'Not ideal' — Why lunchtime kick-offs are affecting Leeds United's season — YEP 20/12/24
By Harry Mail
Lunchtime kick-offs have proved to be a ‘challenge’ for
Leeds United this season and have been far from ‘ideal’ as they look to gain
promotion from the Championship, YEP reporter Lee Sobot has said. The Whites
have generally struggled for results in that time slot over recent times. The
Whites are currently sat in 2nd place in the table behind Sheffield United.
They are three points behind the Blades and are one point above Burnley in 3rd.
When asked about Leeds’ difficulties playing at midday,
Sobot has said: “Daniel Farke has literally said it in his press conferences.
He has basically said that everything gets affected by it in terms of the
travel, the sleep, what you’re eating. You can’t eat the things you watch. I
don’t think it is rocket science to work out he is not a fan of lunchtime
kick-offs, I think that is pretty obvious. Everything he has to talk about them
he says they are not ideal. It’s a challenge. He is always keen to stress it is
not an excuse. It is the same for everybody and we have to get on with it.
“There is more focus on it with Leeds purely because it
feels you’re in that slot a little bit more. Let’s not beat around the bush,
Leeds are the big team in the division, the big fish in the pond, so obviously
they’re going to feature on Sky as much as possible in slots such as that. It
is just something they have to navigate. That’s is another thing we say about
Leeds being a bit unpredictable, I go into those games (lunchtime kick-offs)
with a bit of trepidation.”
He added: “I don’t know whether it becomes physiological. I
remember a couple of seasons ago we had the big London curse which was
obviously more in the Premier League with the sheer amount of teams in the
Premier League.”
Leeds are in action this weekend at home to Oxford United as
they look to keep their impressive run of form at Elland Road going. They have
lost only once on their own patch in this campaign to date and that was against
Burnley. Farke’s men have proved to be a tough nut to crack on their own patch
and are tricky to break down. They drew 1-1 away at Preston North End last time
out and needed a late equaliser to steal a point at Deepdale.
Speaking after that match, Farke said: “Very good and a
valuable point after a tough week for us and also a tough place against a side
who is really competitive, especially at home. Our attitude, we go into each
and every game in order to win it so, for that, we 're dancing on the table if
we win the game.