'I'm also struggling' — Leeds United dressing room admission puts flesh on 3-0 bones — Leeds Live 15/8/24
Leeds United’s players lost their nerve once Middlesbrough began to turn the screw last night, though Daniel Farke also admits he is struggling to explain why they imploded so drastically. The Whites were ripped to shreds in the second half of Wednesday’s League Cup tie, losing 3-0 and exiting the competition.
The manager made eight changes to the team which drew with
Portsmouth on Saturday and Farke felt that was telling in the manner of their
performances. He saw grave errors in possession and a lack of confidence in the
system once the visitors took control of the game.
All three goals came in a 17-minute spell that saw the hosts
run ragged with the basics of defending completely abandoned on the field. Five
substitutes did not have the desired effect before the third goal went in.
“I'm also struggling to have a really clear explanation
right now because, in all areas, [in] this 20 minutes we were not ourselves,”
he said. “In possession, we had unbelievable mistakes, losses of the ball, our
pressing didn't work anymore.
“We were not compact, we were stretched. Perhaps, we lost a
bit the nerves after the first chance of them and they scored the goal. Then,
if you have eight or nine changes, perhaps the players were not in the rhythm,
they lose a bit the confidence and also the trust in the processes. Perhaps
that was the reason.”
Farke has, though, suggested people should not read too much
into Wednesday’s match because of the scale of the rotation in his team
selection. He does not feel fans should worry too much about the performance
moving forward.
“I also have to watch the game back to get a better feeling
what was the reason, really, in this 15 or 20 minutes,” he said. “I would say,
also, in general, the main reason we lost a bit our head and our nerves and our
trust in our processes was we had so many changes.
“For that, this is more or less the main explanation and I
wouldn't over-interpret too much into it.”