Daniel Farke singles out Leeds United key man in Plymouth win and reveals reason for change — YEP 17/2/24

Daniel Farke has given his verdict on Leeds United's 2-0 win at Plymouth Argyle.

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke singled out goalkeeper Illan Meslier for praise after a 2-0 win at Plymouth Argyle that sent the Whites back into the automatic promotion spots.

Leeds took an early lead through Willy Gnonto, who continued his recent resurgence with a fine goal, but struggled to produce their customary slick football and allowed Argyle to make it a real contest.

The second half was a similar story until Georginio Rutter fired in to give the visitors some breathing room and secure an eighth consecutive Championship win. The Whites moved back into second spot in the table, two points ahead of Southampton who have played one game fewer.

Farke was delighted with what his team did without the ball at Home Park in order to do what the rest of the Championship have found so difficult to do in recent months.

"A very mature performance and I'm a happy man today," he said. "First of all because of this result. No other team since October was able to travel away from here with three points.

"I was very respectful before the game and I liked our maturity today. We started on the front foot, so on it in the first minutes, scored a really good goal. Plymouth is a really good side, hard to beat here at home and you have to dig in and show compactness, good work against the ball.

"There were 10-15 minutes in the first half and 20-25 minutes in the second when we had to control it with our work against the ball. We stayed focused and together, scored a good goal, we should perhaps score a bit easier in some situations.

"The free-kick in the last minute was more or less a penalty so the scoreline could have been a bit more comfortable. I'm more than happy with the clean sheet and defensive steel we showed. Perhaps not the most shining in the offence but I'm pretty happy."

One player who came in for praise from the manager was his goalkeeper Illan Meslier, who he felt did everything necessary to secure a third consecutive clean sheet.

Farke said: "I think he was outstanding today. He was not there with one spectacular save, we've seen he can do this, but it was one of his best performances of the season. He was solid in his decision making, strong at set-pieces, good with his feet. You could feel his appearance on the pitch today and as a goalkeeper when you return with a clean sheet you've done everything right."

Leeds were once again without Patrick Bamford up front and though Farke started with Joel Piroe up top, he made a change to switch the Dutchman with Rutter, in the 10 role. The recent hectic fixture list starting to take a toll on Rutter's legs was one of the reasons for the switch, which paid off handsomely with a second goal, laid on by Piroe and scored by Rutter.

"It was one of those game days when we had to work a lot against the ball, Georgi had lots of load in recent weeks and he looked a bit tired," said Farke. "We wanted to have him on the pitch with his pace and confidence, he's good in set-pieces, a bit underrated at defensive set-pieces. We had a feeling that could be crucial today.

"Joel always delivers lots of work load. Normally he and Ilia [Gruev] cover the highest distances and he can stand the load. We had the feeling to have Georgi a bit higher up the pitch and could run in behind with his pace.

"Thank God it paid off with the second goal. It was perhaps also one of the games when Georgi had one or two losses in possession [as a 10]. But it's good we are that flexible and they both haven't forgotten how it feels to be in each position."