Stuart Dallas has declared himself fit for Northern Ireland’s crunch Euro 2020 qualifier against Germany on Monday.
Dallas missed his country’s friendly win against Luxembourg last night but was “over the moon” for Leeds youngster Alfie McCalmont, who made his senior debut in the game.
Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth quoted Dallas after the game saying that he was “raring to go” for the game on Monday and that he had just been suffering from a niggle.
This comes after Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa had named Dallas as one of the three players that were suffering from injury problems, along with Adam Forshaw and Kalvin Phillips. [Yorkshire Evening Post]
Stuart Dallas says he's fine, raring to go for Monday against Germany. It was just a niggle.
He's over the moon for Alfie McCalmont.#lufc
— Graham Smyth (@GrahamSmyth) September 5, 2019
Boost for Leeds – but also a sweat
International breaks can be a nervy time for club fans. We’re pretty sure that most Leeds supporters would prefer Dallas to sit out the game against Germany on Monday and focus on getting himself 100% for the Barnsley game the following weekend.
The Germany game is a qualifier and it’s not going to be easy. The Northern Ireland defence is bound to be stretched and Leeds fans will be watching the game through their fingers, desperately hoping that Dallas comes through it unscathed.
He’s been in tremendous form for Leeds so far this season, with Luke Ayling recovering from surgery over the summer.
He’s played all six of Leeds’ Championship games and scored in the 3-0 win against Stoke.
According to WhoScored, Dallas is delivering at both ends of the pitch, with 1.7 shots, 1.5 dribbles, 1.8 tackles and 2 clearances per game, with a pass success rate of over 80%.
With Ayling out, Bielsa has used Gaetano Berardi, normally a centre-back, at right-back in the two EFL cup games this season. That’s not something that Leeds fans would want to see in the Championship.