Leeds United were living the dream at the start of this week with a 1-0 win against **Everton**at Elland Road. But the trip to the Emirates Stadium for the late Saturday kickoff was a humbling experience and reminded the group of the size of the task they signed themselves up for this year.
Here are four things we learned from this five-goal loss for Leeds United against Arsenal.
Away days demand a smarter starting strategy
Daniel Farke returns to the Premier League with critics circling about the naivety of his style. With Norwich City, he finished at the bottom of the top tier in 2020, and upon their return to the top flight in 2021, the German was dismissed from his post with the Canaries by the beginning of November.
If he is not careful, the same fate could befall him at the third attempt to survive. One of his flaws revolves around the wisdom of short passing out from the back, as is now commonplace in England.
This can exploit fragile pressing sequences to advance up the pitch while keeping the ball on the deck, and that might have looked like a decent time to try this ploy against an outfit whose desire to trouble Man United in their third of the pitch often went unfulfilled a week ago. But there are risks at play.
Within eight minutes, Lucas Perri was playing with fire, baiting the press from Viktor Gyökeres before rushing a pass to the right flank. Omar Bogle picked up a needless yellow card for a foul on Noni Madueke after he tried to trap a lofted and bobbly pass that was simply too hot to handle.
Less than ten minutes later, the next man to stumble was Anton Stach. **Martin Zubimendi**shut down a telegraphed pass into the middle of the pitch to pinch the ball. If Gyökeres kept his composure in the box, he might have opened his account with the Gunners at a much earlier stage of the game.
Other weaknesses were costly on the day, but there should still be a lesson from this opening phase. The Whites would be wise to avoid giving handouts to the toughest competition in the country.
Set-pieces prove the undoing
A valiant effort from the visitors counted for null because of a known weakness from Farke's past.
By the time that a place in the bottom three back in 2020 was a certainty, the Canaries had conceded 17 goals from set-piece situations that did not include penalties— the most in the Premier League.
**Arsenal**are one of the best teams in the English top tier when it comes to taking advantage of corners. They are full of tall players with aerial threat, and a clean ball striker in Declan Rice, who excels at hitting dead balls into the danger zone. Yet, Leeds looked unready to combat this strength.
Leeds relied on a zonal defensive system at corners, the same approach that Farke used at Norwich. But in these situations, defenders have to create contact with possible targets for the delivery, and Jurrien Timber strolled into a gap between **Joe Rodon**and Pascal Struijk to score the opener.
To make matters worse, the Dutch defender repeated the trick in the second half, before he and Riccardo Calafiori continued the ball at the rebound from the first phase to make the score 4-0.
Time will tell if the German has taken the correct conclusions from his old experiences. But this is already an area to watch for if the Peacocks are going to stay for a second season back in the league.
Leeds assembled most of their squad in the **Championship**to climb back into the top tier with the hope that the strength of their core squad would stand them in good stead to survive by May 2026.
But at some level, the team can be kind to themselves and admit **Arsenal**are not the standard of side they will face each week. On a day with drawbacks for the Gunners, they still excelled in many areas.
Rice was an exemplary figure in this regard. Apart from his pinpoint service into the penalty area, the midfielder brings more balance to a double pivot with **Martin Zubimendi**because of his mobility.
The best part of his work was the goal from Bukayo Saka, a sharp, weak-foot strike in itself. What looked like a breakaway for the guests backfired only because of his brilliant response to a turnover. Suddenly, Leeds were walking in at half time with double the deficit , facing a much harder task.
Gabriel Gudmundsson will be happy to see the back of 15-year-old Max Dowman. The teenager, second only to teammate Ethan Nwaneri as the youngest player in Premier League history, took his confident work from preseason to the big stage, showing no fear with the ball from the right wing.
Farke called the Gunners the "best team" in Europe over the last three years, and even if one refuses to agree with that statement, it is not unreasonable for him to cut his side a little slack in this case.
The group must grow in resilience
The jump from the **Championship**to the **Premier League**is always an awkward one for clubs that tend to bounce between the top two tiers of English football, fuelling the full range of emotions.
From taking three points most weeks, promoted outfits must get used to the feeling of defeat. Even in the best case scenarios, these clubs have to accept walking away empty-handed far more frequently.
A big test for the team and their manager will be how well they dust themselves down this week.
The signs on the pitch were not the worst. By the hour mark, the Gunners had got a four goal lead and were winning at a canter with their Hale End academy graduates on display. But the visitors did not allow their heads to drop completely and continued to compete even if their efforts were unsuccessful.
They would have wanted to do more with the ball than force a few flashes with Daniel James as an outlet on the right wing. But the will to keep going is half of the battle, and it will be put to the test in earnest next week when Newcastle United, who live for the grit of the game, travel to their ground.