Leeds United hopeful of having most of their missing players back to face Manchester City

Jack Harrison, Crysencio Summerville, Rodrigo, Patrick Bamford, Luis Sinisterra, Liam Cooper, Tyler Adams, Ilan Meslier and Matheusz Klich all missed the 4-2 defeat to Monaco at Elland Road on Tuesday.

"It's very individual but we have some illness going around and we'll have to check who's coming back into training," he explained.

"Rodrigo had (muscle) tightness and if it's a friendly you don't risk these things. We think most of them will be ready for Man City but we're not 100 per cent sure. It's looking good but illness is day by day."

Meslier caught glandular fever during the lay-off for the World Cup.

"It's similar to the other guys, a day-to-day basis, I believe he'll be fit," said Maric.

Adams is suspended next week.

The disappointment of Leeds' night was the way their defence caved in for the first 10 minutes of the second half, going from 1-1 at the break to 4-1.

"If you look at how we started the game, you could see we were on it from the beginning (scoring first through Robin Koch) and I think we just missed that in the second half.

"It's just a matter of how you move, how you react. it's such a high level if you do it a second earlier and a little bit faster, they don't get the space. That's what we missed at the start of the second half.

"We want to improve on that from the first part of the season with fast starts to each half and defending leads by staying pro-active and aggressive."

Leeds have used a three-man midfield in their mid-season friendlies, having generally favoured a 4-2-3-1 before the World Cup.

"We’re just looking at how we can combine the players we have in different situations,” said Maric, “how we can adapt if the opponent is more flexible and changes things.

"We looked at three midfielders and varying if they play more on the wing or in the centre, one of them moving out wide against the ball or with the ball.

"It’s just something we’re trying out because we now have the time.”