Daniel Farke, manager of Leeds United, has been questioned for his side's performance against Nottingham Forest.
Morgan Gibbs-White produced the perfect response to his England omission by helping Forest to their first Premier League win since the opening day of the season.
Gibbs-White was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s squad for next week’s World Cup qualifiers, but reminded the German of his talent with a decisive goal in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Leeds.
The midfielder’s second-half header helped end Forest’s nine-game winless streak in the league as they secured three points for the first time under head coach Sean Dyche.
It was far from pretty as they had to come from behind, Ibrahim Sangare cancelling out Lukas Nmecha’s opener for Leeds.
Elliot Anderson’s late penalty sealed a vital triumph for Forest, who have now taken four points from their last two games and look to be heading in the right direction.
They are just two points behind Leeds, who have lost four out of their last five matches. Following their latest defeat, manager Farke has been called into question.
Farke should have made earlier changes against Forest
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Since arriving at Leeds in 2023, Farke has sometimes been questioned for his decisions surrounding substitutes. Often, the German seems to bring new bodies into the game only after the majority of minutes have been played.
Against Nottingham, Leeds made no changes until the 74th minute. This is despite having lost their one-goal advantage, finding themselves 2-1 down and offering little threat to their hosts. Such a decision was noted by commentator Jon Newsome who at the time of United's substitutions, as per BBC Sport West Yorkshire.
"I think the changes should have come before now. It's very much a carbon copy of the first half, but probably a little bit worse."
England midfielder Anderson killed the game from the spot in the 90th minute after the lively Hutchinson, introduced from the bench, was fouled by Jack Harrison, a natural wide midfielder who replaced left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson.
In attack, Leeds were bereft of inspiration. They had just four shots before the 70th minute and of the 10 they had across the game, as per SofaScore, only three were on target. Beren Cross of The Athletic commented on the fact that, despite Farke saying he had been in team training for a fortnight, Italian forward Willy Gnonto, who would offer a much-needed creative spark, was not in the squad against Forest.
With an international break ahead of them, Leeds will face a number of tough fixtures as they look for what will be a needed improvement in form. With four defeats within their past five Premier League games, questions may soon be asked of Farke's future at Elland Road if such a run continues.
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