Daniel Farke's Leeds United gut feeling disproved as boss addresses nervy finish and ref complaint — YEP 11/11/23
By Graham Smyth
The Whites were utterly dominant in the first half, going
2-0 up through goals from Daniel James and Joel Piroe, and after the break they
created more than enough chances to win at a canter. But in failing to hit the
net for a third time Leeds ran the risk of letting the visitors back into it
and an 84th minute counter attack, finished off by Ben Waine, introduced nerves
to the equation. Holding out to clinch a third straight win and drag the top
two sides in the Championship back to within eight points made Farke a very
happy man.
“I'll take these three points all day long,” he said. “If
you would have offered me to win 2-1 before the game I would have signed it.
Today I was really concerned. After a spotlight game, after a brilliant result
and performance [at Leicester City] and getting so much praise from t
he press,
fans, pundits -and well deserved – the training week was very good and my gut
feeling was it's all too easy. I’ve experienced this before as a player and a
manager. Normally you're there with a sucker punch. So those three points are
priceless. A perfect result. When you're so dominant as we were in the first
half, 2-0 up, you speak about the chances in the second half, you would have
wished to win 6-0 but if you don't score the goals it's always the same.”
Farke acknowledged his team’s second half wastefulness,
having carved Argyle open on a couple of occasions and crafted shooting
opportunities in and around the box that could and should have stretched the
lead to three goals or more, but he credited Steven Schumacher’s men for making
a game of it. Farke said: “Joel Piroe in two situations where he normally
always scores, Rutter with a couple of chances, Gnonto in a one-v-one that he
normally scores, Anthony with a big chance. Normally you should score at least
three or four. But there's also a brave opponent who plays with freedom and
goes for it. We allowed them to have one chance in the second half, they were
clinical, able to score. Then you have to bring a tight lead over the line so I
was quite pleased. We made our life today a bit more complicated than it should
have been but again I just have compliments for the performance, for a valuable
three points. I'm still a happy man.”
Farke’s opposite number used his post-match press conference
to complain about referee Josh Smith’s decision not to award Plymouth Argyle a
penalty for Ethan Ampadu’s challenge on Bali Mumba. Schumacher felt Smith got
it right in the first half when he ignored Georginio Rutter’s penalty appeals,
but Farke did not see eye-to-eye with the Plymouth boss. He said: “I haven't
watched the scenes back, difficult to say. But if one has to complain today
about some situations the referee has decided, it should be me. It was
definitely not that we had an advantage with the referee, it was more the other
way around. I don't want to watch it back [Rutter’s first half penalty appeal]
because if I realise it was a penalty I'd be even more annoyed.”
The German has repeatedly resisted any early talk of league
tables and points tallies but reducing Leicester’s lead from 14 down to eight
before the November international break is one indicator of how well Leeds have
settled after a difficult summer and the mass exodus of players. Farke is
pleased with how things have gone and determined to ensure Leeds strive for
much more.
