Leeds United boss Daniel Farke's mixed mood and Joe Rodon update after dressing room rollocking at Sunderland — YEP 28/12/25
By Graham Smyth
The Leeds United boss provided an update on his defender
after Sunday's Premier League stalemate.
Leeds United boss Daniel Farke felt three points were on the
table for his side at Sunderland but after a half-time rollocking he was
delighted with aspects of the performance.
Leeds had to come from behind to earn a point at the Stadium
of Light having conceded early on. Their second half response was one of sheer
dominance and crucially it brought a beautiful equaliser. A team move took play
back to front and it was finished off, inevitably, by the in-form Dominic
Calvert-Lewin.
Though Leeds had chances to take the lead, most notably
through Jayden Bogle, they were unable to find a second and finished the game
defending a chanceless spell of Black Cats pressure.
Farke was most pleased with how his team performed for the
last 60 minutes and that they stretched their unbeaten run to five games.
"That the unbeaten run continued and we showed again a
great mentality to come back from a losing position again," he said.
"Another point in the table, we've improved our situation. No one has come
away with a better result here. The performance from minute 30 on, because I
think we dominated."
But Farke admitted to mixed emotions because his side did
not do what he wanted them to do at the start of the game and according to
Brenden Aaronson the manager got stuck into them at the interval.
"Mood wise I'm a bit in between," he said.
"So all the positives I mentioned right now, but the gut feeling was also
like we could have started the game better. I was not really happy with the
first 30 minutes. And to be honest, even without the injury, I would have
changed also the base formation, perhaps even substituted during the first
half, the first time doing so during this season, because the feeling was a bit
we got so much praise for our win last weekend when we scored four goals out of
set pieces, we waited way too much in the beginning of the game just for the
situations, for a throw in, or corner kick or a free-kick.
"I think we forgot a bit to show also the second part
of our DNA. And the second part of our DNA is football, to dominate the ball
and to be brave on the ball and and to be proactive, to take the game to the
opponent's half and to create chances to score goals. And this is what we did
then, more or less, from minute 30 on. The goal, excellent team goal was a
consequence of this. And have to give lots of credit for this away performance
for minute 30 on. And then the feeling was also like, we've dominated each
statistic, normally should and could have won this game if we would have been a
bit more clinical in the opponent's box. So we take the point, a good point,
especially coming back from a losing position. But no dancing tonight, because
three was definitely also possible."
The Whites lost Joe Rodon to injury in the first half after
a pair of crunching challenges and had to switch to a back four. The
centre-half has been ever present for Farke during his tenure but his
availability for the New Year's Day visit to Liverpool is now in doubt.
"Not good," said Farke. "Joe is my warrior.
Has played so many games in a row, and of course he wanted to stay on the
pitch, but right now, got a hit on his ankle, and by doing this I think he also
rolled his ankle, and it's pretty swollen. At the moment, I doubt that he will
be available for Liverpool and also for the upcoming games before the FA Cup
game. So we have to wait for some further assessment. But right now, straight
after the game, it doesn't look too good."
