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.