Daniel Farke reveals pre-Millwall dressing room chat to address 'insanity' - YEP 16/9/23

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke returns to the Lions' Den this weekend for a meeting with Millwall that will be quite unlike any of his previous six.

By Graham Smyth

As manager of Leeds United Farke will learn, if he has not already, that he and his team represent more than just an opposition to many Championship clubs. Leeds is a cup final, a scalp, the club so many want to see fall apart so they can sing that song about it. Millwall is not just one of those clubs, it is a club with an historic and healthy dislike of the Whites.

What's more, Sunday is a sell out. The noise will be deafening, the hostility dialled up all the way to max and the atmosphere will not be one for the faint of heart. Put plainly, games like the one at 12pm on Sunday are a test of one's minerals.

Farke takes a relatively young team to the capital with him this weekend and though some of his youngsters boast top level experience and appearances in front of big crowds in big stadia, The Den is a bit different. That much has been made clear in the dressing room and Thorp Arch meeting room, this week. As Farke admits, talking about it is one thing.

"Yes, we've spoken already about this," said Farke.

"The Den is an unbelievably tough place to go and play, I have been several times. Yes, it could be also impressive, especially for young players or players who are not used to playing on a Championship level and especially in such a tough, tough place. We've spoken about this, but one thing is you can speak about this and prepare them in a theoretical way but then to bring it on the pitch when it really counts is a different question."

Given that Farke felt moved to address the Den's atmosphere in his preparation for Sunday's lunch time kick-off, it is easy to wonder if it will play a part in his team selection.

The major doubt cast over Djed Spence's involvement due to a knee injury likely clears the way for Luke Ayling to retain his place at right-back, but this is a game for character and experience in any case. Ayling is the only one of Farke's fit and available options who played in the last meeting of the two clubs in London. Were he not to be involved in this one then the presence of Liam Cooper, back in team training this week following recovery from a foot injury, would feel necessary. One, or both, will be in the line-up, you feel, to bring an old head's perspective. Sam Byram, a Leeds visitor to the Den in August 2014, is also fit again, although if anyone knows the venue and the crowd it's makeshift left-back Jamie Shackleton. The youngster spent last season on loan with Millwall and his performance last time out against Sheffield Wednesday would cast a harsh light on his dropping were that to be Farke's decision.

There is one more area of the pitch into which the Leeds manager can inject some big game knowhow and that is in midfield, where 17-year-old Archie Gray could give way to Glen Kamara. No one is in any doubt as to Gray's ability or promise - Farke attempted to talk around the hype without feeding it this week and still could not resist acknowledging the potential for national excitement with this youngster - and yet Kamara has been there and got the t-shirt at international level, in Europe and in Old Firm games.

There is an argument to be made for unleashing the impetuousness of youth but with a high number of individual duels likely and a potential fractiousness inspired by what will be a wall of noise, the physical ability to win challenges has to be harnessed by an ability to stay cool. Gray loves to fly into tackles and often emerges with the ball to make good use of it. He might well possess the temperament to play his natural game with full composure in the maelstrom this fixture could become. It might not be a risk Farke is willing to take.

Where the manager is more likely to give youth its head is in forward areas where pace and trickery can trump physicality. What Willy Gnonto, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter lack in battle hardening they more than make up for in swagger and skill. They too must tread a line though, Gnonto in particular, with his penchant for drawing contact and a temper that has shown itself at times.

What Farke is asking for, of whoever he selects, is a mentality that matches the occasion and a performance that brings home a victory.

"This will definitely be one of our tasks so like to play with fire in the heart but also cool in the head," he said.

"To accept that there are periods when you have to suffer and you have to dig in and you have to fight for second balls and to defend awake and aware, because we spoke about the physicality and also the insanity of the place that is Millwall.

"We are particularly respectful but again so each and every game on this level is complicated, not easy for that. We don't travel in fear, we travel with confidence and we want to win points."