Leeds United 1 Aston Villa 2: Daniel Farke on dangerous ground as second-half rally downs hosts — Yorkshire Post 23/11/25
By Leon Wobschall
AT the time of year when many start to tick off the days
before Christmas, chatter regarding a countdown of a different sort is starting
to surface among Leeds United’s fanatical - and increasingly anxious -
followers.
The club’s status as one of English football’s biggest
concerns means that a run of five defeats in six matches is always serious
business for their manager and can never be taken lightly.
It explains why Daniel Farke finds himself under a fair
degree of pressure and scrutiny, with growing numbers of supporters starting to
openly speculate about his future.
To quell the noise regarding his position, Farke’s Leeds
needed to provide something on an important looking afternoon against Aston
Villa, especially with Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in the rear-view
mirror.
Prior to Sunday, Farke’s Leeds side had seen their colours
lowered just once on home soil in the past 15 months, but no matter.
Their punters needed something to buy into, that said and
certainly a proper performance in this stadium’s best traditions. A failure to
do that, complete with a difficult scoreline, had the potential to turn things
a bit toxic.
Leeds certainly did that in the first period and their early
opener Lukas Nmecha was tangible reward.
In the second half, it was backs to the wall as Villa,
revived by a couple of smart interval changes, assumed control.
Flavour of the month with England, Morgan Rogers is also
pretty popular in the second city and his brace won it - with home keeper Lucas
Perri likely to be far from happy with his contribution for the free-kick
winner.
The reaction at the final whistle was always going to be
telling from the home sections. There were elements of rancour and certainly
agitation towards Farke, but the boos were not a cacophony. Leeds players also
received respectful applause from a fair few of those who had stayed behind
when they clapped home supporters.
In fairness, Leeds had played well, certainly in the first
half before being overhauled. But Farke remains on dangerous ground.
Very much his own man, Farke elected not to play to the
galleries by bringing back the likes of Daniel James and Willy Gnonto, while
Dominic Calvert-Lewin remained on the bench. The sole change, on the back of a
3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest was a defensive one.
It was a conservative, as opposed to bold, line-up.
Conjecture was put in the shade by an early breakthrough, while Leeds’ hearty,
ultra-committed first-half efforts also enthused most of those present.
Villa, who had major incentive themselves - a top-four
position was their victory prize - looked an easy-on-the-eye side at their
happiest when attacking. Performing the ugly side of the game as the rain
lashed down in West Yorkshire and rolling their sleeves up was something they
looked less proficient at.
Leeds got in Villa’s faces and won a host of duels and a
scrappy spectacle suited them more. Villa looked particularly uncomfortable
from set-pieces and it was this route which led to Nmecha’s opener.
It was awarded only after a three-and-a-half minute wait as
Stockley Park overlords checked out a possible offside and a potential foul,
before rightly confirming the goal.
Sean Longstaff’s free-kick was latched onto by Gabriel
Gudmundsson close to the byline, who did well to hook the ball back across
goal. Anton Stach challenged Emi Martinez and the ball hit his back before
being cleared off the line by Ezri Konsa, only for his clearance to rebound
into the net off the thigh of Nmecha.
The crowd were warming to Leeds' pluck and it was only in
the run-up to the break that Villa started to look the part.
Matty Cash fired wide, while an exquisite curler from Ollie
Watkins was inches away. The half-time whistle was timely from a home
perspective.
On the restart, it was all about Leeds maintaining their
intensity levels after putting a lot into the first period - only for an early
leveller to change the mood when interval substitute Donyell Malen’s low centre
was expertly flicked home by Rogers.
Perri then spilled Watkins’ shot, before hacking the loose
ball clear. Villa were in the ascendancy, but Unai Emery still elected to make
further changes.
Farke resisted the urge before eventually relenting. Soon
after, the mood sank when Rogers’ free-kick beat the poorly-positioned Perri.
And then more angst in front of the Kop after VAR correctly
ruled that a cross-shot from Dan James had struck fellow replacement Dominic
Calvert-Lewin’s hand before crossing the line.
