Every word from Daniel Farke's press conference including injury updates on Pascal Struijk and Sam Byram — YEP 12/2/24

Daniel Farke will be speaking to the media this afternoon ahead of Leeds United's trip to Swansea City on Tuesday evening.

By Kyle Newbould

Daniel Farke will be in front of the media this lunchtime as Leeds United prepare for Tuesday evening's trip to Swansea City.

Leeds recorded a sixth consecutive league win on Saturday, cruising to a 3-0 victory at home to Rotherham. Crysencio Summerville netted a brilliant second-half brace, following Patrick Bamford's controversial early opener which appeared to go in off his outstretched arm. There was also a Whites debut for Connor Roberts, who arrived on loan from Burnley on deadline day and came off the bench for 15 minutes.

Leeds are the Championship's form team of 2024 but face another tough away trip on Tuesday. Swansea City ended a run of four straight defeats in all competitions by beating promotion-chasing Hull City 1-0 on Saturday. They were well beaten at Elland road back in November, however, with Joel Piroe, Dan James and Georginio Rutter on target in a 3-1 home win.

Piroe and James are two of four Leeds players with links to the Welsh outfit, the former having made the £12million move across to West Yorkshire in the summer. Joe Rodon and new arrival Roberts have also spent time at Swansea and will hope for a successful return to familiar ground.

Farke will be expected to provide injury updates on the Leeds players currently out of action, namely Pascal Struijk and Dan James who have both been out in recent weeks. Struijk has been absent since December 28 while James has missed the past few games - both are thought to have adductor issues. Jamie Shackleton also missed the Rotherham win due to illness.

Leeds were able to make some early changes on Saturday due to the comfortable scoreline but Farke was highly critical of the fixture schedule last week and a Tuesday evening trip to Swansea will not be ideal. The German might be pushed on the matter again this lunchtime.

Farke on Gnonto's improvement

We spoke about this topic a lot in the beginning of the season. It was a difficult moment - also for the club - it’s also never easy when you have so much expectation and noise for a player who we must not forget was only 19-year-old at this moment. He has to handle many expectations and I think about when I was 19, there was not so much with social media and everywhere a mobile.

My life was much easier at this age and no one realised mistakes. It's so difficult in the spotlight but they are living a privileged life and have to grow up quickly. What Willy has done in recent months is developed his personality. Sometimes, tough times can help you to value the good times.

He’s still young but feels much more settled, more confident, he enjoys much more to be in this role and obviously being involved a lot and scoring goals helps. Everyone is singing his name again. I'm delighted for Willy.

More on Leeds' young stars

You need players who cheer everyone up and when you see them you just have to smile because they are the way they are. I have my own office so at my age, when you have Rutter or Summerville the whole day, you’d have a headache but I can hide in my office when it’s too much.

I hope the more experienced and calmer players tell them when it’s enough because they're joking every day. It's great to have these characters but you need this [seriousness] as well.

Farke on Rutter x Summerville partnership

Good players always play well together. Both are pretty creative and brave, doing sometimes some crazy and unexpected things on the pitch. Sometimes they have the same vision in a situation and the same technique, precision to find each other in difficult moments but certainly not in every moment.

If they could find each other in every moment then they’d be going for the Ballon D’Or so there is room for improvement. But they are really good players and have good understanding and interaction off the pitch. Overall we have a good relationship between players and this helps, especially for offensive players when they play together.

Sometimes I feel with Georgi that he likes it more when his teammates are in the spotlight and not himself. He can be a bit more selfish in order to add a few more goals but I like this mentality. We have the motto ‘side before self’ and this is what they are living, but still with a healthy selfishness.

More on James

He’s an experienced member of the team with appearances for the national team. It’s quite natural that the older you get, your word in the dressing room is more important. He leads in the games, initiating the press or recovering the ball when sprinting back - this is also leadership and even more important than great speeches in the dressing room.

He’s known for his offensive qualities but is capable of sacrificing himself with a sprint back to win the ball. This has a big effect on the whole stadium so I think he’s not there every day with speeches but leads by example in training and games.

Farke on James' finishing

Experience is important but the most important topic is the work on the training pitch, during games and also to bring this hunger to score. Sometimes you have a natural goalscorer and out of a player who is not capable of scoring at all, you'd struggle to make a Golden Boot winner.

We got the feeling through James’ career that he could bring more consistency and for that we worked on a few bits, gave some hints and spoke about what he has to improve in other aspects of his game in order to be there with more confidence and clinicalness in front of goal.

All credit goes to Daniel because we can work and speak, it's him who has to go through the door. It's him who works on it and believes in it. That's what he's doing and for that he gets all the credit.

Farke on building a winning mentality

Work on the pitch because you can't become confident just with psychological games. It’s not like a new manager comes in and works like a magician. You get confidence back when you’re doing well. It starts in training and in habits - how you live and work professionally.

Then to force this confidence back in the games. This is definitely the first step. We speak a lot about soft skills that are necessary, you also have to lead by example, be a role model, send a message of confidence and belief. But also to stay cool when the going gets tough and show leadership in these moments because if you're jumping around as a manager its difficult for the players to believe you.

It's useful to have the experience in bringing it over the line, and also the players know you’ve done it before. But we speak about soft skills and mentality - you have to act like this.

Farke on winning streak

When you want to play in the top positions in the league and want to celebrate in May, it's always the same mentality and battles you have to implement and improve. I speak about winning mentality, so we don't get carried away with a few good results and the fire is still burning.

Also if you lose, you're not too down and lose nerves which is important after a difficult result. It's a special mentality you need, especially after relegation because once you're relegated you're too used to losing games. Winning has to become a habit.

Farke on Swansea boss Luke Williams

I always like watching a team and can see the handwriting of a manager and that's what I see at Swansea. The most important topic is his effect on the here and now but I like what he's doing. I like how they set up, I'm quite respectful. I think he’s doing a really good job and you’ll see this with their results and their position in the table will improve. Our work against the ball, pressing and compactness, has to be spot on in this game.

Farke on Struijk

Difficult to say. I'd like to have a timeframe. We first spoke about one or two weeks [out] and it’s now been two months. There is progress in his rehab but doctors haven’t allowed him to extend the load in training until February 20.

This week he has done individual work and there will be an assessment at the beginning of next week. Hopefully we get a green light and he can also work with higher intensity then return him back into team training as soon as possible.

Definitely not in the next two or three weeks. A late call on whether he will return before the next international break due to the fact he’s been out for so long.

Farke on Swansea beating Hull

Not surprised because their form in terms of results was not great but I like what they were doing on the pitch. It's a brave side, a good possession side with clear principles and processes. For me it was a question of when they would win and not if. It's a really good side with many experienced and technical players. they are one of the best possession sides in the league so it's a big task. They will go into this game with confidence and against Leeds United they have nothing to lose. They can play with freedom. It will be a difficult task and we have to be prepared.

Farke on improving efficiency

It's difficult to reproduce the same situation because there aren't 40,000 people screaming during training. It also comes with experience and learning how to handle the pressure on game-day. We have many young players.

Robert Lewandowski in the early stages of his career, he missed so many chances for Borussia Dortmund and everyone said he misses too many. But after that he was probably the best goalscorer in the world, so it comes with experience and hard work on the training pitch. for that, we try to let them be in finishing positions where they feel comfortable and can improve their confidence. but we need to put them in situations where they can finish under pressure - although in recent games the pressure was not great and we couldn't finish.

It's a process and we have to work on it.

Farke on Leeds' form

We always try to be balanced when analysing. We've had a good run with many clean sheets but there are details we can improve in terms of defending. In the other way round, we are creating many chances and have scored several goals but our efficiency in the final third can be improved. We try to be balanced.

We want to use the momentum to improve so we play with confidence. We are just focused on us and maintaining our good form. But we also speak about where we can improve because there is never a perfect game.

Farke on James v Gnotno

[Gnonto] is playing with consistency and end product which is good, but it's also good to have James back because he's been fantastic. We have many games and for that it's good to have another option - and a really good option in Daniel.

Farke on team news

Sadly, Sam Byram has reported some a minor muscle injury after the last game so he will definitely miss this game. I hope it's not too long and just a minor problem. We wait for the scans.

Daniel James back in tram training and available. Jamie Shackleton back in training but will miss the game due to private reasons.

It's not the hamstring that was injured but the other leg. A minor problem. We've got a tight schedule and don't want to risk a bigger injury. Hopeful he's back for the weekend, definitely the game after.

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