Leeds United bus stop warning for Farke as Burnley bring familiar grumbles - Graham Smyth's Verdict — YEP 15/9/24

By Graham Smyth

Daniel Farke cannot allow Elland Road to become the Championship's bus stop if he and Leeds United are to continue in the same direction of travel.

The story of Burnley's visit to LS11 was a familiar one. Missed chances - golden ones at that - at one end and a somewhat gifted goal at the other. A visiting team parking up outside their box and protecting a slender lead without enough hassle.

Leeds earned 90 points last season, as you might have heard Farke mention once or twice. Rightfully so, because with that kind of points tally it was fair for him or anyone upstairs at Elland Road to look a little baffled or aggrieved that it wasn't sufficient for promotion. That kind of points tally, a play-off final defeat by a single-goal margin and the expectation that lightning will not strike twice in the second tier meant there was little to no question that 49ers Enterprises would take the matter of promotion out of their manager's hands.

From the outside, going into the summer, Leeds looked like a club that was as aligned as any. But even the most unified and together football clubs, where there might not be any cracks, find that football can create them with its constant applying of pressure. Farke's comments about what he needed and what he got in the transfer window hinted that the relationship between manager and club might not be as entirely structurally sound as originally thought. There has been enough noise around the club, about the strength of Farke's desire for particular targets - ones who did not arrive - versus the options being presented, to support that notion.

CEO Angus Kinnear did a good job of smoothing over those comments on The Square Ball podcast. Tension, he called it. The tension that always exists in a football club. That healthy sort of tension. But still, tension. "I think he's exactly the right manager for where Leeds United are now." And what about the right manager for where Leeds United are in a year's time? The question naturally asked itself as Kinnear's statement hung in the air.

There is of course only one way that Farke will be at Leeds come September 2025 and that is if they are playing Premier League football. Even then, it does not feel as certain as it once did, because of the way the window played out, because of what he said, what Kinnear said and what fans were left saying after the 1-0 defeat by Burnley.

Where Farke was admitting to confusion over how on earth Leeds came back to the dressing room pointless, supporters were confused over how such a collection of talented attackers could struggle to solve a conundrum posed a little too often for comfort. How to shift a parked bus.

Just as on the opening day of the season when Brenden Aaronson went clean through and could have won the game in the dying seconds against Portsmouth, Leeds were left clutching what ifs instead of three points against Burnley. This time it was Mateo Joseph going clean through, from halfway, after barely a minute had been played. Perhaps the chance came too early in the game or maybe there was too much thinking-room between nicking the ball from the last man and getting to the edge of the box. But this was not the time or place to be pushing such glorious chances yards wide of the goal. To be the main man up front for Leeds, you simply have to be putting those away.

Aaronson had cut a lonely figure, the loneliest in fact, when he missed that one against Pompey. Joseph soon had company, though, because Willy Gnonto also should have hit the Burnley net having been played clean through by Aaronson. James Trafford saved and Leeds' best two chances of the entire game came and went.

In between, Burnley scored a winner. They cleared a Leeds corner, Manor Solomon tried to take on his man instead of playing it safe, and slipped. Luca Koleosho raced away with the ball on a two-on-one break and though Jayden Bogle initially held his position to take away the passing option, he stayed there too long and took away his own chance to stop the shot, which flew by a rooted Illan Meslier.

Neither side came closer to scoring than in these three moments, for the remainder of the game. Trafford did make a flying stop from a speculative Ethan Ampadu effort, which might have been going over anyway, but that was a rare glimmer of hope in a second half that saw Scott Parker park his side deep in their own half to frustrate and fluster. It was stop-start, it was fractious and the tidy football that took Leeds into space in the first half just took them into challenges, blocks or crosses that were defended.

Manor Solomon, bright if a little greedy in the first half, faded in influence. So too did Aaronson. Gnonto remained lively without cutting through the back line. Joseph's link up play and nuisance factor remained but he did not get a second chance to make amends for the first.

On came the substitutes. Joe Rothwell, Largie Ramazani, Joel Piroe, Sam Byram and Ao Tanaka all made entrances but none made a difference to the way this one was heading. Even in the final seconds when Burnley were down to 10. By that time Leeds had gone to three at the back, two of whom were a full-back and a central midfielder. Whether your verdict was insipid or unfortunate, all could agree that it was pretty boring and ultimately fruitless. It has been this way before and it may be again but the idea of a blueprint to beating Leeds being handed out around the Championship is a worrying thought, just as it was last season. This is a club that can ill-afford to be scratching its head next May in bafflement at missing out once again. It really has to happen this time.

Afterwards, Farke had no real answer to the question of where he saw a second half goal coming from. Better chance creation was needed, he did admit. He could have, but did not, bring up what he had said already about a traditional number 10 being handy for games such as these. The encouragement he derived from the performance, specifically the dominance they enjoyed against a fellow promotion favourite, in spite of their international break disruption and tiredness, fell on unsympathetic ears in sections of the fanbase. His assertion that dominating Burnley gives him optimism for a good season is fair enough because there are far worse teams and Leeds will win a lot of games through the sheer quality they possess and whenever they score first their dominance will see them right. For some, though, what he said did not stack up with what was seen on the pitch because that dominance was largely comfortable for Burnley to bear.

In the same way, Kinnear's suggestion that Bogle can play at or above Archie Gray's level at right-back, is currently not stacking up with what is being seen. His performance was not at or indeed anywhere near that level and his offensive contributions are yet to be matched by defensive solidity. New signings, like football teams, can take time to settle and Bogle, like Leeds, needs to be given some.

The grumbles that were aired following the loss could have been predicted when last season did not end as everyone wanted. Dissatisfaction with his style of football is always going to seep out when results don't go Leeds' way. And the pressure was always going to be on Farke, right from the off, this time round. How his bond with 49ers Enterprises will hold if the pressure is suddenly cranked up, is unknown.

A first defeat of the league season is no disaster, not after making both Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City look so ordinary, and a club that needs little invitation to crash headlong into hysteria should keep its eyes on the road and the games ahead. But they will need to be better than this and Farke has to find an answer to the questions posed by parked buses. This was the first they have properly faced so far this season and having waited a month for one, two now obviously come along at once. It's Cardiff City next. That's winless bottom side Cardiff City. We all know what they will do, or what they should do. But what will Farke and Leeds do?