Daniel Farke ended Leeds United's 45-year wait for a Premier League win at Old Trafford on Monday.
Daniel Farke told his Leeds United players they were going out to win at Old Trafford, before a first league away victory over Manchester United in 45 years.
The Whites were well worth the surprise three-point haul they took back home over the Pennines, having created enough chances to win a handful of games. Even before Noah Okafor's fifth-minute opener Leeds should have been ahead, Dominic Calvert-Lewin somehow not finding the net from inside the six-yard box. Okafor added a second before the half hour mark and Ao Tanaka missed a golden chance to make it three before the break.
"I'm of course very proud," said Farke. "I think it's our first win at Premier League level ever here at Old Trafford and the first win in four decades in the league. It feels outstanding, crunch-time period, playing a bit under pressure. We didn't have the easiest week, key players out, several others had a difficult week in terms of training. Just two days of team training [for Okafor, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jaka Bijol] I was reluctant to put them in the starting line-up but thank God I took the risk and they delivered."
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"I think the key was to be brave and play on the front foot, if you try and park the bus there's no chance of points here," he said. "We were brave in our pressing, first half was excellent when I think about the chances we could easily have been three or four up. Excellent first half, started really well in the second half. But we're not the finished product, we're not immaculate. On the other side it's a top class side, in third place, have won all their home games under Michael Carrick. They could bring quality players from the bench. We missed too many of our chances, could have buried the game before. We had to dig in but no question we deserved to win the game."
"I told them we travelled here to win," he said. "Everyone knows it's a priceless point but I said the key would be to brave. We had a clear plan, the lads executed in a perfect way but they believed in it. They were confident and brave. If you just try to be solid and make life difficult then you have no chance. You have to play on the front foot. This is always in our DNA. It's not easy to show it in each and every Premier League fixture."
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