Daniel Farke admitted he was ‘hurt’ and ‘embarrassed’ after Sheffield Wednesday’s Carabao Cup shock over his Leeds United side - and made an odd claim on the scale of the upset.
A hugely youthful Owls side took the lead at Hillsborough thanks to a Karl Darlow own goal and won out on penalties after Jayden Bogle’s equaliser proved to be the only breach of a remarkable Ethan Horvath performance between the sticks.
The Owls squad has been decimated to the extent that with changes made, of their outfield starting 10, skipper for the night Jamal Lowe was the only Wednesday player to have earned more than Gabriel Otegbayo’s haul of 18 professional appearances. Eight of the Owls players involved on the evening had played less than five senior matches.
Two made their debut, including 16-year-old Will Grainger, who played without a shirt sponsor as he is too young to be seen advertising a gambling company.
Senior figures were brought off the bench late to help take the tie to penalties and a 3-0 shootout win dumped the Premier League side out of the competition to leave Farke admittedly red-faced, though he sought to play down the inexperience of the home side.
"Some people will make headlines out of this but they are still professional football players, it's not like we played against a youth team,” claimed Farke.
PENALTY HERO: Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Ethan Horvath (centre) (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)placeholder image
PENALTY HERO: Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Ethan Horvath (centre) (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)
“We rested a few players to the bench or not even in the squad and it's always a bit tricky when you have so many changes, especially for the team that tries to make the game. We have to take the criticism and we are self-critical because we should have have put four or five chances to bed.
“It's not just annoying, you feel a bit embarrassed as a Premier League side but we've been involved so many games like this, especially in the cup, and the lower-league team can win This was one of these days.”
Leeds plundered 25 shots on Wednesday’s goal across the course of the match and held 80 per cent possession. Of the 16 players used by the visitors, only four were not full internationals.
“We were the favourites and of course we wanted to go through to the next round, so the result hurts,” Farke continued. “I wouldn't say it was an unbelievable surprise because we are a newly-promoted side to the Premier League travelling to a Championship side, it's not like we have played the last 30 years in the Premier League. It wasn't going to be a walk in the park to have an away game at a Championship side.
“I think by all the statistics we were the better side but the only thing that matters is the goals and after 90 minutes they managed somehow to be equal on goals and they managed to be the better side in the penalty shoot-out. Congratulations to Sheffield Wednesday. They deserved to win the game.”
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