Daniel Farke monitoring Leeds United's health after Whites fail to move Sunderland's parked bus — Yorkshire Post 13/12/23

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Daniel Farke said Leeds United not only struggled with Sunderland's tactics but also illness as they fell to their first defeat in eight games.

By Stuart Rayner

And whilst the former was a frustration, it is the latter he will be keeping a close eye on ahead of Saturday's visit from Coventry City.

The Whites travelled to the Stadium of Light with six wins and a draw from their last seven games but were beaten 1-0, allowing Ipswich Town to stretch the gap to the top of the Championship to 10 points.

A side which has not changed much recently because of its good form looked a bit lacklustre on Wearside, but Farke put forward reasons as to why.

"Normally, we have a good fitness level and we will assess them and we'll see who is really ready to start, ready to go and what's happened in terms of injuries," he said after the game.

“I don't think any player will come back for the weekend, but it’s also a bit doubtful what happens in terms of illnesses. We had several players in our group who were struggling a bit with cold and we'll see how the next days will develop.”

None of Farke's injured players are expected back at the weekend but he has plenty of depth on the bench to rotate his XI.

The German also admitted Leeds struggled to deal with Sunderland's unambitious but successful tactics.

"Congratulations to Sunderland to a great defensive effort," he acknowledged. "I think in general I'm struggling a bit to criticise my lads too much.

"It was clear we had a difficult away game. I think we dominated it in many periods, we had nearly 60 per cent of possession first half, more than 70 per cent in the second. We didn't find the cutting edge.

"In recent games we've created so many chances and scored so many goals. On Tuesday when it came to play the final pass we were not tidy enough or sharp enough.”

"I'm struggling to accuse my lads for this goal," said Farke. "When you're always trying to create and you have to run back 70 yards to defend it's not easy. We had seven lads in our own box, we defend the cross, the ball bounces off the head of Alex Pritchard and it bounces exactly to the offensive player of the opponent.

"I’ve worked with Alex, he’s a great lad but even he doesn't know how he was able to put the ball back into the box.”

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