What Daniel Farke told Ao Tanaka post-Everton as on-pitch Leeds United debrief revealed — YEP 19/8/25

By Kyle Newbould

The Leeds United manager was spotted in deep conversation with his midfielder during Monday's full-time celebrations.

Daniel Farke’s ‘cool in the head and fire in the heart’ mantra was at the heart of a post-Everton debrief with Ao Tanaka on Monday night.

Leeds kicked off their 2025/26 Premier League campaign with a massive three points against Everton, with Lukas Nmecha’s 84th-minute penalty just rewards for an outstanding performance. Farke’s men harnessed the energy from a fervent Elland Road right from kick-off and that energy carried them through 90 minutes and another seven added on.

Tanaka in particular appeared to feed off the electricity, covering huge amounts of ground and adding a physical bite to his obvious technical quality right up until a 94th minute substitution. Just seconds before that change, the Japan international and Anton Stach burst forward to a rapturous roar from supporters but Farke suggested he’d have preferred a calmer approach to those final moments.

“Yes, you know Elland Road is second to none, also pretty unique with the atmosphere and when the fire is burning and the emotions are high, sometimes you can lose the nerve,” Farke said. “So we had a 1-0 lead and both of my number eights in midfield, Anton Stach and Ao Tanaka, were doing channel runs in the 90th minute and we were pretty open in our rest defending.

“I like that we want to score more goals, and want to go for it, and want to enjoy. But it's also important with all the emotions of our supporters that we're not overdoing things, and we still keep the nerves and still having smart decisions in our positionings and what we do.

“I like that he [Tanaka] is such an emotional player. He can also set the stadium on fire. But it's also important that we have to play pragmatically, because it makes no sense to set the stadium on fire, and then you concede a late equaliser. So it's important to bring it over the line, and this is what we spoke about.”

Daniel Farke’s verdict on Elland Road ‘fortress’

While Farke was keen for his players to keep a cool head in those latter stages, the energy inside Elland Road certainly played a part in Monday’s tireless performance. Leeds’ aggressiveness kept the atmosphere from ever dipping despite a lack of goals and that continued passion fuelled them to keep up a frantic pace.

“It's always a bit easier to play once you have so much support,” Farke added. “Our supporters are second to none, and they will play an important role in our chase for survival. Elland Road had become a fortress. But overall, it’s important we play with this intensity, and we go for it, and are not just reluctant to press and are reluctant to play forward.

“We want to play football exactly in this manner. It won't always be that you create chance after chance on this level. That you create whatever 10, one against one situations on the goalkeeper, like perhaps we did in a few games on Championship level. We can't expect this.

 

“And of course, also with the good memories, it’s important our supporters are not over expecting that we just play each and every opponent off the park. But I think we showed a great understanding today, also the difficult periods. And this understanding, this unity, this spirit, needs to carry us also during the difficult times that I'm pretty sure will come during the season. And we need our supporters. We need our unity, and we need this belief in order to give ourselves a chance.”