Daniel Farke reveals Leeds United injury latest and Millwall FA Cup preview as Whites out to avenge league slip — YEP 6/2/25

By Joe Donnohue

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke hosts his pre-match press conference at Thorp Arch this afternoon ahead of the Whites’ FA Cup Fourth Round meeting with Millwall.

Leeds play host to fellow Championship side Millwall in the next round of the FA Cup this weekend knowing they will not be knocked off top spot in the league.

That is thanks to a convincing victory in midweek over Coventry City at the CBS Arena, in which Joel Piroe and Jayden Bogle found the back of the net, before the team squandered plenty more opportunities to put the game to bed.

Farke spoke after the match about Leeds’ profligacy, but also found time to commend his side’s ongoing 14-match unbeaten run and the five consecutive clean sheets they have managed in recent weeks.

The manager will preview this Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against Alex Neil’s Lions from 4pm this afternoon.

Farke on Guilavogui

First of all the quality as a player, he has played 300 Bundesliga games, played in a French side in their prime when they were winning every tournament, seven caps for France so says a lot about his quality. Right now a bit older but leaders are for me natural-born and lead by example. This is what Josh does every day and is a role model. Unbelievable professional, prepares for every training session like a Champions League Final. One of the last to leave the training ground, does everything his body requires. Perfect example for all my players and young players, encouraging with arm around the shoulder but demanding and telling them when they can give a bit more. He has played many important games in his life, played with world-class players on his side. To prepare for every simple training session, even matchday-plus-one session with a smaller group in a Championship side. Although he didn’t play that much, with a smile on his face, pretty inspiring. Doesn’t overdo it with talk or messages but when he feels it’s the right time he’s there with a speech or insights. I think the players are respectful. It’s what we need with a young group. Younger players can be carried away with their emotions, spotlight on social media, look at this guy who has dignity and delivers every day. Joy to work with him, I think it’s no coincidence we have such a good run with him and great team atmosphere. If I would rate one of my best signings, of course, there are bargains but Josh is one of my best signings of my Leeds tenure. Pretty happy we went for him and he will play an important part in the run-in.

Farke on fans singing name

My name is not that important, why I always leave the first instant the stage for the players. I choose to go two-three minutes later. I’m fully aware how important the supporters are for us, the biggest asset of this club. The second-most important thing is the players. I’m nearly an old man, I don’t need this anymore. Maybe in my younger managerial career, I was greedy to hear my name more. For me the most important enjoyable is to see my lads happy on the pitch, supporters happy, this is the most pleasing of the whole day.

Farke on lessons of last season

Not too many lessons I think last season was a special. First of all, you need a bit of luck in the final stages, your key players are not injured and in good shape. It was costly Bamford who played a major part during the really good spell last season, that he was not available the last games. With a fit Bamford, on fire, in good shape, the end of the season would have been different. Same with Pascal Struijk. Can replace a player like him for a few games but over half of the season, 24 games is really difficult. Of course it’s something you sometimes can’t influence. We hope for better luck and fate. It feels like a different squad right now. Just to compare, I had promotion in my first season with Norwich with a team that was the chance of their life to go up. The players who were promoted to the Premier League, they’d never played before this level and most of them never afterwards. It was a life-changing chance for them, compare it with Ipswich last season. This spirit and togetherness, when the going gets tough, can make a big difference. With the contract situation for us, made it a bit different and difficult for us, without criticising any player, our setup was slightly different - it’s a different challenge. I was successful in a similar scenario in my second promotion season with Norwich. Right now it feels like we are with a group who are desperate to be successful. They are celebrating with each other, the spirit is really good, gives me lots of confidence we’ll be on it until the last second of the season. Like always you need a bit of luck.

Farke on Alex Neil

Full of respect for Alex and what he’s done during his career. Always difficult to play against his sides, very experienced in this league. You always see his handwriting in his teams, always competitive and with intensity, brave and don’t waste much time to prepare the attacks. Pretty quick in the head and always good feeling for him who are the decisive footballers in his squads. It’s always difficult to open his sides.

Farke on unbeaten runs

Don’t want to get all the praise for this, the praise goes to the players. My attitude in general on the mid and long term is you get what you’re willing to invest. One of my principles is the players should work professional and have outstanding fitness levels. We want to train smart and also modern, take care for recovery of the players, don’t take any risk in terms of injuries but we want to improve and train hard. If you have this, in the mid and long term it pays off. You can show this consistency in the long-term, especially in the second half of the season. To work methodically is also good, we try to improve the squad every week, the longer we have with the team to work they should improve in what they’re doing. It was quite often the second season in charge was better season. In lower tiers in Germany, I overtook a team battling relegation, then second season finish runners-up. It was a bit trickier this summer break, we had many key positions many changes, bit more difficult to build on a [foundation] of this season. Players like Georgi, Cree, Archie, Glen left and we had to replace them. I think if you see players growing like Rodon for example, they’ve made another step this season. Our claim is to try and improve the squad, it doesn’t happen overnight. In the end it’s not the idea, all the credit goes to the players. If they are at home and don’t work and live professional, it will still not pay off. This is what we try to do and the way we play is like we try to exhaust opponents, dominate and control the game, being smart what we’re doing on the ball, good balance speeding up the game, high-intensity football and to calm down and get your rest in possession. I think the approach we have to dominate the ball, exhaust opponent, quite often pays off during a game, when we have exhausted the opponent from 50, 60, 70 minute but also throughout the season. One one hand it’s a theoretical approach but all credit goes to my players and staff.

Farke on team news

Who is available for training is also in my thoughts for the game. Only player not in team training is Patrick [Bamford]. That’s the first step for him, I hope that will happen at some point next week. All the others are available and have a chance to be involved in the matchday squad.

Farke on minutes to underutilised players

The first thing is we want to go through, to be there with successful starting lineup but on the other hand not to do anything stupid when there is such a quick turnaround and the players are not fully recovered. Medical staff feed me with statistics, if the players are ready to go, higher risk for muscle injuries. Turnaround for Saturday to Tuesday is not too bad, three proper nights. But this time we have to take a bit more intention on who is fully recovered from the last game or not. Preparation is professional as always. We speak about what is necessary in tactical terms. We try to execute in the best possible way.

Farke on cup tie

We know it’s perhaps not realistic for us to win the FA Cup but who knows - strangers things have happened. We have the support and help of our supporters, perhaps they have to be more patient after we spoiled them in last few performances. We want the same outcome if possible.

Farke on rotation

We are used to a busy schedule and quick turnarounds. When you want to be successful in Championship, you have to get used to it. Turnaround this time is the worst possible because late kick-off last night. Most players in bed 3am, then more or less one day of preparation tomorrow because today was recovery for most of my players. Then the earliest possible kick-off on Saturday. We always rotate during such a period but I think maximum three positions are healthy for this group. For this game, we’ll probably rotate on a few more than one or two positions. In terms of being fluent in our rhythm it could be tricky. When you have many changes the players have to get used to each other.