campaign through November and December.
The broadcasters’ choices are in and Tottenham Hotspur away at 3pm on November 12 has been confirmed as the last game United will play before their squad disbands. However, it’s the clash three days earlier which will dictate the medium-term plan.
Leeds visit Molineux for a 7.45pm kick-off in the Carabao Cup on November 9 and victory would put them into round four. EFL has decided that round will play in the week commencing December 19, two days after the World Cup final and six days before the Boxing Day Premier League return with Manchester City.
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Naturally, playing six days before the league expects you to is going to alter how Marsch sets his team up through the break and when they need to be sharp. The one guarantee he has made the squad is an outright two-week break from full-time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“We will take two weeks and then we will get back to work,” he said. “There's a little bit of how the match against Wolves goes and then are we in the Carabao Cup still, so that'll have a little bit of a factor of the timing of some things, but we feel like two weeks is a good time for everyone to get away and then we'll get back to work.”
A fortnight would have the players reporting back to Thorp Arch across the weekend of November 26, exactly one month before the City match at Elland Road. How much time is spent at the training ground remains up in the air, however.
The Whites are understood to be weighing up a trip to the USA for a mini-training camp before the return to action. It is yet to be decided, but it’s at least one option the club is looking into.
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