Daniel Farke presented with Rubik's Cube as he leaves 'strange approach' behind — YEP 8/5/24

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford recently described good management as puzzle solving and Daniel Farke has a Rubik's Cube on his hands this week.

Spygate, an episode that put this football club front and centre in the national headlines, did more than delight and captivate the tabloid sub editors. It opened the eyes of fans everywhere to just how much work goes into opposition analysis on a weekly basis. It happens everywhere, at clubs up and down the country, as Frank Lampard was desperate to tell everyone. Although not to the insanely exhaustive levels, perhaps, that Marcelo Bielsa went to.

Though Bielsa's latest successor has been at pains of late to speak only of the next game and then next game, the play-offs and potential opponents will have come into view for his staff long before Saturday's defeat by Southampton on game day 46. Data and knowledge of Norwich City's recent games, their tactical tendencies, set-piece routines et al will have been a task prior to this week, although the confirmation of their place on Leeds' half of the play-off bracket will have intensified the work to know them inside and out.

What Leeds learn will then be broken down into the lessons Farke wants to deliver to his players in the meeting room at Thorp Arch. When it's not in use as a media suite, it's where the manager and his staff talk the players through their plans and principles.

"I feel like that's where the good managers, it's almost like problem solving," said Bamford on his BBC podcast. "Because they're watching an unbelievable amount of games of the opposition and they're coming up with 'I think this is how we can beat them, this should work' and then putting together a plan. So I feel like it is almost like a bit of a puzzle for the manager that he's solving week after week."

Farke's real puzzle, however, lies not so much in understanding what Norwich will do and how to undo it, but in fixing the problems within his own team. There's the ailing confidence of flair players like Georginio Rutter and how to restore the Frenchman to his pre-international break form. That appears to be an issue for others, too. Illan Meslier's recent outings have too-closely resembled the late-season difficulties he suffered as Leeds slipped towards the Premier League trap door, when too many of the shots he faced found the net and Sam Allardyce made a change between the sticks.

In front of Meslier, the picture was once so clear. He was well protected with Ethan Ampadu and Joe Rodon in imperious form individually and as a central defensive pairing. Beyond them, the central midfield was providing the necessary control and cover to keep a lid on counter attacks or strangle opposition sides when they had possession. Over the course of the last few weeks the picture in front of Meslier has been more Jackson Pollock than Farke would like. Even if, as the German said, his riskier approach to the Saints game led to a 'wild' basketball-style encounter, there have been periods in other recent outings when opposition players have operated in far too much space in the Leeds half. Queens Park Rangers enjoyed the room gifted to them by a Whites midfield that sat too deep. Middlesbrough made Leeds look far too open at times.

Protecting Meslier starts at the opposite end of the pitch, in the way the numbers 9 and 10 press, alongside Farke's wingers. But it's no real surprise that the pain Leeds have been suffering through the middle has led to calls for a change to the midfield shape and not just the personnel. An extra body, perhaps? A pairing of Glen Kamara and Archie Gray, underpinned by the deeper-lying Ilia Gruev? The concern then would be the loss of creativity and presence further forward, although as Rutter's influence has waned dramatically over the course of the last few games there may now be less of an argument to be had. Junior Firpo has put together a far more convincing season than any of his previous campaigns in the white of Leeds, yet came unstuck badly against the Saints. His offensive attributes are obvious, but defensively he can require help at times and the idea of Gabriel Sara - recently employed on the Norwich right - enjoying the kind of space and time that Ilias Chair was afforded by the Leeds team at Loftus Road is not a pleasant one.

On the right hand side of defence Sam Byram has been favoured for the last three games, bringing experience and proficiency at both ends of the pitch. He's a dab hand at set-pieces, both for and against, and scoring a goal from one of those has been like squaring the circle for the Whites. Where does Gray fit, though, if Farke sticks with a central midfield two and Byram at right-back?

And up top? Patrick Bamford's knee will need to have returned to a more normal colour, inside and out, but a lack of football leading into the play-offs presents the question of just how much game time he could sustain. Risking him at Carrow Road and losing him for Elland Road and, potentially, Wembley could be costly. Joel Piroe did get himself a goal on Saturday but his performances more generally have not been of the required standard and Mateo Joseph is yet to work out and showcase exactly what it is he needs to do to convince Farke that he is the solution to the number 9 problem.

At a puzzling time, Farke finds contentment in the simplicity afforded by this new two-legged knockout stage of the Championship season. There are no permutations and the butterfly effect will not be a factor on Sunday. The problem will be solved, or not, at Carrow Road and then again next Thursday in Leeds.

"The week [leading into the Southampton game] was beneficial but it was a strange approach," he said. "We went a bit away from our normal approach. Normally you want to concentrate on not allowing chances or goals and return back to clean sheets, if you have conceded seven goals in the last two games. We completely went the other way. It was a bit difficult. This time we have two games, more or less the final. You don't have to win the game in the first five minutes to press another opponent [elsewhere]. We have time to return back to our best possible behaviour, especially defensively. Our normal standards and habits and principles, this gives a bit more confidence. Hopefully it's enough to have them back at their prime."