Leeds United complicated plan for Crystal Palace revealed with surprise double position request — YEP 20/12/25
By Graham Smyth
Daniel Farke has broken down Leeds United's approach to a
dominant win over Crystal Palace.
Leeds United came up with a complicated plan for Crystal
Palace and Daniel Farke said his players' execution was 'outstanding' in their
4-1 win.
The Whites bullied and battered their visitors in the air,
on the deck, in the box and in the scoreline. That they scored all four goals
from set-pieces was an obvious point for Oliver Glasner to focus on in his
press conference but there was much more to it than that. The sight of Joe
Rodon popping up high and wide on the right, like a supplementary winger, was
enough to suggest Farke had done something differently for this game.
"The problem is that no one really found a solution how
to open such a compact Palace side, they were always so compact, so dangerous
with quick transition moments," he said. "We played a back five
against the ball, a back four with the ball. With the ball Joe Rodon was a
full-back, at times a bit like a winger. Jayden Bogle as a winger or even in
the pocket. Brenden Aaronson - I asked him before the game, you're the only man
in the Premier League who can cover 15km and we need this today. He's probably
the only player capable to do this.
"It's so, so difficult to disrupt this compact Palace
side. The idea is to change base formations against the ball, but credit to the
players, Joe Rodon has probably never played full-back in his career. To
execute with this quality was outstanding. We were good in possession to bring
us into position to win set-pieces. They're not a gift, you win throw ins,
corners, central area for Anton's free-kick. Today I'm very happy with many
aspects. Now we have time to recover and we need a good plan for the next game."
The one thing the performance did not deliver for Farke was
a clean sheet, but beating one of the Premier League's best travelling sides
left the Leeds boss purring.
"Apart from that fact - I was really desperate to have
the first clean sheet in a while - many compliments to the boys," he said.
"The best away team in this league, 16 points in eight games, just
conceded five and to have such a scoreline [against them], well deserved in
this manner. Important three points, important for the goal difference.
