Leeds United’s fourth summer signing impressed on debut at the City Ground.
Daniel Farke expected nothing less than a Player of the Match performance from Leeds United debutant Nico Elvedi at Nottingham Forest.
Elvedi made his first appearance in Leeds colours during Tuesday’s 2-0 Carabao Cup win at the City Ground, replacing Jaka Bijol as one of six changes. The 29-year-old started between Joe Rodon and Tarik Muharemovic in a back three, playing the full 90 minutes.
And he didn’t look like a debutant in the side, defending aggressively and showing an early understanding of what Farke wants from him. The Leeds boss was happy with the Swiss international’s first showing which had him in with a shot for Player of the Match.
“Yes, we had probably a few candidates for man of the match today,” Farke said. “Nico is definitely one of them because there was such a performance after just being with us for a few days is outstanding. Against a physical striker like [Chris] Wood who has scored so many goals over the last years, such a difficult away ground and not knowing really all his teammates but also shows his quality and shows his experience.
“I think he was excellent today with the ball, also calm and composed in possession, one of the reasons why we were nearly un-pressable today, also this quality in possession and against the ball, very very switched on. I'm very happy, very happy with him. But I didn't expect anything else because I've worked with him and know his quality. And his CV speaks for himself. It's a very good piece of business, and he will help us in the future.”
Elvedi was at the heart of a solid Leeds defence that kept their second clean sheet in four days at the City Ground. A second-half finish from Dan James and Neco Williams’ own-goal meant that clean sheet contributed to an important victory.
Having exited the Carabao Cup in either the first or second rounds in each of his three previous seasons, Farke enters round three for the first time as Leeds boss. Overall the Whites boss was delighted with his side’s performance.
“Good, very good,” he added. “This is what we came for, and this is more or less my main goal. You play a cup game in order to go through. Very happy about this. Yes, and of course with the level of performance today because we had to wait very long for a win here at Nottingham. To do this two times within three days, such a tough ground, this remarkable level of performance today was outstanding.
“Saturday was really a tight game, anyhow. But today, I think it's never in doubt that it was a fully deserved win. I think we dominated the game for many periods and were excellent. They defended really well in each half. I think we gave one chance away, but then the final moment was spot on, either with a good save in the second half or a good tackle in the first half.
“But my only concern was at half-time, more or less like we didn't reward ourselves for really good performance. You know, when you play against a good side, sometimes it's a counter attack or deflected strike, and then the momentum changes in the game. But not today. We stayed on it also in the second half, and I think it's not in doubt that was a fully solved.”