Daniel Farke said that he doesn’t want to stand still and watch Leeds United tread water over and over. The 49ers will no doubt agree, but how they go about it is another debate.
Daniel Farke and Paraag Marathe’s reflections on this season and the coming months depicted somewhat differing views on the matter.
While the manager insists he wants to see ambition this summer, Marathe agrees. But, the Leeds chairman also wanted to stress that getting ahead of ourselves is not a wise mentality.
What is the blueprint for Leeds United to achieve success next season?
Whether Farke likes it or not, the club are totally justified to hold a more cautious outlook on the summer ahead.
By no means does that indicate we won’t spend money. The club know full well that an unambitious, quiet summer window will most likely bring relegation.
However, the way we go about this summer is likely to reflect what we did when we were promoted. We’re likely to explore market opportunities to find players that ought to be worth more than we can get them for. See Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Anton Stach, Jaka Bijol and so many more as examples.
Leeds know that if we continue in 26/27 as we did under Farke’s guidance in the second half of this season, there’s surely nothing to worry about.
The base of our squad is strong already. Adding more quality and depth to that makes survival and consolidation higher than 14th even more likely.
Again, home form is likely to be integral. Although, Farke knows full well that two away league wins all season is a record he’ll want (and need) to improve.
I think we’re all expecting that Farke stays on at the club. That is in spite of Farke’s ‘mission accomplished’ comments prior to our final home game against Brighton.
That being said, Farke clearly wants to be aligned on certain specifics before we go ahead. He talked of ambition during that pre-match press conference. And, one bit stuck out to me about how he intends to approach next season.
“I am ambitious and this is quite important for me going forward, this is important going forward,” Farke said, via the YEP.“I can give you my take on it and my feeling is that I am ambitious, attractive football perhaps for sides in the top half of the table but I love to be a manager who plays for something rather than to avoid something.
“I am not the right choice if it’s about maintaining the status quo, I have to be convinced of a project and I am at my best when I buy into a project. I can be picky and choose what I am convinced of.”
Of course, Farke is like all of us Leeds fans and the 49ers. He wants ambition, aiming 17th place every year is not enough.
Bridging that gap from surviving to thriving is a different discussion, though. And, the method in which Farke discusses it worries me and might be flagged up by the 49ers.
Farke talks of playing “ambitious, attractive football”, which is understandable, but is it wise?
Until that Man City switch, we were trying to play attractive football in a 4-3-3 and were heading for relegation. Then, he changed not only the formation, but his overall approach. Farke placed a much stronger emphasis on physicality and playing direct, which worked an absolute charm.
I fear that Farke reverts to what he has always preferred, which is possession-based football with less focus on our physical prowess. That’s not what kept us in the league and got us to 14th, and throwing it away might take us back to square one unless we invest in serious technical quality over the summer.
Clearly, Farke’s not foolish. He’s seen our progress since changing system and understands that it gets results. Although, he did say this in response to questions about lessons learned.
“Not too much, it was expected, hard work, it was clear to me that we wouldn’t win one point without 100 per cent hard work,” Farke continued. “Apart from Arsenal in their prime we were in every game, an incredible amount of points for a newly promoted side but if we used our dominance more we would have more points. We have passed my own expectations.”
I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But, the 49ers and recruitment team might want to stress to Farke that straying away this approach might not be the wisest ploy.
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