Farke praises his team but won’t allow them to ease up yet
Sunday, 19th Apr 2026 15:26 by Tim Whelan
After yesterday’s win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, Daniel Farke was naturally pleased with the performance, but stressed that we need to keep getting results until it’s mathematically impossible for us to go down.
In his interview on Match of the Day the manager said “Overall, I am very proud of my lads because, after such a historical win at Old Trafford, we made it look relatively easy and, for that, a big compliment to my players. It was important to calm the nerves of the stadium down because expectations were high after such a big win."
But when he was asked if he thinks we are now safe from relegation he warned that "I expect that the other teams will also win points. It is good that we edge closer to the points we need to achieve our goals. I still think we need to stay with foot on the gas and keep going because there are strong teams behind us that will try and chase us down."
In the press conference he was asked if he is intending to rest one or two players when we go to Bournemouth, with such a big game at Wembley to follow four days later. But he replied that we still intends to go full tilt on the south coast, as we don’t the luxury of concentrating on the FA Cup just yet, as we’re not definitely safe from the drop.
After our marvellous win at Old Trafford had surprised the football world, yesterday’s game presented an entirely different challenge. It was a game we were certainly expected to win against the bottom team, but Wolves have improved since Rob Edwards took over, and weren’t going to be the shambolic outfit that we beat in the autumn.
Some fans on social media before the match had feared that this might have been a bit ‘after the lord mayor’s show’, but the opening stages of the game dispelled any such fears, as Leeds began the game by going at the opposition at a furious pace. And there was a sense of déjà vu with the first chance of the game in the opening minute.
As at Old Trafford, a break down the left saw a dangerous ball played across the face of goal towards Clavert-Lewin, but once again our centre forward had to stretch to get to the ball so couldn’t get the direction he wanted, and again he sent it straight at the keeper. But we kept up the pressure, and when the opening goal arrived in the 18th minute it was already overdue.
Ampadu’s shot from Tanaka’s corner was cleared off the line, but Justin reacted brilliantly to score a wonderful goal with an overhead kick. And the second arrived only two minutes later, after Aaronson took possession just inside our own half and raced down the right, before sending an excellent cross beyond the far post which Okafor swept home.
But after establishing this lead Leeds did rather take their foot off the gas, no doubt thinking the game was already won, and that it was unlikely that such a mediocre opponent would have the fight in them to recover a two goal deficit. Perhaps we had burnt ourselves out on Monday night after all.
Late in the first half young Mané came on for Wolves and started to give them a bit of momentum, which made me wonder why he hasn’t been playing from the start. Leeds continued in a lacklustre vein after the break, and it took a superb save from Darlow to from Krejcí to prevent the visitors from pulling a goal back.
Which we thought they had done as Adam Armstrong raced through and put the ball in the net (not for the first time against Leeds) and for a second it looked like our valuable win was in danger. But that was before we saw the welcome sight of the linesman’s flag, and the offside decision was confirmed by VAR.
Farke made a couple of subs to inject a bit more energy, with Gnonto and Gruev coming on for Okafor and Aaronson, the latter having been booked for his strong reaction to a nasty tackle. And Gnonto played a big part in the third goal which sealed the win as we moved into injury time with his superb ball to Calvert-Lewin, with our centre forward brought down as he bust into the area.
Hugo Bueno protested that he had played the ball, which he had done eventually, but only after he had pushed Calvert-Lewin in the back! DCL had missed his last Premier League penalty in the game at Selhurst Park, but put that behind him as he stepped up and hammered the ball into the corner of the net while Bentley went the wrong way.
And that was that, apart from the small business of Spurs hilariously conceding an equaliser in injury time, scored by none other than one Georginio Rutter, once of this parish. That means we will finish the weekend with a gap of eight points above the dreaded bottom three, as big as the margin has been all season.
We still have Burnley at home, and in their recent form I wouldn’t fancy Spurs to get eight points from their last five games in any case. But Daniel Farke is absolutely right that we need to be professional, and don’t allow our standards to drop until another season of Premier League football is absolutely secure.
Reuters
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