Leeds United boss Daniel Farke reveals dressing room message and Ramazani conversation after 7-0 rout — YEP 1/2/25

By Graham Smyth

Daniel Farke said Leeds United fell short of perfection in their 7-0 win over Cardiff City but he has told his players to enjoy a 'moment to be proud of.'

The Whites were 2-0 up and comfortable at half-time of the Elland Road fixture having taken the lead through Brenden Aaronson and doubled it with Manor Solomon's back-post finish. The second half was a one-sided beating, however, as Leeds' relentless attacking desire gave them the biggest win since 1972's 7-0 rout of Southampton.

Dan James got a goal to go with his two earlier assists and won a penalty that Joel Piroe converted with real composure. Piroe added his second deep in stoppage time after a long-range strike from Willy Gnonto and Mateo Joseph's first goal since October.

"After a win always relieved but when you have a day like this and such an impressive scoreline it's even more enjoyable," said Farke. "This league is relentless and you have to be relentless yourself. This is what we've shown from the first to the last second. Our work in transition, our work in possession. What I liked was in the last 20 minutes, four or five up, we still had the desire to sprint back and defend the clean sheet and the discipline to create further chances and score further goals. We could even have scored a few more. Not perfect because we missed a few chances. But it doesn't come along that often, especially in this league. You have to enjoy it and value it."

That was the message Farke gave to his players in the dressing room. Though he will quickly turn his attention to Coventry City in midweek, he wants the players to revel in what they achieved against the Bluebirds.

"The problem is I told them straight after Burnley the attention was on Cardiff, to make sure it was a golden point at Burnley," he said. "If you repeat this speech after every win it becomes a bit boring. I told them enjoy this today, it's outstanding and days like this don't come along often. So be proud. But not so you go for many drinks and still be celebrating in the morning. Make sure in your habits, good sleep, good nutrition, proper behaviour and stay concentrated. We have an important game upcoming, important weeks. There will also be a moment when we have a bit more time between games and they can enjoy together perhaps a proper night out. Today just a moment of be proud, enjoy this and don't think about Coventry tonight. If you never enjoy what you're doing then you ask yourself, why I'm doing all this work."

Though Farke was delighted to see Joseph and Gnonto break their respective goal droughts, he was most pleased that his attackers joined in with the defensive effort to control Cardiff. His only slight regret was that Largie Ramazani did not get to join his fellow attackers on the scoresheet.

"Ramazani was missing, he had a great chance," said the German. "I was hoping for him because he's working relentless. He was so motivated to score. It always starts with hard work. I think about Joel Piroe, the first goal he won the ball back in our box, sprinted and played the second last pass and in the end Brenden scored. Same for the second goal, great pass of Joel. Pretty happy it pays off in this way. We invest the work for the team, the desire of my offensive players to win the ball back and be unselfish. Goals are always important for strikers. I'm delighted for Willy and Mateo, it will do really well for their self confidence and our confidence as a team. It would have been perfect for Largie to score. I told him straight away in a 7-0 win it's not important for you to score. But if you score a winner in the 96th minute in a 1-0 win that's what we need so he shouldn't be too down and should celebrate with his team-mates."