'Proud' Leeds United boss Daniel Farke blasts 'softest decision' and reveals equaliser analysis — YEP 27/9/25

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United and Bournemouth shared the spoils in a game dominated by set-pieces.

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke said attention to detail and a 'soft' free-kick award cost his team a win over Bournemouth after a performance that made him proud.

The full-time whistle was met with a mixture of emotions for Leeds after a 2-2 draw. Before the game a point would have been seen as a good result but having missed good chances and having led from the 54th minute to the 93rd, they came agonisingly close to a victory.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin could have put his side 1-0 up inside the first 20 seconds when he was played clean through but squandered that chance and two others inside the opening 20 minutes. Leeds went behind to Antoine Semenyo's powerful free-kick but recovered to level through Joe Rodon's header from a Sean Longstaff corner.

That particular combination was a feature of Leeds' set-piece play all afternoon as Longstaff emerged as a new delivery man from the dead ball. But it was from open play that they took the lead, Longstaff lashing in a beautiful strike after a period of pressure from the hosts.

Bournemouth struggled to break Farke's side down as the second half went on but Leeds could not keep them out forever. Pascal Struijk lost the aerial battle with Marcos Senesi and Eli Junior Kroupi was free at the back stick to sidefoot a volley past Karl Darlow for a 93rd minute sucker punch.

"It's a valuable and good point," said Farke. "If you concede that late and should deservedly have won this game of course it doesn't feel great. Just compliments for our lads today. We've outperformed them in terms of Expected Goals, 19 shots, shots on target. Just one team was missing big chances today, normally we should have won. First half we had enough chances to win two Premier League games and sadly missed them all."

Farke said his side showed desire to block every cross and through ball to deny Bournemouth chances in the second half, having gone ahead through Longstaff. All that was missing was attention to detail in the 94th minute.

"I wouldn't blame not being switched on, more the attention to detail in each and every scene," he said. "There was not one big mistake but we're in possession on 94 minutes then there's a sloppy touch on the ball. We would not need to be there with a foul. Perhaps we dropped a bit too deep, could have stayed higher. Could have won the first header, could have dropped a bit quicker. They will find some mistakes in the goals they conceded [too]. A bit heartbreaking if you don't give anything away apart from this. This is what happens sometimes on the top level, they can punish very little. I'm proud of the performance, proud of what they did again to come from behind, it shows mental strength and resilience."

The key to Leeds' performance was their physicality, particularly in the middle of the park. Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola felt Leeds were superior to his side in terms of their running and aggression in duels. Farke knew it would be a vital battle to win.

"We spoke before the game about the team who wins more duels and second balls will win this duel in the middle," he said. "It's where you have to dominate and where the game is won. We could have done a bit better in the first half in these terms but over the whole 90 minutes we've dominated this area. This is what we did also against the ball. Credit to [the midfielders]."

One of his midfield players, Anton Stach, was guilty of conceding the free-kick from which Bournemouth scored their first goal but Farke was critical of the officiating.

"I think we would have deserved to not have the free-kick given, probably the softest free-kick given this weekend," he said. "It's not a foul for me at Premier League level. We probably would have won without this free-kick conceded. Sometimes the feeling is they would have deserved a bit more luck. If they keep going like this that when it really counts to have the results to stay in this league we deserve to get a bit of luck at some moments. I'm pretty happy so far with the season."