Leeds United: 'If you calm down, then you have to say it was probably a relatively comfortable 3-0 win,' says Daniel Farke — Yorkshire Post 18/4/26

By Stuart Rayner

Daniel Farke praised Leeds United's "maturity" for seeing out a 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers he said was more comfortable than it felt.

When they went 2-0 up inside 20 minutes, the Whites were cruising to the win that would put them nine points above the relegation zone ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's evening kick-off against Brighton and Hove Albion.

They laboured from there, not adding a decisive third goal until Dominic Calvert-Lewin's penalty five minutes into stoppage time.

"I just thought we were playing a bit rubbish," was James Justin's verdict on how the team played after Noah Okafor followed up his spectacular opener.

His manager disagreed.

"I wouldn't say rubbish, it was just a game where it was more important to win the three points and you feel it in the crunchtime as a player," he commented.

"When we are 2-0 up, you're always a bit in between – should we keep going and pressing and attacking without avoiding running into counter-attacks because they had (Adam) Armstrong on the pitch?

"He is one of the best counter-attacking strikers, we didn't want to be naive with the 2-0 lead (when we were) so close to achieving this priceless three points.

"Also you have to give credit to Wolves because of course their fate is a bit more clear and obviously they could play without pressure.

"If there is a situation when your goalkeeper (Karl Darlow) has to be there with a top-class save (from Ladislav Krecji) and you don't score the third goal then you quite normally get a bit nervous, perhaps even a bit more tired because (since) Monday night physically we had enough time to recover for this game but mentally we invested a lot into this game.

"This made this game in the second half sometimes a bit tricky.

"I'm just delighted that in the decisive moments you always were there with the right decision, with the right tackle, with the right save, and the right moment to bury this game with this important third goal.

"It was crucial today to show a bit more maturity.

"We had met more fluent games away at Old Trafford first half, whatever, but today in the second half was also a bit about being pragmatic and getting this three points over the line.

"We are desperate to defend our clean sheet and to bring the three goals for the goal difference more or less over the line.

"It was perhaps not our most beautiful piece of football in the second half and not so much our processes that we want to play but (I was pleased) in terms of game-management and pragmatism in an important period during the whole season."

And although Leeds' threat dropped considerably at 2-0, the nervousness came not from what Wolves were doing, just what they might able to do with a bit of luck of a sloppy mistake by the Whites.

"If you calm down, then you have to say it was probably a relatively comfortable 3-0 win," said Farke, probably not echoing the experience of many in the stands. "Fully deserved because we dominated each of our statistics."

Coming on the back of Monday's 2-1 win at Manchester United, it was always going to be a big test of character for Leeds.

"To be honest, I was a bit nervous before this game because for me, a game after such a historical night at Old Trafford is always difficult, especially once you have a home game with big expectations against a rock-bottom side in the league," said Farke. "Wolves are a good side, they've shown this with more than decent performances and more than decent results also in the last couple of months, back-to-back wins against Liverpool and Aston Villa for example.

"To start that strongly was of course decisive – to be in the lead 2-0, to stay with a foot on the gas during the whole game.

"There were one or two nervy moments during the second half, but we put the right tackle in and one top-class save from Karl Darlow in the right moment to make this game not too nervy game.

"Then to bury the game with the third goal feels quite good.

"It's a massive step forward for us and a very crucial win.

"We showed again that this team has a very strong mentality and delivers, especially under pressure, with some of our best performances during the season and also some of the best results during the season is amazing.

"I'm just proud of the lads that we do this, although still a few key players during the season are missing from the starting line-up."

Leeds' first back-to-back Premier League wins of the campaign opened up a six-point gap to the rest of the chasing pack. With five games to play they are on 39, one short of the target Farke revised from 38 points as this season panned out.

"I would say during a normal season 39 points are probably enough (to avoid relegation), but we have a special season where teams like Tottenham try to chase us and a team like Nottingham (Forest), who is playing in Europe and has invested over £250m in the summer, is trying to chase us.

"We have also a bit of a special situation that we play two of these teams, Tottenham and West Ham (away from home in May) so if you lose such a game, it means automatically they would win the three points.

"So, my attitude is a lot is achieved but nothing is done yet.

"To be there with 39 points, with five game days to go, is a fantastic position to be in but the feeling is still that we probably need to win one, perhaps even a few more points.

"And for that, we don't allow ourselves to take the foot from the gas. We will stay focused, concentrated and want to win this one or perhaps even a few more points as soon as possible.

"We don't want to travel on the last gameday into a nervy game (at West Ham United) when you have to deliver a result in a difficult away game."

Wolves' relegation can be confirmed by other results this weekend.