Leeds United may be able to field their strongest line-up against Watford on Tuesday evening, should those who were managing small knocks against Millwall be fine to play.

Daniel Farke said he hoped Joe Rodon and Daniel James - who missed Saturday’s FA Cup defeat with minor complaints - will be fit for the trip to Vicarage Road. Joel Piroe was also managing a small concern but he was able to come on from the bench 10 minutes from time.

Teammate Pascal Struijk, meanwhile, was handed his first start since suffering his hamstring injury last month. He missed a second-half penalty in the contest, with Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts tipping his effort onto the post.

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Questions may be raised over why he was allowed to take the spot kick given the risk of rustiness amid recent return from injury, but the importance of Struijk’s role in the starting XI cannot be argued with. Ethan Ampadu has generally done well next to Joe Rodon but Farke has underlined how much he values him in midfield.

He will be allowed to reprise his anchor role now Struijk is back. That means one of the midfield duo of Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell will be rotated out of the side - and it seems inevitable who that will be.

Rothwell has shown his value in the side and has done fine alongside Tanaka while Ampadu has dropped back. His dangerous set-pieces and spreading of the play has been appreciated and utilised, though it was he who was dropped twice for Ilia Gruev in recent matches, not Tanaka.

The Japan international is perhaps the bargain of the summer, having been acquired for just over £3million from Dusseldorf. His keep-ball abilities, doggedness in the tackle and forward thinking has won the hearts of supporters, and the manager.

Very rarely does Tanaka choose the wrong option. And furthermore, he has shown to be positively productive too. He has notched two goals and two assists this season, where Rothwell has been unable to find the net despite his own couple of assists.

On Saturday, Rothwell was the central player who tried to force the initiative later in the game. He saw a handful of shots go close or saved, but this charge came too late.

Of course, he was part of an XI that had never played together before, so that brings its own struggle. But the Bournemouth loanee was one of few in the side who has enjoyed regular game time in recent weeks, yet only perked up when the substitutes came on.

With the hosts 2-0 down, there was a roar from the John Charles West Stand when the first fleet of substitutes came back to the bench to prepare to be brought on. Tanaka was one of them and he added stability to the midfield, albeit the game had gone by then.

Also among the first wave of replacements was Junior Firpo. A popular figure, the left-back marked his first start since his own injury nine days ago by recording a hat-trick of assists in the demolition of Cardiff.

When he came on against Millwall, he produced more offensive threat than Sam Byram had done all match. When asked about his full-backs following the win over Coventry City, Farke was at pains to outline his admiration for Byram and his reliability, and rightly so.

Indeed, the 31-year-old played admirably during his stints at left-back, a key cog in United’s six-game clean sheet run prior to Saturday. Byram’s defensive awareness is arguably more fine-tuned than Firpo’s but in regards to productivity, it is Firpo who wins out.

United often dominate possession in a game - one of the reasons behind the side’s ability to keep so many clean sheets, according to Farke. That allows the full-backs to be more adventurous.

As seen with Firpo against Cardiff and Jayden Bogle against Coventry, Leeds can afford to throw a little more caution to the wind. There is an argument that says Firpo’s defensive play is better than Byram’s attacking output, and Saturday gave more evidence towards this theory.

Farke has refrained from stating he has a first choice left-back selection and insisted it depended on the context of the game and opponent. But that Byram, not Firpo, started in a much-rotated side against Millwall hints at his thinking.

Firpo is the best natural left-back the club has, although Byram's recent showings had raised slight ambiguity over whether Firpo would walk straight back into the side. But any headache Farke may have had over his best starting XI may have soothed in recent weeks.