The Leeds United manager ponders whether his squad need to be more outright in their appeals for on-the-brink decisions
Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter
05:00, 13 Apr 2026
Axel Disasi's goal vs Leeds should have been ruled out for a high boot, says Daniel Farke
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Axel Disasi's goal vs Leeds should have been ruled out for a high boot, says Daniel Farke(Image: Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
Daniel Farke says Leeds United will learn to be “more smart” and “less naive” when it comes to appealing for decisions, having felt hard done by for West Ham United’s equaliser in the FA Cup quarter-final win.
Farke, who is adamant Leeds ought to have had a penalty when the now-injured Anton Stach was challenged late by Max Kilman in the first half, was left irked that Axel Disasi’s stoppage-time leveller was not ruled out for a high boot.
The Whites boss believes if covering defender Pascal Struijk had made more of his appeal, the goal would have been ruled out - though stopped just short of stating his players should feign injury.
Speaking on Disasi’s eqaualiser, which marked a two-goal stoppage-time comeback, Farke said: “If Pascal Struijk goes down and rolls around, I think it's definitely ruled out.
“You can say, come on, we have to be a bit less naive anyhow, perhaps he should go down and pretend to be hit in the face. But if the foot is on the height of my players head, I think it's a clear mistake not to rule this goal out.
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“We will learn out of this to be perhaps a bit more smart, in [how] we react - I'm not sure if we actually want it, to pretend a bit that there is a cut or whatever. But if not a foul is given for this, then we should perhaps even behave a bit more mature.”
However, Farke also underlined that this was not the only reason why Leeds had failed to win in regulation time. “I think at the end we could have, of course, done the game management a bit better and control the game a bit more,” he said.
“But I think it was also crucial that we should have been rewarded [Stach] with a penalty. And also I think the equaliser should have been ruled out, aside from our game management where we could have been better.”
Stach is one of three players ruled out of Monday’s clash with Manchester United, having suffered ligament damage from Kilman's tackle.
Like Joe Rodon with his own ankle injury, Stach is expected to miss the rest of April, while Daniel James is out for a few weeks with an adductor problem.
Gabriel Gudmundsson (groin), Jaka Bijol (unspecified knock) and Noah Okafor (back) are also doubts for the trip to Old Trafford.
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