Daniel Farke has addressed Anton Stach's recent difficulty after the midfielder's social media post on the subject.
The German admitted earlier in the season that the injury he sustained at the end of last term against Brighton had still been playing on his mind. Since then, Stach has suffered a broken finger and a foot problem. The latter has disrupted his ability to train at Thorp Arch and also ended what was an unbroken seven-game streak of Premier League starts, though he did come off the bench against both Sunderland and Bournemouth.
Earlier in the week Stach took to Instagram to admit he was going through a testing time and voice his determination to get through it. "Difficult periods test you in ways people will never see," he said. "But I know what I'm working for and I'll keep pushing until I'm back where I belong."
In Thursday's press conference Farke took what was for him an unusual step, in identifying Stach's precise problem.
"I didn't want to speak in public about exactly what his injury is, also to protect him a little bit," said the boss.
"But I think before we start secret discussions or whatever, these are all high-profile athletes, and they are really on the highest level. Each and every detail and small percentage can disturb them in their performances. Anton has been playing with a broken finger, with tape around his hand. Obviously, the finger for outfield players is perhaps not that decisive, but it's of course not ideal. But also since a few weeks he's dealing with a broken toe. His little toe is broken, and that is of course painful."
Farke revealed that Stach has been able to have pain-killing injections to make him available for games but that's not possible every day, so he's been doing individual rehab work at Thorp Arch.
"That was the reason he was not involved in the starting line-ups in the last weeks," said Farke. "But we still don't want to miss out on Anton, and we are all happy that he was willing to suffer and to sacrifice himself, even to have him on the bench. Because it's the same with Joe Rodon, he's important for the whole group. And even if I can just bring him in for 15 or 20 minutes, it's still Anton Stach who can produce a moment of magic, perhaps with a good free-kick or corner kick."
Stach's side-before-self attitude has not gone without the manager's recognition but for Farke the post-Spurs international break has become timely.
"I accept at the moment that he's perhaps not ready to to be in the starting line-up due to these problems," said the boss.
"But I also appreciate that he's willing to sacrifice himself and to give something to the squad. This says a lot about his character and about the character of my team. It would be easier to rule himself out, and then no one is asking why he's sitting on the bench. But it's more or less due to the top character of Anton that he wants still to play a part. And I think for us, this next international break comes at a good time, if I'm honest, because we have the chance to get rid of all the problems of Anton, of Noah Okafor, of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and this will be beneficial."
In the meantime Farke and the squad still have a big game at Elland Road to deal with, against Tottenham Hotspur.
"I'm not just looking ahead," he said. "We still want to stay together and stay united. It's not the easiest situation at the moment, especially offensive-wise.
"But we want to stay together and fight together, and also make sure that, in perhaps not the best situation, we still are able to dig in and grind out a result in this important game, because each and every point matters, and we want to be competitive in this game on Saturday."
