Leeds United kind of good as both sides of Daniel Farke's caution on show at Everton — Yorkshire Post 28/1/26
By Stuart Rayner
Daniel Farke is not a gambler.
In the first half of Leeds United's first game at Bramley
Moore Dock, their manager saw "one of the best away performances we've
shown".
In the second, you wondered if his conservatism held them
back.
A 1-1 at Everton, a 10th undefeated game from 11, was a good
night's work. It could, maybe should, have been better, but then again it could
certainly have been worse.
All football fans like their managers to be gamblers, but
only winning gamblers. Tottenham Hotspur loved Ange Postecoglou's buccaneering
football in season one as they finished fifth in the Premier League. Not so in
season two, down in 17th.
There was no Elland Road mutiny when Marcelo Bielsa's second
Premier League season took a downturn but the football stopped working. After
his sacking, Leeds only escaped relegation on the final day.
The fans who loved Bielsa’s bravery are suspicious of
Farke’s caution and negativity. The first charge is fair, the second is not,
and Farke will quote the statistics to prove it.
Short of unrealistic extremes, there is no such thing as a
positive or negative formation, it all depends how you use it.
When the sides were named at 6.45pm on Monday, it seemed
Farke was playing it safe. Facundo Buonanotte's debut was delayed so Ilia Gruev
could stiffen midfield. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was a lone striker.
But Gruev alongside Ethan Ampadu let Anton Stach play
inside-right with Brenden Aaronson completing a box shape alongside him. They
supported Calvert-Lewin well.
Leeds’ midfield control allowed Jayden Bogle and James
Justin to play high up as attacking wing-backs, not sit in a five. Gabriel
Gudmundssson, whose adductor strain Farke hopes will keep him out for less than
three to four weeks initially diagnosed, was not missed.
Bogle and Justin were so positive at one point they got in
each other's way in Everton’s penalty area.
It was "one of the best away performances," purred
Farke, "very dominant, didn't allow any chances."
Aaronson buzzed around to great effect, Nathan Patterson
needing an excellent penalty-area tackle to deny him an early sighter at goal.
Bogle saw lots of the ball and used it well. Had someone
anticipated his curling cross after 11 minutes he might have had an assist.
Gruev was liberated enough to steer a shot over.
When Bogle did well to find Stach, Calvert-Lewin's near-post
run drew players away and Aaronson realised the angle of the cross favoured
Justin far more, and left him to score.
"We couldn't quite contain Leeds as much as we would
have liked," Everton's David Moyes admitted.
Calvert-Lewin's first-time shot directed Bogle's cross onto
a post.
"We knew they were going to come out stronger in the
second half," said Leeds centre-back Sebastiaan Bornauw.
A double half-time change put Everton basically in a 3-1-4-2
and the Leeds box flatten into 5-4-1. His support acts stifled, Calvert-Lewin
had too much ground to cover to stop the ball continually coming back.
"It was a difficult situation," commented Farke.
"We didn't have a problem in terms of defending.
"We still controlled it. Of course due to their quality
they would have a situation here and there, but we lost a bit of control in
possession."
Ao Tanaka came on to try to rectify that, but was not at it.
Penned in, Leeds played half a good game.
"I think we controlled it quite well," argued
Bornauw. “There is a good understanding between all the defensive players, the
offensive players, the midfielders. We gave away maybe one or two
chances."
Karl Darlow's excellent stretching save from Thierno Barry's
outside-of-the-boot effort was his only taxing one before Idrissa Gana Gueye
was played in at the byline and Barry nipped in front of Bornauw to level.
"I'm really close and I don't get the the block"
said the defender but it was excellent centre-forward play.
With 76 minutes gone, Farke refused to blink – not even when
Gueye hit the crossbar minutes later.
Only in the 85th did he swap Bornauw for Buonanotte,
Aaronson and Stach for Noah Okafor and Sean Longstaff, 5-4-1 for 4-2-3-1.
Longstaff blazed over after Okafor led a breakaway,
Buonanotte had a shot deflected, Justin headed wide from the corner. But in
between a Tyler Dibling cross caused alarms.
"I was even thinking about changing to a 4-3-3 a bit
earlier to get more dominance back," Farke admitted.
"On the other side there was more or less the thought
you are missing two key players in the defence with Jaka Bjol and Gabi
Gudmundsson (injured), you have finished the last game against Fulham with a
clean sheet, you are here after 60 minutes with a clean sheet, you don't allow
chances. So if you take a centre-back out and risk defending just with a
four-man formation it would be madness if you had a lead.
"Afterwards you could say perhaps it would have been
better to do it before, but you never know. Perhaps it would be worse."
