Barnsley's promising turnaround, Steel City derby analysis and Leeds United's growing concerns - The YP FootballTalk Podcast
Daniel Farke says Leeds United "should take lots of pride and lots of confidence" from their 3-2 defeat at Manchester City but warned just because a different formation worked in the second half does not mean it will necessarily pay off at home to Chelsea on Wednesday.
The visitors were trailing 2-0 at half-time when Farke brought on substitutes Dominc Calvert-Lewin and Jaka Bijol and switched from the 4-3-3 that has been his normal shape this season to a 3-4-1-2.
It had a very positive effect, Calvert-Lewin getting on the scoresheet in the 49th minute, then winning a penalty his striker partner Lukas Nmecha converted at the second attempt in the 68th.
"I think both teams could have won it," said Farke. "When City is a side full of superstars and full of class, one moment of magic, Phil Foden with a great finish through also many legs, was a decisive moment for them.
"(It was) really heart-breaking and unlucky for my players, but they should take lots of pride and lots of confidence, especially in the second half performance.
"Normally we would have deserved to take something out of this game.
"We are disappointed because we didn't come here for warm words or compliments, we wanted to win some points, so the overriding feeling is right now disappointment, but after so many sucker-punches against such a good side at the Etihad, then to show such a performance should give us lots of belief.
POSITIVES: Leeds United manager Daniel Farke (right) (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)placeholder image
POSITIVES: Leeds United manager Daniel Farke (right) (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
"If my players show further on this heart, this spirit, this togetherness and also this quality, then we have a great chance to win the points that we need. It's always possible."
Farke's half-time changes transformed his team.
"We changed our structure in possession to gain more control over the game, to have different passing angles against City's pressing,” he explained. “We got more control and belief back in our game.
"That showed in a fantastic second half. I think we fully deserved to equalise. It was an open game in the last minutes."
SUPPORT: Lukas Nmecha had someone other than Ruben Dias for company in the second half (Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)placeholder image
SUPPORT: Lukas Nmecha had someone other than Ruben Dias for company in the second half (Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Even so, he was reluctant to hail the second-half formation as the solution to Leeds' problems.
"We are always prepared to play in a 3-5-2, but I think it would be also too easy to just say the answer to win here at the Etihad and dominate the game against such a top side (is to) just play two up front and 3-5-2," he said. "(If so) then many teams would win here.
"It's not that easy for us. It's about the principles. It's about the way you want to play in possession against the ball.
"In possession the structure gave us more clarity.
"We just had more or less one striker really up front and one striker was a bit more flexible behind him, so it's always an option.
"We are prepared for different scenarios, and it was also helpful in the second half to gain control back.
"It's not that easy that we play 5-3-2 and then we win every game and perform at the top level.
"If it would be that easy, anyone can be a Premier League manager. It always has to fit to a game, it has to fit to a structure.
"We couldn't have done it, for example, against Aston Villa because they had a completely different structure in the pressing and also how they were sitting deep.
"To come here and play man against man, like we did in parts of the second half, to do this every game over 90 minutes as a promoted side, it's also not that often possible.
"We have changed our formation several times during this season to 3-5-2, sometimes even a bit unnoticed, and it didn't work as well as today.
"It was definitely the right choice to do it in the second half. It's important that we are flexible.
"It's also important to do this in a moment when the right players for this set-up are fit. We had Lukas Nmecha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin not both at full fitness, for example (earlier in the season).
"Sometimes it's also important to have one more striker on the bench, but it depends.
"Before the game I was even thinking about a back three, but the injury to Sebastiaan Bonauw left us a bit short in centre-backs. I didn't want to start the game with all my centre-backs and no centre-back option on the bench.
"We have three games against top sides within seven days, we will rotate there naturally a bit more often than we would do in a normal week. So there were many thoughts behind it, and this led to the starting line-up."
Farke revealed Daniel James, who came off at half-time, has a hamstring problem.
Pep Guardiola was unhappy City did not put the game beyond Leeds in a first half where Josko Gvardiol added to Foden's opening goal.
"The game was not perfect in the first half but it was comfortable, it should be over," he said. "After that Daniel changed the system like (Bayer) Leverkusen has done and after that we had to change the way we moved.
"We needed the third goal and to continue but football is emotions.
"When you play with one striker and you have Ruben (Dias) and Josko against Nmecha, when Calvert-Lewin comes on with Nmecha, in that moment you have two on two and the space to make the build-up is completely different and they push and they score the goals. It happens."