Daniel Farke is under huge justified scrutiny as Leeds United manager, and the vocal majority are in agreement that Nottingham Forest could (or should) have been his last game in charge.
No one thought that Leeds’ return to the Premier League would have been smooth sailing this season, given the quality jump between the top two divisions.
However, playoff winners Sunderland have proven that with investments equal parts shrewd and ambitious, plus a pragmatic coach, can lead you to great things and not pending doom.
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Daniel Farke facing strongest calls yet for Leeds United sack decision
Leeds’ most recent must-win game before the weekend was their home clash with West Ham. Daniel Farke’s side got it virtually spot on despite the nervy ending, but since then, the mood has completely nosedived.
Defeat to Brighton was grim, and then losing with a likewise performance at Nottingham Forest made matters worse. Not only was it a continuation of Leeds’ defence being incredibly porous, but this time against a side who have been worse than United this season and are yet to get going under their third manager.
Daniel Farke is under intense pressure as Leeds United manager. (REUTERS/Chris Radburn)
A 3-1 defeat was the least Forest deserved as they cancelled out Lukas Nmecha’s fine opener. Full-time brought online vitriol as you’d imagine. While individuals were rightly criticised, defeat at the City Ground was a systematic failure. Unfortunately, it formed part of a growing list of concerns regarding Farke.
Should he be sacked, it shouldn’t come as a huge shock. Leeds needed to get ahead of the fixture list with more points on the board at this stage. Given how bleak the run of games is after the international break, points might be hard to come by from here.
Here, I look at three glaring issues at Leeds that may well point to a decision being made on Farke…
Lack of adaptability with his Leeds United selections
In the Championship, Farke was rightly seen as the specialist to trust in getting us over the line. He’d been there and done it twice with a worse Norwich City side, and got 90 points in his first campaign.
However, there were warning signs that he might not be able to translate that into the Premier League, having failed twice with a barely-backed Norwich squad. One of the very obvious issues at the moment is the lack of adaptability from game to game.
Leeds’ investment in the summer indicated that the recruitment team and Farke were aligned on how we needed to play:
Play direct
Defend the box compactly
Provide legs and energy in midfield
Physicality all over the pitch
Maximise set pieces
Ultimately, be horrible to play against
Leeds’ start against Everton was akin to a top-end Championship game at Elland Road. We controlled a cagey game with plenty of the ball, and got our reward late on. So, plenty to like, even if Everton were poor.
But then at Arsenal, Leeds needed to be much more conservative in their approach to get anything. So, Farke tried playing out from the back against the most physical and best organised side in the world, and started Joel Piroe up front against the world’s best centre-back pairing, who rendered him completely anonymous as Arsenal battered us.
Leeds United were swamped away at Arsenal and Brighton as they played into both teams’ hands. (REUTERS/David Klein)
You’d think that was lessons learned. But, Leeds tried playing the same way at Brighton and got ripped apart again. It suggests that Farke’s not actually willing to adapt as much as the signings would suggest.
A consistent theme with Leeds’ poor results has often been that Farke’s side revert to a similar ‘failsafe’ to try prise teams open. That failsafe being ‘give the ball to Crysencio Summerville or Noah Okafor and hope they beat two players’. In 24/25, Leeds never had to fully rely on Manor Solomon, as we were much more balanced on each side.
In-game management not up to Premier League standard
If Leeds are losing a game under Farke, it’s worrying that most fans can predict what’s going to follow from the manager.
It’s essentially a case of Farke getting every attacking player on the pitch. As a result, he sacrifices any semblance of shape. Getting these subs on has worked on occasion – Norwich away in 23/24, and Sunderland at home in 24/25.
However, it’s backfired multiple times. Examples include Blackburn at home in 23/24, and on Sunday to name just two. Leeds fans could see at half-time that this game was getting away from us unless the approach and perhaps the personnel changed after half-time.
Daniel Farke’s management in-game against Nottingham Forest was non-existent. (Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers)
Forest, under Sean Dyche, turned the screw with three changes and one of them was integral to getting the win. Omari Hutchinson replaced Nicolas Dominguez on 59 minutes, setting up Forest’s second just nine minutes later. Ryan Yates came on as a smart replacement for the booked Ibrahim Sangare, who couldn’t stifle Leeds transitions while walking a tightrope.
Despite Dyche’s triple change shifting the momentum even more in Forest’s favour, Farke didn’t make a single change until 74 minutes. By that time, Leeds were already losing.
Dan James, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and Joel Piroe were decent introductions in theory. However, Farke followed that by hooking Leeds’ best threat, Gabriel Gudmundsson for Jack Harrison at left-back. The makeshift defender then gave away a penalty to seal the loss.
Sniffing out the problems before they happen is vital in this league. Sunday was an example of Farke reacting to these problems becoming out of his control, rather than being proactive to alter the game on his own terms.
Historic Premier League record compared to rivals’ tried and trusted managers
Looking more to the rest of the season, the question that the 49ers have to answer is: Do they still think Farke is the man that can keep Leeds above three other teams?
Beating West Ham and Wolves suggests Leeds have got what it takes to match two. But, the Irons have won back-to-back games since. So, their form is likely to see an uptick that could drag us into the bottom three.
Nuno Espirito Santo has previous for getting teams out of the mire, and Dyche does too, outclassing Farke on this occasion. Worryingly, both boast a much more talented squad that you could also see moving up the table.
Farke, meanwhile, has a historic Premier League points-per-game figure of 0.62. Of course, his Leeds return is at 1.00 – 11 points from 11 games so far this season – but that return is sure to drop somewhat in the coming weeks as Leeds play most of the top half.
There’s the argument that Farke doesn’t have the squad necessary to compete in the Premier League. That might well be fair enough. The window was overall not good enough. However, is Farke the man that can consistently overperform with limited resources? All evidence of his time at Elland Road suggests otherwise, he’s not ever noticeably punched above his weight.
Read more: How Leeds United could replace Daniel Farke, if the time comes…