Leeds United's international break: Breather for some, coaching for others and representing their countries for the rest

Ignoring the late-September blip at Southampton, the period between the first and second international break of the English season has been when Farke's players got into their stride after a slow start.

Fifteenth going into September’s pause, which for them began the day after the transfer window closed, the Whites are now fifth, with four wins and a draw at fellow promotion hopefuls Hull City in six games.

Momentum is building, only to be put on hold so European Championship qualifiers and various other internationals can take place. In November, there will be another two-week hiatus.

But for all that, and for all it will be no break at all for many of his players, Farke is looking forward to some extra training-ground time with those who need it.

Perhaps the most valuable thing for Farke will simply be a bit of thinking time.

"As a player there's nothing better than to play, I always loved to play three or four games a week," comments the Leeds manager.

"As a coach you get the feeling sometimes football without games would be nice because you have to disappoint so many players when they're not in the starting line-up.

"But you have to take decisions and that comes with a pressure.

"When you have the added adrenaline of a matchday, playing at Elland Road – your own living room – and the whole stadium is buzzing when you win games, there's no better feeling.

"Sometimes it's good to have perhaps a bit less pressure and a bit less load so you don't have to make so many decisions and explain to the players why they are not playing.

"As a player I would have loved to play every two days, if I'm honest, I'd rather play games than do running on the training pitch but as a coach it changes the perspective a little bit.

"Once you are in a good shape and a good rhythm you would like to keep going and you're a bit concerned when many players are away. You're concerned about the workload and you hope and pray all the players come back without injuries.

"But it's sometimes good to have a spell when you can work with players a bit more on the training pitch. With so many players away for us it's not that helpful but I don't complain about this, it's how it is.

"We have an international schedule, we have to adapt to it and try to make the best of it."

It keeps coming for internationals Ethan Ampadu, Dan James, Joe Rodon (all Wales), Liam Cooper (Scotland), Charlie Cresswell (England Under-21), Archie Gray (England Under-19), Ilia Gruev (Bulgaria) and Glen Kamara (Finland), all away for much of the next fortnight.

Fringe players such as Charlie Allen (Northern Ireland Under-21), Charlie Crew (Wales Under-19), Darko Gyabi, Mateo Joseph (both England Under-20), Leo Fuhr Hjelde (Norway Under-21), Diogo Monteiro (Portugal Under-19), Jeremiah Mullen (Scotland Under-21) and Dani van den Heuvel (Netherlands Under-21) will not be on hand to make up the numbers in training.

For the rest, it is about assessing what they need.

Jaidon Anthony made his first and to date only start for Leeds at home to Queens Park Rangers, Patrick Bamford's first outings of the season came from the bench in the last three games. Ian Poveda has played 16 minutes (plus stoppage time) since mid-August, Joe Gelhardt one since the League Cup exit at Salford City.

On the other hand, Sam Byram pushed through three consecutive matches in a week, something Farke had said a couple of weeks earlier he was not capable of at that point, and the Championship schedule has been relentless for the regulars.

"For Sam Byram, for example, it's quite important we calm the load down a little bit in this period, then there are players just coming back from injury or others who didn't have that much game-time and they have to work a bit more," argues Farke.

"There's so much pressure with so many games.

"There's not a (top) league in the world with so many games.

"At the beginning of the first week it's important to calm the load and the pressure and give them one or two more days off than normal. We'll let them work quite individually, some players will have more recovery sessions, some more work.

"Then, from the middle to the end of the week it's good we can work a bit more on details and concentrate on the players who are there.

"The second week leads into the next game (away at Norwich City on October 21). You always have to listen to the workload and the objective data but also your gut feeling to know how to handle the situations.

"I would say we'll handle the loads in quite an individual way to make things right, to have good solutions so that when they are all back available they are fresh and ready to go into the next busy spells."