Daniel Farke compares his coaching methods to failed Leeds United trio as boss makes 'small details' comment — YEP 21/2/24

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke says consistency in coaching has contributed to the team’s recent run of results.

By Joe Donnohue

The Whites are 11 games unbeaten in all competitions while claiming maximum points from each of their last eight Championship matches under the German. Leeds’ assault on the automatic promotion places since the turn of the year has seen the team surge up the table, capitalising on slip-ups made by Southampton and Ipswich Town to occupy second spot with all three having played 33 times. Speaking ahead of Friday's ‘spotlight’ Elland Road fixture against Leicester City, Farke opined that consistent work on the training pitch has benefitted the players, many of whom worked under three different full-time head coaches and managers last season. “I think, overall it's just this consistency especially due to all work on the training pitch because small details and just a few percentages can make a huge difference in football. “The longer we are capable to work with this team, to work against the ball, to be absolutely compact, to be spot on in our pressing, to defend set pieces in a proper way, the more time we have together, the easier it is to improve.” In two of Farke’s three previous Championship campaigns, the 47-year-old has lifted the title, on each occasion surpassing the 90-point mark. Leeds, for all intents and purposes, appear on course to manage the latter, even if first place proves out of their grasp. During each of his Norwich City seasons, the team improved - or at least matched - their points-per-game average during the second half of the campaign, something Leeds are also currently achieving. Farke feels it is no coincidence that seven months into his tenure, the team are playing more in his image, delivering consistent results and performances, than at the beginning of 2023/24. “Our good shape and good form is [because] we were able to work with each other for such a long time. I think this consistency and not to have too many changes for the players is beneficial,” the manager added. Leeds employed Jesse Marsch and his Red Bull-inspired ‘close the net’ philosophy during the first half of 2022/23, before appointing the more pragmatic, conservative Javi Gracia as his replacement until the end of the campaign. Ultimately, Gracia’s football was not conservative enough as Leeds leaked goals, leading to the subsequent ‘break glass in emergency’ appointment of Sam Allardyce for the final four matches.

Farke’s comments can be interpreted as such, that implementing a strategy or consistent way of playing capable of delivering results akin to United’s current run, against the backdrop of such stylistic upheaval, was never likely to work. “When I think about my players in the recent months it was relatively easy because they can work on one clear vision, how we want to work, how we want to play, the same way, use the same patterns, the same principles. “I think it's quite important to be flexible, but the principles how we want to play and the values we want to play [with] never changed in recent months and I think when you have this consistency as a player and as a team you can improve. “I think in the months before the players always had to adapt to different types and styles of coaching, of approaching the game, of playing and this is sometimes difficult.”

As for Leeds' current run, Farke's comments suggest they are no fluke, or at least that's how the manager views it. After all, there is corroborating evidence from 2019 and 2021 that Farke's title-challenging sides go on unbeaten and winning runs numbering well into the double figures.