Danie Farke’s Leeds United team produced a pitiful performance against Brighton, which may bring back questions about his job at Elland Road. The Whites were woeful at the Amex Stadium on Saturday as the home side romped to a 3-0 win over the visitors.
Leeds remain 16th in the Premier League table on 11 points after 10 games. However, they have already lost half of their fixtures, and the defeat at Brighton was particularly concerning as their attacking frailties were again brutally exposed.
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The Yorkshire giants have only managed nine goals this season, and only the bottom three teams have scored fewer than Farke’s men in the Premier League at this stage of the campaign.
However, the Leeds boss has rarely sounded alarmed by the lack of goals in his squad this season. In fact, his emphasis is often on how Leeds look like a far better team when underlying stats are considered.
Daniel Farke’s Leeds United disappointment on Saturday showed why his job could be at risk
The Leeds boss has been obsessed with xG in the Premier League this season. He has often highlighted this metric to defend his side’s performances when the Whites have dropped points.
On Saturday, Leeds were resoundingly poor and were widely outperformed by Brighton even in xG.
Farke admitted it was disappointing that his side failed to produce a strong xG, especially given how well they’ve performed in that metric during away games this season.
His side failed to get anywhere near scoring a goal, and while xG is a good metric, the fact that Farke was unhappy that he didn’t even get that in Leeds’ column should be worrying the fans.
“In several away games, at Fulham and Wolves, we created good xG”, Farke told reporters after the game.
“Not today.
“First time in a long time, we have not created much xG. Not good enough, but across 10 games, sometimes games like this come around for a newly-promoted team. Arsenal one, this is the second.”
xG is not getting reflected in real stats, as Leeds do not have goals in their team
Farke’s obsession with xG can be grating for Leeds fans, as it is clear the Whites do not have reliable goal-scorers for the Premier League in their squad.
The hope with teams with high xG is that at some point, the results would reflect the underlying performance levels, but it would still need people who can put the ball in the back of the net.
It’s not a question of form for the Leeds attacker, as none of them are reliable goal scorers in the Premier League, or have yet to prove that they can be one.
Leeds are underperforming their overall xG. However, there is little to suggest that the results will catch up as to who will convert those chances.
Performance Category Percentile Rank (vs Top 7 Leagues)
🥅 **Goals** 31st percentile
⚔️ **Attacking** 55th percentile
🟠 **Possession** 53rd percentile
⚡ **Counters** 19th percentile
🛡️ **Defending** 49th percentile
💪 **Physicality** 56th percentile
💨 **Pressing** 20th percentile
It is not as if Leeds are creating loads of chances as well. They played well against Wolves and West Ham, but have been creatively poor in other games
Calvert-Lewin has not been a reliable striker in the Premier League for several years. He has done nothing this season to buck that trend.
Key Metric Value / Rank
⏱️ Minutes Played 583
🎯 Non-penalty **xG** 82nd percentile
📈 Goal conversion 25th percentile
🧠 Expected assists 48th percentile
💥 Offensive duels won 21st percentile
xG would have been a more meaningful metric if Leeds had proven forwards merely going through a rough patch. But there’s nothing to suggest that any of their attackers are simply out of form.
If Farke keeps clinging to xG instead of addressing the real problem, he’ll eventually get sacked at Leeds, because, at the end of the day, where are the goals?
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