Daniel Farke spoke to the media after Leeds’ 5-0 defeat to Arsenal in their first away match of the season.
It was a tough outing for Farke’s men, who, in the second half, got blown away by the attacking strength of the Gunners. 4 goals conceded in the second half condemned them to a heavy defeat. The side from Yorkshire remained in the game for a lot of the first half as Pascal Struijk came close to scoring for his side.
The German gave very direct answers in his post-match interview as he reviewed the game, but insisted that he was not going to over-analyse this one.
"Arsenal deserved to win" - Farke gives his view on Arsenal defeat.
Daniel Farke gave an honest assessment of the heavy defeat, stating that the Gunners were deserved winners of this one, but highlighted that it was always going to be a tough game for a newly-promoted side like Leeds:
"Yes, I think it's fair to say that Arsenal deserved to win this game today,” the boss told reporters.
“They were the better side. They deserved also to win this game with a good proper goal difference."
“It's always a difficult game for a newly promoted side. I think you could feel this in the first 10 minutes, they were all over us, we were a bit nervous, but we survived this period without giving one chance away."
The visitors did have some chances themselves in the first half and did not look out of the game at all going into the break - any chance of a comeback was, of course, put to bed swiftly in the second half.
Daniel Farke also felt after the game that his team grew more confident throughout the first half and were in the game for a period of time:
*“Then we got a foot into the game, got more and more confident, had good situations also for counter-attacks. After 35 minutes, we had probably the best chance in the game with Pascal Struijk's header and the fantastic save of David Raya."*
Farke made it clear that this game is not one to look into too much in terms of performance, but still stated that his team aren't happy with how the game unfolded:
“We accept that they were the better team today, they deserved to win this game, and for us it's not a season-defining game. We are disappointed but we won't over-analyse this game too much. Yes, there were one or two things that we could have done better, there's no doubt about this.”
"We will have to assess him" - Farke speaks on Tanaka issue.
Aside from the five goals conceded, another big concern for Leeds was the fact that Ao Tanaka was forced to leave the pitch earlier than anticipated. The midfielder went straight down the tunnel after coming off the pitch in the 58th minute.
Speaking on the issue after the game, Daniel Farke was making no early conclusions:
"After a tackle in the first half, he had problems with his MCL."
"He kept going and I hope it's not too bad. I hope the assessment is not too bad. There are a few concerns that it would be an injury but it's normally positive that he could play further on. But we will have to assess him and we will see how long it takes to get him fit and back to full fitness."