Leeds United boss Daniel Farke critical of decision for Man Utd goal but lauds Whites mentality in draw — YEP 4/1/26
By Graham Smyth
Daniel Farke saw his Leeds United side share a 1-1 draw with
Manchester United at Elland Road.
Leeds United boss Daniel Farke felt his goalkeeper Lucas
Perri took the wrong decision for a goal that cost the Whites a famous win over
Manchester United.
The Whites took the lead in the second half when Brenden
Aaronson produced a cool finish to beat Senne Lammens.
But three minutes later a through ball gave Matheus Cunha a
chance to run in behind the home defence and though Perri came off his line he
seemed in two minds and was beaten by a shot from an acute angle.
Farke believed the Brazilian should have stayed put and
entrusted the covering defender, Sebastiaan Bornauw, to deal with the situation
firstly.
"It's disappointing," said Farke. "Normally I
don't like to speak about individual mistakes, it was obvious Lucas took the
wrong decision and came off his line. It's probably not even a chance, he's
running away from goal. Jaka [Bijol] and Seb were with him. He opened the goal.
“Otherwise we probably would have won it because we didn't
allow much more than this situation. You have to take decisions in the game,
this was probably a wrong one. We win, lose and draw together. He was there
with a good save in the first half. It's a split-second decision."
Farke was proud of what his men produced though against an
opponent that had 48 hours extra rest and without Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Dan
James and Jayden Bogle. The right-back dropped out with a minor calf injury
prior to the game. Sean Longstaff returned to the squad but did not come off
the bench.
"First of all I have to say I'm proud of my lads,"
said Farke. "It was tricky circumstances, we had to go over the line two
and a half days ago at Liverpool. Several key players out, not available.
“We even had Sean back in the squad although I would never
do this without a proper team session but I wanted his maturity in the dressing
room. It's of course difficult.
“People tell you how big it is, lots of expectation [in this
game]. I'm very proud of the mentality of my players to show resilience. For
Seb, JJ [James Justin] and Ilia [Gruev] it was not possible to start today but
they had to start today, no one was available in their positions and they
showed another good performance again."
Leeds were not at their best in their manager's eyes, yet
defended well for the vast majority and finished the stronger of the two sides
with chances for Joel Piroe and Anton Stach. Being disappointed not to have won
it shows how far Leeds have come however, having stretched their unbeaten run
to seven games.
"It was probably not our best today but we found a way
to be competitive," said Farke. "Our defensive behaviour was spot on.
We came close to winning it after a well taken goal. There's a light
disappointment we didn't take all three. The equaliser was of course very
unnecessary.
“This says a lot if you're seven games unbeaten and are
disappointed with just a draw against Man Utd with many missing. The feeling
was there to win this game. I'm not over the moon with the result but with the
mentality of my lads."
