Daniel Farke reveals nerves and addresses controversy and injuries in 'wild' win — YEP 22/4/24

By Graham Smyth

A Crysencio Summerville double and goals from Patrick Bamford and Willy Gnonto did the job for Leeds, but they made life incredibly difficult for themselves. Boro went ahead when Emmanuel Latte Lath went clean through and though he couldn’t finish, Isaiah Jones was on hand to find the net. Summerville’s penalty and Bamford bundling in a Junior Firpo cross swung the game Leeds’ way, before Lath equalised from outside the area.

Gnonto scored from a clearly offside position to put Leeds back in front and Summerville struck on the hour mark with his trademark finish to seemingly seal the deal for the Whites. But Lath’s header, catching Illan Meslier off his line, kept the jeopardy in the match right to the end. The result sends Leeds back into second place on 90 points, a point ahead of Ipswich and one behind leaders Leicester City, both of whom have a game in hand. The tightness of the automatic promotion picture made it a must win game on Teesside.

"You could see they are a bit nervous, they are not guys who have 400 games, we have a few thank God but many young players at the heart of our game, an 18 year old guy, the centre of defence is quite young, up front apart from Patrick Bamford pretty young," said Farke. "You could feel they need a bit of trust and confidence, the only answer is hard work. This is what we did on the training pitch. It's not like you pray for a result, hard work is the answer. This is what we did and it gives us the confidence to come back from such a difficult start."

The seven-goal thriller was, in Farke's eyes a good advertisement for the Championship and an impressive win because it came against such a good and in-form Boro outfit. The first half was, though, too open for his liking. "It was a great first half," he said. "But we were a bit too wild today, we have played with enthusiasm and fire in the heart, perhaps even a bit naive, it was a basketball game in the first half. We conceded a goal out of a counter attack, losing the ball unnecessarily. Compliments also to Middlesbrough who also showed a fantastic performance. They played with freedom because it was their last highlight more or less this season, they could go for it, whole stadium buzzing against Leeds United. Massive compliments to my lads to win these priceless points."

How Leeds dealt with the second half, with Boro dominating possession and making it so nervous at the death, pleased the German. "Great mentality from my players to be 3-2 up at half-time, it was important to calm their nerves down against the ball, work on our structure to control the game a bit more, wanted to allow them a bit more possession in areas where they can't hurt us," he said. "They had more possession but just a few set-pieces that we cleared really well and scored a fantastic goal through Cree Summerville. Daniel James had a great chance, I'm not sure if Patrick's goal was really offside. Out of one long ball they scored and it was a tight game again. Their goalkeeper was more in our box than theirs. They tried everything and you feel the pressure, we wanted to win this so much. It was difficult. You need to show some steel, to dig in and grind out this important result. Many compliments for the heart, character and mentality. If we win the game then I'm happy with this."

His opposite number Michael Carrick took issue with the offside call for Gnonto's goal but the backlog of decisions against Leeds this season gives Farke the impression that it would take many more in their favour for things to even out this season.

"Was it offside?" he began. "Okay. Five inches or how much? I think 10 years ago we would probably have said it's onside. Nowadays you drop the line and then you have perhaps two inches. I'm not sure if it's in the sense of the game. So if it was actually offside we have to say okay, 52 against us and we're edging a bit closer. I'm not sure if Patrick was really offside in the second half. His goal was disallowed, then we're not edging closer. I'm not sure if we're owed something, because of all the mistakes against us that we can't be on the equal level, so many decisions, goals, offside, whatever. If we were lucky in this situation then yes I take this but I don't feel we have to apologise. I would like to see Patrick's back because my feeling on the pitch was not offside."

The worry for Farke now, ahead of another huge game at Queens Park Rangers on Friday night, surrounds Daniel James who left the pitch with the help of physios after taking a blow to the midriff late on. Joe Rodon was also in the wars but Farke is less concerned about the centre-back's issue.

"Not so much with Joe because I think he had some problems with his calf that was just a hit so I hope he came through and will be ready for Friday, but I'm a bit concerned about Daniel James, could be something with his core muscle," said Farke. "Really unlucky, a key player for us, would be really bad news if he has a major injury. Let's hope and pray. We have to wait and assess."