Leeds United boss Daniel Farke's Champions League quip, moment of frustration with defender & Wolves reaction — Yorkshire Post 20/9/25

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United ticked a lot of boxes in beating Wolves 3-1 at Molineux.

Daniel Farke says Leeds United have proved they belong in the Premier League but must stay humble after picking up seven points from five games.

A 3-1 win at bottom side Wolves delighted the German and ticked important boxes in the bid for survival. Leeds had not scored a goal from open play yet in the top flight this season before Dominic Calvert-Lewin rose to cancel out Ladislav Krejčí's eighth-minute opener. Anton Stach fired in a spectacular free-kick and Noah Okafor heaped further misery on Wolves with a classy finish before the break.

The second half saw Leeds on the back foot but repelling everything the home side threw at them. Victory pushed Leeds up to ninth in the table, at least temporarily, and kept Wolves rooted to the bottom with no points.

"Really good first half, I think a dominant first half, excellent goals," said Farke. "We had a clinical edge in almost all situations. I think the key was we had a really confident start, you could feel we wanted to go for it. Sadly at this level a mistake is relatively quickly punished. It's the first time in a while we lacked defensive awareness in defending a run in behind from midfield, we were punished. It was crucial we didn't dwell and lose the confidence, you can sometimes feel sorry for yourself. We just kept believing in what we wanted to do, our gameplan and process. We scored three excellent goals and deserved to be in the lead."

Farke insisted he never doubted his side would start to score goals, having shown themselves capable of being defensively resolute in previous games other than the trip to Arsenal. Having majored in creativity and finishing at Thorp Arch this week, he admitted to a moment of frustration over Gabriel Gudmundsson's early decision making. But ultimately his side did what he believed they could and found the net.

"For me it was never in doubt that we would score, we had created chances, had many shots and the clinical edge was not there," he said. "I was thinking we'd worked so hard on this topic all week to force a goal and then we have Gabi one v one against the goalkeeper and I was thinking what the hell was he doing? Going for the pass instead of the goal. But I'm happy we stayed on it and wanted to keep going. Three excellent goals. The first - we know we can be dominant even on this level and make an opponent drop back but it's important to ask questions. Jayden did this with a good cross, Dominic outstanding header.

“Second goal, they could only stop us with a free-kick and it was an excellent finish. The third goal out of a good pressing process and transition moment, quality from Anton at exactly the right moment and an ice cold finish from Noah. This was important for our confidence in rewarding ourselves."

Farke wanted more control than Leeds enjoyed in the second half but their 'defensive steel' in the face of mounting Wolves pressure pleased him. Being so competitive in four of their five games is proof they can fight for results at the top level, he added.

"I would have preferred to dominate the second half a bit more but if necessary to show steel is also important," he said. "We've shown many clean sheets last season and really good defensive behaviours in every game except Arsenal. I think the first five game days proved we belong in this league, we can win games on this level. In four out of five games we've had a chance to win, we definitely weren't the worst side in those games. It's important to show consistency. Today we missed offensive options, we're a bit thin anyway. It's not easy for us but to score three goals is pretty good for the whole feeling."

The win delighted a 3,012-strong away section and Farke wants the fanbase to enjoy and even 'dream' a little with their side in the top 10. But he warns that he and the players cannot afford to get carried away with the result.

"The narrative changes each and every week," he said. "Everyone will probably speak about Europe right now. I should probably be glad we don't have eight points because Europe wouldn't be enough and we'd be speaking about the Champions League. This is what my Leeds supporters are and I don't want to take this away - football is emotions, that everyone can be a bit over excited and emotional.

"This is what football does. It's so important for us and for the mood. I'm glad we send them into a nice weekend, they should celebrate and dream a bit. We stay humble. Seven points is really good but it won't be enough to stay in this league. We have to earn many more points to earn the right to be an established Premier League club. We'll stay grounded. We'll value the moment, the away win, it's important. To be off the mark for some offensive players is quite good."