Daniel Farke's Leeds United conundrum: Finding a solid midfield with only 'ballers' to pick from — Yorkshire Post 7/10/24

By Stuart Rayner

Leeds United are going to have to spend the international break having a tactical rethink after being forced to replace their midfield bodyguards with “ballers”.

Ilia Gruev had knee surgery on Saturday, seven days after Ethan Ampadu suffered the knee problem likely to keep him out until 2025.

It changed the nature of the team which ended league leaders Sunderland’s 100 per cent Championship home record on a night which still felt like a huge kick in the teeth.

Leeds cobbled together a midfield of Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell at the Stadium of Light, where they would have won 2-1 but for the calamitous error Illan Meslier made to concede an equaliser in the seventh added minute.

With two weeks until Sheffield United visit, manager Daniel Farke must work out how to make the best of his new set-up whilst keeping an eye out for free agents who can improve their ball-winning qualities.

"I probably have at least the next 10 weeks to think about this problem," said Farke ruefully.

"That's why I have to be professional to check what is on the (free agent) market but it's not like I can bring someone in and he'll fulfil the role perfectly with perfect fitness and perfect shape because if there was someone good enough to play in one of the best teams in this league he would probably already be under contract somewhere else.

"We have to adapt our style of play, our height of the pressing, our shape against the ball and which pass we choose. What we worked on during pre-season and in the initial part of the season we have to change a little bit.

"We want to show what we did against the best team in the league so far. We found top solutions. This is what we want to do for the next 20 games or whatever it is without Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev."

The until-now regular pair are both defensively-minded.

"At Sunderland we played with two ballers in this position," said Farke. "Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell are two of the best midfielders in the league when it comes to passing and being in possession but against the ball it can at times be challenging.

"We couldn't go for quick transitions and play the ball forward because we didn't have the defensive machines to win the ball back.

"We had to completely change the rhythm of our game."

Farke should be able to do a lot of work with Rothwell in the next fortnight but not Tanaka, who is playing two World Cup qualifiers for Japan.

"On the ball, for me, he's one of the best midfield players in the league," said Farke of Rothwell. "He always chooses the right pass and he's so tidy on the ball.

"We planned to use him a bit higher up but we didn't have a rock-solid deep six (holding midfielder). Tanaka has also played as an attacking No 8 (box-to-box midfielder), on Friday he had to play the deeper role.

"In terms of positioning and what we do against the ball we have to work a lot but I won't make Joe Rothwell a completely different player with steel against the ball shifting like a teenager, also Ao Tanaka."

He also has to turn psychologist after Leeds recovered from Chris Rigg's early goal to lead through Joel Piroe and Junior Firpo. They controlled the final half-hour, only for Meslier to run past an ineffectual Alan Browne flick at the end of stoppage time which found the net.

"I had to go to my lads and give a hug to Illan in the dressing room, to give the first messages so they judge the game and what we have done in the right way," said Farke.

"There's some pretty young boys and I can't send some of them away for two weeks without talking about this and what we take out of this."