Leeds United boss Daniel Farke addresses defensive change suggestion after disappointing Burnley defeat — YEP 18/10/25

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United conceded two avoidable goals in defeat to Burnley on Saturday.

It went wrong for Leeds United in both boxes in their defeat at Burnley but Daniel Farke says he will not make changes 'for the sake of it.'

Farke's side went behind on 18 minutes as Burnley punished a number of errors with a wicked Kyle Walker cross and Lesley Ugochukwu's free header. Leeds were not switched on for a throw-in, needlessly conceded by Karl Darlow and then Anton Stach let the goalscorer escape him entirely. The visitors should have levelled when Jack Harrison played Brenden Aaronson in on goal and the American's first-time strike was saved onto the post by Martin Dubravka.

Pascal Struijk's giveaway allowed Burnley to break in the second half and Loum Tchaouna sent a long-range rocket beyond Darlow to stretch the Clarets' lead and ultimately put the game beyond Leeds. Farke's men huffed and puffed, sent crosses into the box and squandered another couple of opportunities without ever really making Dubravka do much more work.

When asked where it went wrong, Farke responded: "In both boxes. In an away game on Premier League level you can't have a better statistic than we did, dominating each and every aspect. The problem in football is the only thing that is important for the result are goals. And this was missing today. So missed an unbelievable amount of big chances as well, not just shots or strikes, but also big chances. Must have been four or five times more than them in terms of Expected Goals. Yet if you have one of these days when you can't bring the ball over the line, then you have to be perfect in defending. We defended well, we didn't allow much, but one situation per half."

Farke was annoyed at the defending for the first goal because his side needed to be more switched on, block the cross and then defend it. For the second he felt Leeds could have stepped out earlier. There were angry gestures from some in the away end at full-time and while Farke insisted there were positives he admitted Burnley were simply more clinical.

"Many aspects to be pleased about, but in terms of effectiveness, you have to say they were the better side," he said. "In terms of effectiveness, congratulations to them. And this is also important football, and this would be what we have to add to our game."

Farke was quizzed on the readiness of players to come into his defence should he want to make changes. There was speculation in the build-up to the game that Jaka Bijol, fresh from a pair of clean sheets with Slovenia, could come in to replace Struijk at centre-back. The Dutchman was beaten in the air for Bournemouth's late equaliser at Elland Road and both Spurs goals deflected off him. Farke suggested that the central defence was not where the main issue lay at Turf Moor.

Daniel Farke addresses Leeds United centre-back question

"But that was not the problem today," he said. "So they played their part in order to be that dominant and to not allow chances. Sometimes, of course, when you don't have a perfect result everyone is crying for a change, but we don't change just for the sake of it. It makes no sense when you go into the details, what the centre-backs, for example, have done so far during the season, then there's not really much to criticise. Pascal perhaps could have won the header against Bournemouth and on the deflected strike was a bit unlucky in the last game, but also today, centre-backs nothing to do with the goal.

“The first goal we spoke about what was key and the second goal was a strike out of 25 yards. Just because we concede a goal we just can't take whatever, Joe Rodon out, although he plays perfectly, then you don't change on the centre-back position. It's more like then you try to bring in more offensive players and we are a bit more lucky or a bit more effective. I don't think it makes sense just to change for the sake of it, there must be a reason for it, poor performances or top, top performance in training from other players.

"If you would change too much in central defence, it's normally never, never a good sign if you have to do this. So won't rule it out. Sometimes of course it happens, but we won't change just for the sake of it. Everything has to make sense."

Farke also stood up for under-fire wing pairing Harrison and Aaronson, both of whom were guilty of missing chances. Injuries to Noah Okafor and Willy Gnonto restricted Farke's wing options and Dan James was fit enough only for a substitute appearance.

"Good workload like always," he said. "Very active of course. I don't expect Jack starts his first game and cuts the league into pieces. It was his first chance in the starting line-up. Brenden had a situation where he should have scored, Jack with good situations to score. Effectiveness was missing. Played their part but can't blame them too much. Jack was highly motivated, Brenden had a long flight and a quick turnaround, they would have liked to score the goal and perhaps wanted it a bit too much and were missing the calmness for the finish."