Leeds United boss Daniel Farke explains why he's 'encouraged' despite frustration in Burnley defeat — YEP 14/9/24

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke was ‘encouraged’ by his side’s dominance despite the obvious frustrations in a 1-0 defeat by Burnley.

The Whites were made to rue a pair of missed opportunities in the first half as both Mateo Joseph and Willy Gnonto failed to put the hosts ahead. Joseph went clean through after a minute only to shoot wide and Gnonto was played into a one-v-one situation with keeper James Trafford, who produced a fine save. And when Burnley were presented with a chance of their own, from Manor Solomon’s slip, they made no mistake. Luca Koleosho raced clear from his own half, Jayden Bogle failed to get close enough to stop the shot and Illan Meslier was rooted to the spot.

For all their possession in both halves, Leeds struggled to break the visitors down once the goal went in and Trafford responded well to anything that did get through. Referee James Bell gave Leeds a last-gap chink of light with a red card for Bashir Humphreys but it came too late in stoppage time to make a difference.

Farke said it was difficult to understand how Leeds had not won the game in light of their dominance, which included 71 per cent of the possession and 17 shots to Burnley’s seven. “Of course it's the most frustrating thing in football when you go back to the dressing room and can hardly explain why you didn't win this game,” said Farke. “After this difficult international break, just one session together, I didn't expect we would be that dominant. Really happy with our dominance, how we started on the front foot, dominated each and every statistic.

“The decisive moments we were not effective enough. We should have scored after two minutes, [needed] a better finish, Mateo one on one, Willy Gnonto then eight yards out. We should have a penalty again. Many corners but the only team who scores out of a corner is them, from a corner for us. Manor is there with the wrong decision, decided to turn around, didn't have to take this risk, he slipped and they were away with an 85-yard counter. Congratulations and credit to them for a good finish. When I compare how they scored and what we have created, we had better chances, easier chances to score and didn't take them. This is where we have to be self critical. I was disappointed to concede out of such a situation.”

The Burnley goal was not just down to Solomon’s decision-making and subsequent slip to the turf - Farke admitted that last man Bogle did not get his timing right on an attempt to block the shot.”

“We have clear safety with a central player, Jayden Bogle is there,” said Farke. “Even if we don't win the first ball we will always win the second and then it's an easy pass back or wide. But [Manor] decides to turn. This mistake shouldn't happen. I think Jayden initially does the right thing, stays in the centre so he can't play an easy pass but then at some point he misses the moment to step out, he stepped out slightly too late. A perfect finish, through Jayden's legs and no chance for Illan to save it.”

Although Farke rightly pointed out Leeds’ better chances, the big ones came in the first half before a second period that saw them struggle to create. Burnley parked the bus, as others have with success against Farke’s Leeds, and the boss felt the stop-start nature of the second half increased the difficulty for his men.

“We could speak about we could have created some more good chances,” he said. “The goalkeeper was there with some really good saves. It's tricky because the second half was interrupted with many injuries, many substitutions and a bit of time wasting. Sometimes you have to score from a set-piece. We were there in good situations, close to the box.

“It's quite natural, they are invited to drop deeper and deeper, of course it's difficult. Many of our key players were feeling a bit more the load in the second half due to the international duties. We substitute some of them who are normally always on the pitch.”

The result did little to dampen Farke’s belief that Leeds can contend this season, though. He believes their performance, after 13 players went away for international duty and were only able to reunite for a single training session, bodes well.

“After a loss you're not allowed to speak about this but the game itself, not the result, encouraged me even more that we'll play a good season,” he said. “If you can play that dominant, make them just defend more or less the whole game then you normally have a good set-up to play a good season. I know it's a marathon this league, a third win in a row would have made our life easier to be in a leading position rather than a chasing position. We have to accept we have to chase.”