Leeds United passionate defence launched but Farke must accept fair game and detractors face facts — YEP 19/9/25

By Graham Smyth

There is nothing new under the sun and Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has been here before.

Fresh off a 1-0 defeat Daniel Farke sat down with the media at his next pre-game press conference to face questions. One of which brought the answer: "No, I don't feel pressure in these terms because I have followed this club for three decades and always had a soft spot for Leeds. I know more about this club and fell in love with it. After one bad result, everyone panics. It's not a bad thing - just everyone cares so much and is passionate about this club."

He faced calls from the fanbase for a more adventurous team selection. Supporters wanting to see a defence-minded player replaced by a more attacking, creative profile. There was a question over a lack of goals from set-pieces and what he was doing about it. He was asked about the struggles of his next opponent and what that meant for his approach to the game.

This particular press conference took place on September 19 2024. It's uncanny, almost spooky really because the questions and some of the answers could so easily have been heard on September 18 2025. Fresh off a 1-0 loss, Farke this week had to address a results-led 'narrative' around his team, the selection of a player bringing more of a defensive contribution than an offensive one and if Wolves' status as the Premier League's bottom side made him approach this as a must-win game. Set-pieces might not have cropped up this week but they did last week because Leeds have simply not created enough danger from them in their opening four games.

This time last year, having lost to Burnley and failed to make a breakthrough in attack, fans wanted to see Farke pair Ethan Ampadu with one of Ao Tanaka or Joe Rothwell instead of Ilia Gruev. Playing with two defensive midfielders at Elland Road especially was described as negative by his critics. Fate, or rather serious knee injuries for both Ampadu and Gruev, would soon intervene and force the manager's hand but who can say how his team selection might have developed without circumstances changing as they did.

Farke has described himself as a realistic pessimist and his time at Leeds has proved as such - if there is a worst-case scenario he will often pinpoint it and set his side up accordingly. His principles might be possession and attacking football but not at any cost. Attack when you're set up properly to attack, at the right time. The way he went about it in the Championship ultimately worked a treat with 100 points, 95 goals and promotion to the Premier League. If it works this season it will mean survival. But sticking with Ampadu and Gruev in a game that was ultimately lost 1-0 to a last-gasp goal and starting with Brenden in a game that was ultimately lost 1-0 to a last-gasp goal does not play well with his detractors, no matter his explanations.

He expounded the virtue of balance in response to questions over his midfield selection this time last year. Speaking after Saturday's game and again on Thursday he highlighted Aaronson's defensive work in locking down a dangerous Fulham left flank. The logic is sound and no one will question Aaronson's willingness to work hard and run around, it's just what he didn't do that will always be under the spotlight following a defeat. Results dictate. They set the narrative and the tone. Farke said as much himself. He knows it and has to accept it.

Farke also has to accept that an almost 25-year-old attacker with 53 senior international caps, one who cost £25m to bring to the club, has got to carry an expectation. It is fair game to discuss his offensive output and how he can develop the creative side of his game. The idea that the club spent such a fee on a winger who has so far averaged an assist every 18 games for Leeds, one who according to Farke was picked at Craven Cottage mostly on the merit of his defensive work, is a difficult one for fans to stomach given what it is Farke needed and wanted this summer. Two things here are not the American's fault. The price tag was nothing to do with him and it's not his fault that a difference-making right winger did not materialise in the window. But he was signed to be a Premier League player and paid accordingly. Attackers should track back. They should press. They should run. That's a bare minimum requirement though. They should make and score goals too.

Last season Farke was content to talk about areas in which Aaronson could improve. He was specific, noting how the attacker would take up great positions but then move out of them through his desire to buzz around and make things happen. The manager spoke of composure in moments in front of goal, when Aaronson had a tendency to send the ball over the bar. When asked on Thursday how Aaronson could develop the creative side of his game, Farke decided instead to issue a staunch and lengthy defence of the player. Whether or not he took the question as tantamount to criticism rather than an opportunity to explain specifically how he as a coach would work with the player, it was clear he wanted to send a message that he has Aaronson's back and others should get off his player's back. That of course is his prerogative and if it puffs Aaronson's chest out, if it gives him a little boost to make something happen against Wolves then it was terrific public man-management. But if goals and assists do not follow then the questions over team selection are not going to go away.

Fate, or injuries, have intervened again this week but not in the way they did this time last year. Both Willy Gnonto and Daniel James are major doubts and while Jayden Bogle would be an interesting experiment further forward, Farke is not prone to such flights of fancy and will almost certainly have to stick with his picking of Aaronson on the right wing. The player could do his manager and himself a big favour by playing a part in a goal or grabbing one himself. But his team-mates have a responsibility too, because no one is pulling up any trees in the final third right now. The inability to score a single goal from open play in four games is not a Brenden Aaronson thing, it's a Leeds United thing. He can't score for them but he does pick the team and tell them how to play, so it's a Farke thing too.

In all of this it has to be remembered that at various times in the past Farke has been criticised over team selection, the approach to games and set-piece efficiency. This time last year there was real disquiet among his critics and yet results and the league table proved his methods correct. It just didn't take long for them to surface again. And if the title was not enough to win those critics to his side, then they will always be there after a negative result, calling for journalists to ask the 'tough questions' when what they really mean is they would like the media to tell Farke he's wrong. They have to face facts themselves however, because no question from the media is going to change Farke's mind. He's not that manager.

It's clear that there are those in the fanbase who would also have liked Farke to go to town with his criticism of the transfer window and specifically that failure to add the final bits of the puzzle in the attacking areas. It isn't going to happen, because he's simply not going to set himself on a collision course with 49ers Enterprises, certainly not in the Premier League as a newly-promoted manager when the leash is only ever very short no matter the style of your arrival in the top flight. What Farke has said is enough that you can read between the lines. He wanted more. He's said so on numerous occasions now. At some point saying it is going to lose all meaning because as he put it - this is the reality he has to make the best of. Imagine for a second that he did come out and blast the ownership, there would be accusations of excuse making. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

What he's asked and what he says will be a variation on a theme for however long he manages Leeds United. He's heard it all before and said most of it before too. What his team does on the pitch will dictate the length of his tenure and how he will be judged as a manager. You can't please all of the people all of the time but masterminding three points at Wolves would please lots of the people for a short time at least and allow him to stand at Molineux in front of the away end, taking the plaudits as a winning manager - something he's never done before.