Leeds United furious reaction and trio of mistakes explained after full-time debrief — YEP 6/12/25
By Graham Smyth
Daniel Farke was far from happy with substitute Ao Tanaka
before his added-time equaliser against Liverpool.
Leeds United midfielder Ao Tanaka felt his manager's wrath
before saving the day with a stoppage time equaliser against Liverpool.
Daniel Farke reacted furiously after watching second half
substitute Tanaka step out of the side's defensive block and allow the Reds to
attack right down the middle of the pitch as they went 3-2 up through Dominik
Szoboszlai. Mercifully for the Japan international there was a chance to redeem
himself and he grabbed it with both hands, firing in a 96th-minute equaliser to
hand Leeds a precious point in their survival battle.
"If you change the base formation and have to invest so
much to come back and equalise, the easiest thing is how we want to act in a
low block," said Farke. "It's 4-5-1 and we never step out of the
centre. But with all the emotions, 2-2, we opened the passing gap, two passes,
of course they find the player between the lines.
“I was annoyed we lost the nerve in this moment. I can't
hide it, Ao stepped out and opened the gap. It's a bit how we are, we're not
perfect and a bit naive and need to adapt to this level. But we have a great
mentality, it's also typical it's Ao there with a decisive moment and deserved
spotlight. We take just a point but in terms of spirit, belief and confidence
it's more than just one point."
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Farke and Tanaka had an immediate debrief on the pitch after
the game but it was soon all smiles and celebrations with the supporters at
Elland Road. Tanaka was praised by his manager for his role in earning a point
and the German insisted his players should take immense confidence and pride
from what they've achieved over the past week. But while he sees things that
could be improved, he had sympathy for the mistakes that led to Liverpool's
first two goals. Joe Rodon gave the ball away with an uncharacteristic pass for
the Reds' first, before Pascal Struijk put Gabriel Gudmundsson under pressure
with a needless ball that the Swede could not retain for the second goal.
