Inside Elland Road: Are they still playing for Farke?
The Leeds United boss saw his side improve significantly at Manchester City after a couple of half-time changes.
Daniel Farke insists Leeds United's stirring fightback in a 3-2 defeat at Manchester City was not simply down to a 3-5-2 formation and it is not the answer to all problems.
The Whites went down the tunnel 2-0 down and came back out of it a different side, quite literally. Farke's half-time changes brought Jaka Bijol and Dominic Calvert-Lewin into a side that moved to a 3-5-2 and took the game to City in a different, more effective way. Calvert-Lewin's nuisance factor helped him poke in the first and he was chopped down in the area to win a penalty that Lukas Nmecha dispatched via a rebound to level the game.
City, who had roared into a first-minute lead through Phil Foden's first and stretched their lead through Joško Gvardiol midway through the first half, struggled to get to grips with the second half version of Leeds having controlled them with ease earlier on. But eventually the hosts' quality told. Ao Tanaka's ill-advised pass was picked off, the hosts kept the ball patiently around the area and then Foden shot through a crowd to beat Lucas Perri in the Leeds goal. The winner came on 91 minutes and try as they might Leeds could not find another way back in the remainder of 10 minutes added on.
"Congratulations to Pep and Man City, we played the most successful side in the UK in the last decade and one of the best in the world," said Farke. "If you have such a start and concede after 40 seconds after unlucky results in the last weeks of course it does something with the lads. We spoke about how important set-pieces are. Normally you have to win the set-piece scoreline to travel away with something here or at least draw it. We changed at half-time a little bit. We had the same principles in our pressing against the ball but I was not happy with our execution and we changed our structure in possession to have more control and passing angles against their pressing. We got more and more control and belief. The lads showed a fantastic second half, fully deserved the equaliser. I think both teams could have won it. Man City is a side full of superstars and class, one moment of magic, Phil Foden through many legs, it was a decisive moment for them. Heartbreak and unlucky for our players, they should take lots of pride and confidence."
Farke was asked if he would consider starting with a 3-5-2 against Chelsea next week and why he had not used it sooner, but he insisted it is not a simple fix that will bring wins.
"We're always prepared to play in a 3-5-2, it would be too easy to reduce it to this," he said. "If the answer of how to win here and dominate against a side who has won every title you could win was just to play 3-5-2 then many teams would win here. It's not that simple. It's about the principles, how you want to play against the ball. The execution was now how we planned during the whole week. The structure gave us more clarity but in possession we still had one striker and one a bit more flexible. Today it was helpful to gain control back.
"If it's just that easy, we play 3-5-2 and we just win and perform at a top level, then anyone could be a Premier League manager. It has to fit to a game, to a structure. How Man City played today, the way they pressed, for that it was right. We couldn't have done it against Aston Villa, they had a completely different structure in the pressing and were sitting deeper. To come here and play man against man like we did in parts of the second half, to do it over 90 minutes against so many sides as a newly-promoted side is not that possible.
"Today it was definitely the right choice. It's important we're flexible and it's important to do it when the right players are fit. We [previously] had Nmecha and Calvert-Lewin both not on full fitness. When you don't need wingers and can create more through the centre you can do this and we did today. It's always a solution but not in each and every moment."
Read More
Another of Farke's changes that became a talking point was his replacement of his left flank prior to kick-off. The German had spoken about the problematic number of goals conceded down the left side and introduced James Justin and Willy Gnonto in place of Gabriel Gudmundsson and Noah Okafor. And on 59 seconds Manchester City unlocked Leeds' left flank to open the score.
"I can't speak publicly about it, I would be banned from football, I'm not allowed to swear," he said. "If you concede exactly from what you've prepared the whole week, after 40 seconds you're asking what are we doing. It's a bit like life. Another sucker punch but keep going, show resilience, show passion and confidence. Sadly it didn't pay off with points but a performance the lads should be proud of."
Justin went off after taking a knock midway through the second half but Farke revealed it was always the plan to substitute the full-back around the hour mark and there is no injury concern.
Continue Reading