Leeds United 1 Aston Villa 2: Lee Sobot's YEP video verdict
Things won’t get any easier for the Leeds United boss with a trip to Manchester City on the horizon.
Ilia Gruev admits manager Daniel Farke is not the only one under pressure at Leeds United with their Premier League return ‘not going so well’.
Leeds did enjoy a promising start to life back in the top-flight but five defeats in six games has left them in the bottom three, below West Ham on goal difference. A 2-1 defeat at home to Aston Villa last Sunday heaped more pressure on Farke with a smattering of boos heard inside Elland Road at full-time, while some in the Kop chanted ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’.
Farke insisted after the defeat he was not concerned over his job security but things won’t get any easier for the German, whose side face Manchester City on Saturday before meetings with Chelsea and Liverpool. But the manager is not alone in being under pressure.
“It is normal in football,” Gruev told Leeds Live. “Daniel is very positive and he is trying to help us. We are also under pressure - the team. Last season we were a big favourite in the league and we won so many games and everything was good.
“Now we see how it is when things are not going so well. But we have a great group and we stick together. We knew the pressure would come but I’m quite positive that things will change for us.”
Villa on Sunday at least saw Leeds return to being competitive, having limped to defeats on the road at Brighton and Nottingham Forest before the November international break. Farke’s side got stuck into their opponents and were deserving of a first-half lead which could really have been more than 1-0.
Ilia Gruev on Leeds United’s Premier League challenge
But a lapse in concentration cost them again, with Noah Okafor failing to track Donyell Malen just three minutes after the break. His cross found Morgan Rogers who beat the likes of Jayden Bogle, Ethan Ampadu and Pascal Struijk to the ball before flicking a deft finish beyond Lucas Perri.
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That goal allowed Villa a foothold in the game and from there, the away side’s quality showed as Rogers made it 2-1 with a dipping free-kick. And so despite Leeds putting in a solid 45 minutes against top-four opposition, it counted for little and that has been a problem all too often this season.
“We knew before the season that there would be times where it would be a bit tough for us, where we maybe don’t win a lot of games but this is part of the process,” Gruev added. “The Premier League is quicker in every aspect and the players have much more quality.
“Against Villa we played a good game against a good side but we didn’t win. It’s about points and you don’t buy yourself anything with good play. We have to keep going. We want to be out from this situation as quickly as possible.”
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