Leeds United v Manchester City DANIEL Farke briefly brought the house down at Leeds United's latest pre-match press conference.
A dry, sardonic sense of humour came to the fore when asked if climbing Mount Everest – the metaphor he used back in September 2019 after his victorious Norwich City side stunned Manchester City at Carrow Road – was achievable once again ahead of today's impending meeting with Pep Guardiola's stellar cast.
Questioned about the potential of climbing the world's highest peak for a second time, he opined: “Yes... But some have also died there...”
Farke's observation said everything that you need to know about the scale of the footballing task facing his Leeds side this evening against an opponent who want Arsenal to be feeling their hot breath down their necks by the time that the final whistle goes in West Yorkshire.
Manchester City's Spanish manager Pep Guardiola (R) greets Leeds United's German head coach Daniel Farke during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Leeds United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on November 29, 2025. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images) /placeholder image
Manchester City's Spanish manager Pep Guardiola (R) greets Leeds United's German head coach Daniel Farke during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Leeds United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on November 29, 2025. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images) /
For Leeds to get something, let alone win, then they have to be 'super-effective' in Farke's words.
As for winning? Well, it must be an 'extraordinary day', he went onto acknowledge.
Few would disagree with City currently smelling the blood of their big title rivals.
Farke's respect for Guardiola is fulsome.
Daniel Farkeplaceholder image
Daniel Farke
He is mates with the Catalan, with their friendship blossoming after one particular meeting in Norwich during his time there. It continued during Guardiola's stint in the Bundesliga at Bayern Munich.
Farke being Farke, he doesn't like to particularly talk about it. That would be 'big time', he ventured ahead of this reunion. And the grounded German hates that sort of thing.
What he was happy to talk about was Guardiola's qualities as a coach and innate ability to never stand still and his continual evolution. It helps to explain the magnitude of his own tactical challenge this evening and the degree of difficulty involved.
The Leeds chief said: “He always evolves and develops. He is always ahead of the wave.
“He played with a 'false nine' a few years ago when no one even knew what a false nine was.
“He has played with inverted full-backs when no one even knew about this. He has rotated teams when everyone thought: 'okay, it's more about automatism and consistency'.
“Once everyone adapts and tries to copy them, then he is again ahead of the wave and changes his set-up.
“He is probably the manager who has influenced and inspired the game most in the history of football.
“This is what makes him so special. He is simply the best.”
The daffodils coming out is the time in the footballing calendar when things get serious, according to one old hand in the game in Steve Bruce and the pressure ratchets up that bit more.
Proper teams come into their own at this stage in proceedings. City certainly have; too many times to mention, really.
But so have Leeds, most notably last season when they held their nerve amid an intense three-into-two-won't-go fight for automatic promotion from the Championship.
Several of the leading lieutenants from that line-up remain on deck. The previous experiences of the likes of Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk, Brenden Aaronson and Jayden Bogle will be drawn upon in the weeks ahead, even though this is a different level.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin also had his fair share of tense run-ins during his time at Everton, with Leeds having a number of seasoned players who should be conditioned to this period of the football year when the stakes are that bit higher and things start to truly matter.
Farke remarked: “It's a bit of a different type of pressure to fighting for survival in comparison to fighting for promotion.
“But it's similar in terms of: 'okay, there is pressure'.
“You also need to deliver results and my players are used that. You are not just looking what happens and watching what happens on other pitches or praying for results.
“You have to concentrate on delivering performance.
“If you do so, then you can influence your own result and what happens on other pitches is not important. You just have to focus on yourself and this is more or less what is one of our skills – that we are also capable to deliver under pressure and to keep going in this topic.
“Hopefully it's also a skill that will be helpful for the run in.
“The less pressure we have for the last six games, the more points we win right now before we start into those games and the easier it will be then.
“But in our situation right now, in the last six games we could just make sure that we have earned enough points in order to survive.
“But of course we want to win many more points before, so that then the real 'crunch time' period is as easy as possible.”
With 11 games remaining, Leeds are currently six points above the side occupying the final relegation spot in West Ham.
The Hammers head to Anfield on Saturday afternoon – prior to Farke's side taking the field against City, who are unbeaten at Elland Road since March 2004.