Farke plays down pressure ahead of Cardiff clash

Leeds United travel down to southeast Wales this Saturday to take on a struggling Cardiff City side. The Whites will be looking to bounce back after suffering their first league defeat of the season against Burnley.

Dissecting the Burnley game

Leeds manager Daniel Farke had a lot to say when evaluating his team’s performance at Elland Road last Saturday.

Farke was quick to play down any suggestions of tension building up in the aftermath of the game against Burnley in his pre-match press conference.

“I don’t feel any pressure because I’ve followed this club for three decades even in my time as a footballer in Germany, I’ve always had a soft spot for Leeds.

“I’ve followed what has happened here in the last three decades and I’ve always got the feeling it’s what we are. After one bad result, everyone is panicking here in this club and to be honest, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, there’s no bad intention it’s just because everyone cares so much.

“It’s always been the same for the last three decades, after every loss everything is questioned. The manager is questioned, the way you work is questioned and not even after a loss, even after a draw and I was fully aware when I signed this contract.” Farke said.

Farke has been criticised for his style of play at times for not being ‘entertaining’ due to the number of lateral passes, particularly when United come up against a low block as they did against Burnley.

Farke acknowledged the need to deliver results but remained firm on sticking with his philosophy.

“This is quite normal if you don’t win a game there’s always criticism, also with the style of football,

“It’s always when you are attacking-minded and trying to play with passes and combinations to bring the ball forward with a good structure and clear principles, there’s always if you don’t win a game the question of ‘where’s plan b?’

“If you don’t win with our style of football, people always say ‘it’s not the right brand of football, we want a proper 4-4-2, put the ball upfront and go for second balls it’s more exciting.’

“Yes, but you can’t change from week to week in order to do this, so for me, it is important that we are flexible, and we are flexible in terms of our base formation and how we want to create chances, but football will always be judged in the way you deliver results,” Farke said.

Previewing Cardiff City

Cardiff City have had a slow start to their Championship campaign so far picking up one point from their first five games whilst only scoring one goal with their manager Erol Bulut under considerable pressure.

Leeds manager Daniel Farke believes Cardiff are a better side than what they have shown so far and tips them for a top-half finish come the end of the season.

“You know my attitude, I would rather play against a team that has won the game before instead of losing because I know after a loss, everyone is searching for solutions, and I am sure this has happened at Cardiff during this spell.” He said.

“Erol also turned things around last season, so I am confident he has a chance to do this again and I think that during this week they have tried everything to be perfectly prepared to use their home game, especially against Leeds United, a spotlight game, to turn things around,” Farke said.

With Cardiff getting off to a slow start this season, Farke was asked whether he felt he needed to be more adventurous with his midfield selections instead of playing the more defensive partnership of Ilia Gruev and Ethan Ampadu.

Farke responded by saying:

“No, because the balance always has to be right, because in football it’s always important to be rock solid and also to create chances but if I judge our first five games, I think in terms of the balance it was quite good.

“We have tried a more offensive-minded setup in the cup. If I’m honest it didn’t work out that great,

“In general, when I judge the first five games in total, especially the last four games we have just conceded one goal, we looked in terms of defensive behaviour, rock solid but with the ball, I can just criticise one thing and that’s to be effective and use the chances.”