There’s been plenty of talk about whether Daniel Farke has what it takes to be a success for Leeds United in the Premier League, and we’ve seen the good and bad so far.
Two games into the Premier League season and Leeds are off the mark with three points, which is ideal and largely as expected, given the two fixtures they’ve had thus far.
United were deserved winners against Everton despite their penalty coming in controversial circumstances, only to be brought back down to Earth by a battering away at Arsenal.
Most Read on LeedsAllOver
What needs to change for Leeds United to react well to Arsenal defeat against Newcastle United?
After controlling large parts of the game against Everton, Farke made just one enforced change to that side against Arsenal, bringing in Ilia Gruev for the injured Ethan Ampadu.
What followed was Leeds trying to approach the fixture in the same manner and falling into several Arsenal traps, an unsurprising development given Mikel Arteta’s side are arguably the best in the world without the ball, and are pretty handy when they win it back too.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal took advantage of the technical, physical, and tactical mismatch between the two sides. (REUTERS/David Klein)
It’s incredibly harsh to pin the result on any individual performers from the Emirates as Leeds were hopelessly second best in every department, but Farke’s setup played right into the Gunners’ hands.
Leeds tried to play short from the back against a superb pressing unit, allowing the home side routine high turnovers, but also couldn’t go long often as Joel Piroe was unable to demonstrate any physical presence against Gabriel and William Saliba.
It was pointed out by many from the lineup itself, but ahead of Newcastle at home (another side intense in their pressing and running), Leeds need to be setting up with a much more obvious focus on matching their opponents on a physical level – which includes utilising Jaka Bijol, Sean Longstaff and Noah Okafor more.
Daniel Farke has to show adaptability to make Leeds United’s Premier League tenure a success
It’s early days and Farke has been given trust to get Leeds into a stable Premier League position after two years of Championship dominance, which the game against Everton suggested he’s capable of.
However, at Arsenal, a key red flag reared its head when looking at the German’s credentials in the world’s best league, and it’s an unwillingness to adapt or show pragmatism in the face of wildly contrasting fixtures.
At home to a makeshift Everton side, Leeds are able to dominate the ball and play through the Toffees’ sometimes slack pressing structure, and can then get away with having players better suited to games where Leeds are on top.
(Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff)
Away to Arsenal, Leeds can’t and shouldn’t play the same way as we quickly learned that it’s a fast track to a pasting.
Newcastle are another side that have the tools to wipe the floor with many sides in this division, and playing into their hands with a one-size-fits-all approach in and out of possession is risking a similar outcome to last Saturday.
If there were doubts over Farke’s ability to adapt to these games, he has an opportunity today to prove that he can alter Leeds’ approach to suit being underdogs, and that includes leaning into his new signings’ physical presence across the XI.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!