While Leeds United fret over the justified concern that Daniel Farke’s side aren’t creating chances, we also aren’t conceding many at all either.
Coming into the Premier League this season, we knew that Daniel Farke would have to significantly improve in being harder to beat at top flight level.
What’s followed has been proof that Farke has been able to do that. We’re four points clear of the bottom three with seven games to play.
Leeds United’s biggest Premier League strength is Daniel Farke’s defensive work
Anyone raising concerns over the lack of chances being created is more than justified for doing so. We haven’t scored an open play goal in the Premier League since the 10th February away at Chelsea.
However, that lack of creativity and risk-taking in the final third coincides with Leeds also looking incredibly solid without the ball.
While we’ve not scored an open play goal since Chelsea, we’ve only conceded one open play goal since too – coming from a flowing team move by Manchester City.
Leeds United’s fixtures Open play xG conceded
Aston Villa (A) 0.59
Manchester City (H) 1.64
Sunderland (H) 0.06
Crystal Palace (A) 0.15
Brentford (H) 0.31
Only Man City actually carved out chances in open play against Farke’s in this goal drought.
Is Daniel Farke’s risk-aversion leaving Leeds United defending our way to survival?
I know I’m not alone in being incredibly frustrated at Farke being seemingly unwilling to take bigger risks in games that Leeds should be winning.
At home to Sunderland and Brentford, Farke wasn’t willing to take his handbrake off. And, points went begging against teams that were ready to bite hands off for a point.
That being said, against the Bees, that game could have been played for another week and Brentford weren’t going to score. That’s a testament to the defensive side of our game at the moment.
Is that going to be enough for us to stay in the league? Well, when you compare it to Spurs, it’s much more positive reading. Igor Tudor’s men conceded more open play xG vs Nottingham Forest (1.19) than we did in the four games against Brentford, Palace, Sunderland and Villa (1.11).
As much as we’re not scoring goals, it’s only taking one goal for Leeds to win a game rate now. Spurs in particular are going to need at least two goals most weeks to get points on the board.
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