Leeds United v Coventry City: Daniel Farke still searching for perfect chemistry after so-so start — Yorkshire Post 28/9/24

By Stuart Rayner

Leeds United look like a team still searching for the right chemistry. No one should be all that surprised.

The Whites host Coventry City on Saturday having won a respectable three out of six in the early Championship, but to some on the terraces, it does not quite feel right yet.

Manager Daniel Farke keeps banging the drum for their defensive record. Only four goals conceded in six games is very good but chop off the opening game against Portsmouth – if only it worked like that – and one in five is excellent.

The problem is the other end. Six clubs, including newly-promoted Oxford United, have double-figure goals in the league and Leeds are not one. If you want to turn a blind eye to the 3-3 with Portsmouth to defend the defence, then the attacking record since is six in five.

It is not terrible, but nor is it what you pay the transfer fees and wages Leeds have forked out under Farke for. Most supporters would gladly swap a cast-iron defence for a bit more va-va-voom at the front end.

That is what Farke football has been like at Elland Road – solid, secure, safe, steady. So soon after two-and-a-half glorious years of Bielsaball it is not floating everyone’s boat.

It feels the ingredients are there for something more explosive and Farke just has to find it – or develop such a winning machine that no one can really argue.

But the season is early and last year he stumbled upon his chemistry as he went along. Many of the best inventions come by accident.

It was October last year before Leeds won back-to-back games. Chairman Paraag Marathe promised 2024 would be different, with a manager in situ at the start of the summer, not parachuted in for day two of pre-season. It has been to a degree – Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City were beaten consecutively – but accursed release clauses caused more disruption than we had been braced for.

This time last year, Archie Gray and Ethan Ampadu were Leeds' central midfield combination, Georginio Rutter led the line. It took until October for midfielder Gray to move to right-back, where he pretty much stayed, and the new year for Rutter to drop between midfield and attack, for Ampadu to slip in alongside Joe Rodon at centre-back and Ilia Gruev to emerge as the go-to midfielder.

So maybe, with injuries to Pascal Struijk and Max Wober threatening to see Ampadu redeployed at the back, Farke might stumble on a better combination, one with a less stodgy midfield base than that provided by the Welshman and Gruev – excellent midfielders but reluctant to make the runs which break lines and defences. Last season Rutter's je ne sais quoi provided the unpredictability there but with no replacement bought when he moved to Brighton and Hove Albion – Sheffield United were not prepared to part with Gustavo Hamer – it needs to come from elsewhere in 2024-25.

But the lesson of last season is not to panic. Leeds are a point behind a Blades side rightly lauded for their start, three ahead of well-fancied Middlesbrough and four above Luton Town.

"We can't be firing on all cylinders and at 100 per cent," argues Farke, who was only able to sign Largie Ramazani, Manor Solomon, Isaac Schmidt and Ao Tanaka in the final days of August.

"We lost many key players who were also responsible for our principles and processes, especially the offence. Every player has to get used to each other a bit more and the individual players have to get used to their new role.

"Mateo Jospeh is 20 years-old, he had never started a game in the league before this season and I think he's doing amazingly well but he can't be in his prime.

"It was Largie Ramazani's first start in English senior football in the last game so he can't be there with his best possible performance.

"You have to get used to every movement – how Mateo moves, which pass Largie plays or whatever. It always last a bit longer when you have a pretty young squad.

"Brenden Aaronson after a first season for Leeds and not the easiest loan spell is still young, Willy Gnonto is more or less a youngster (aged 20) so you can't expect that after a few games together they will be perfectly well equipped to play with each other.

"This is one of the seasons I would like to have the more experienced Daniel James and Manor Solomon back in contention soon and Patrick Bamford back to his best.

“The longer we play together, the more you get used to everyone. Especially in the beginning of the season it's important you don't change too much because you need rhythm.

"If Largie plays on the left wing it's slightly different to Manor Solomon. if Willy Gnonto plays on the right wing he's a different type of player to Daniel James. It's important to have different strengths, advantages and skills in the squad."

Desperate to get back into the Premier League, Leeds United will not wait forever but they might have to wait just a touch longer.