Mighty Leeds Weblog

Farke was due to share the touchline with Rosenior for Leeds’ FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea but the Englishman’s sacking means he will play no part Will Castle Leeds manager Daniel Farke admitted he felt for Liam Rosenior after the former Chelsea boss was sacked mere days before the pair were set to share a touchline at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-finals. Rosenior was axed by the Blues hierarchy following a dismal 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Tuesday - the club’s fifth Premier League loss on the bounce without scoring a goal, taking the club to a 114-year low. It means Calum McFarlane will take charge at Wembley for what is his second stint as interim manager in four months, charged with arresting this slump and taking Chelsea within 90 minutes of silverware. Farke, whose Leeds side have not reached the last four in this competition since 1987, cannot help but have sympathy for Rosenior and has backed him to come back stronger. “I mind my own business and don’t take decisions ...

By Graham Smyth Daniel Farke has provided his Leeds United injury news ahead of Sunday’s Wembley FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. Leeds United have lost a senior player for the rest of the season and are awaiting news on the fitness of three others ahead of the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on Sunday. This week in training Ilia Gruev injured the meniscus in his knee and Daniel Farke confirmed on Thursday that the midfielder will not play again this season. Elsewhere in the squad Anton Stach has been rehabbing an ankle injury, Jayden Bogle has a slight knock and Sebastiaan Bornauw hurt his ankle in midweek. Stach injured his ankle when he was wiped out by an unpunished challenge in the penalty area at West Ham United in the quarter-final and has not played since. Bogle was caught by a heavy tackle in the first half of the 2-2 draw at Bournemouth on Wednesday night and Farke took him off at the break, bringing Joe Rodon back in from the bench. Bornauw appeared to coll...

Silly season Written by: Rob Conlon Who are you and what have you done with the Leeds United I fell in love with? The return of my favourite football club after the final international break of the season was meant to be fraught, agonising, absolutely terrifying — our annual meeting with an Easter existential crisis. It was not meant to be this deliriously silly and downright funny. In that sense, this game did share aspects of sheer bastardy recognisable from the occasional Leeds result in my formative years, like the spoil-yer-party win at champions QPR in 2011 or the crushing of Watford’s promotion dreams in 2013. Except those victories were borne out of pure antagonism by United sides who’d already soiled their own season and had nothing to play for, whereas the current Lads of Leeds keep threatening to make this a campaign worth commemorating. Tyler Adams’ tears were just a bonus. It was made only sweeter by so much of the indifference that preceded Sean Longstaff’s resple...

By Graham Smyth The YEP’s take and off-camera moments from Leeds United’s 2-2 draw at AFC Bournemouth. Leeds United go to Wembley in the best possible mood and frame of mind after their late, late show at Bournemouth snatched a precious point. The Whites are next in action in the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea and what better way to prepare than celebrating a 97th-minute equaliser that took them to the potentially magic 40-point mark? Here's the YEP take. Good day Sean Longstaff How's that for a contribution? Match action has been hard to come by for Longstaff and yet when the chance arose to score his second banger of the season against Bournemouth he did not falter. A fringe player scoring that kind of goal, in the 97th minute no less, just adds to the feelgood factor in the dressing room ahead of the FA Cup semi-final. Not to mention it puts Leeds on 40 points. What a way to get there. Safety beckons. Daniel Farke His changes helped get Leeds back in the g...

By Graham Smyth The Verdict on Leeds United’s 2-2 draw at Bournemouth is in. Leeds United's last-gasp point at Bournemouth might not have been the most deserved of the 40 they have accrued but it might be the most poetic and most important. Earlier in the season the Whites were heading for a 2-1 victory over the Cherries at Elland Road and it would have been fully deserved. Bournemouth had other ideas, however, snatching a scarcely-deserved leveller at the death from a set-piece. The return at the Vitality Stadium went exactly the same way but this time it was Leeds with the snatch and grab. Bournemouth could have been out of sight but found themselves defending a long throw in the 97th minute and when the ball dropped to Sean Longstaff he rammed a volley right down their throats to make Leeds all-but safe from relegation. It would be a monumental ask for each of Nottingham Forest, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur to claw their way to 41 points but it is nigh on ...

By Graham Smyth Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth side looked to be heading for victory until Leeds United’s Sean Longstaff thumped home a 97th-minute equaliser. Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola has expressed his anger at Leeds United's 97th-minute equaliser being allowed to stand. Leeds scored with almost the last kick of the game at the Vitality Stadium but Bournemouth were furious that Joel Piroe's positioning did not prompt VAR to chalk off the goal. Sean Longstaff ran onto a dropping ball and thumped it into the net yet Iraola went to speak with the officials after the game to discuss why it was allowed to stand given his belief that Piroe was in the eyeline of Djordje Petrovic. "I'm really angry, disappointed, frustrated," he said. "It's a difficult one to swallow. We celebrated the 3-1, it's offside, you have to accept but the 2-2 we cannot accept. “His position is clear, it affects Petro. I've spoken to the referee. The referee tried to ...

By Graham Smyth Daniel Farke saw his Leeds United team reach 40 points thanks to Sean Longstaff’s rasping late leveller at Bournemouth. Leeds United boss Daniel Farke is 'confident' his side will stay up after a snatch-and-grab point away at Bournemouth. The German pointed out the poetic nature of the result, which mirrored exactly the way the first meeting at Elland Road went earlier in the season. Bournemouth were the better side during the contest and 2-1 up as the clock ticked into the 97th minute. Ethan Ampadu's long throw caused problems in the area and Sean Longstaff rattled in a full-blooded volley to level and move Leeds on to 40 points in the table. Farke puts his confidence in his side's ability to add to that total and render themselves mathematically safe in the four league games still to come. "I'm confident, I'm experienced and long enough in this business that we'll just celebrate when it's mathematically done," he...

Substitute Sean Longstaff volleyed a last-gasp equaliser as Leeds edged closer to Premier League safety by twice coming from behind to dent Bournemouth’s European push with a 2-2 draw. Ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea, Daniel Farke’s side moved on to 40 points – nine clear of the relegation zone – after Longstaff lashed home in the seventh minute of added time at the Vitality Stadium. Bournemouth were seconds away from climbing to sixth place in the table following an 86th-minute goal from Rayan after James Hill’s own goal cancelled out Junior Kroupi’s opener. But, in the south-coast club’s first home fixture since head coach Andoni Iraola announced he will leave at the end of the season, the in-form Cherries were left frustrated, despite stretching their unbeaten run to 14 games. Bournemouth striker Evanilson thought he had put the result beyond doubt at the start of added time, only to be denied by an offside flag. The Cherries climb above Brentford and C...

By Lee Sobot Leeds United travelled to in-form Bournemouth in their ongoing quest for Premier League survival. Sean Longstaff came off the Leeds United bench to thump home a 97th-minute equaliser and give Leeds United a 2-2 draw at Wednesday’s Premier League hosts Bournemouth to put Daniel Farke’s Whites on to the magic 40-point marker. Bournemouth had most of the possession in a pretty uneventful first half which was very short on chances although a fine save from Karl Darlow was needed to keep the score goalless as he kept out a low shot from Alex Scott back across goal with his feet. Marcus Tavernier fired just wide with a follow up attempt from an Adrien Truffert cross and United's best moment came in first half stoppage time when Dominic Calvert-Lewin played in Gabi Gudmundsson on the overlap, the Swede's cross almost picking out Brenden Aaronson in the middle. Aaronson had earlier been responsible for United's only shot on target of the half, the American tu...

By Lee Sobot Leeds United’s FA Cup semi final opponents Chelsea have sacked head coach Liam Rosenior ahead of Sunday’s huge Wembley date and announced who will take charge for the rest of the campaign. Leeds and Chelsea will lock horns in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday, ahead of which a badly out-of-form Blues side travelled to Premier League hosts Brighton on Tuesday night. Chelsea went into the contest following four straight league losses and having failed to score in all of them. Matters then got even worse for the Blues at the Amex as Brighton cruised to an easy 3-0 success, Chelsea losing five league games in a row without scoring for the first time since 1912. Reports then emerged that the club were considering the future of Rosenior ahead of Sunday’s semi-final and the club have acted quickly by sacking him. The club say that under-21s boss Calum McFarlane will now take charge of the team as interim head coach until the end of the season with support from e...

By Stuart Rayner "United are back" has been the soundtrack to Leeds United's last two wins. From fairly early on in this campaign, manager Daniel Farke has been stressing how his players have proven they belong at Premier League level. But establishing yourself in England's top-flight is about more than just results. Teams like Wednesday's hosts Bournemouth have cemented themselves by building a club, not just a group of players. Off the field, Farke says he inherited a "League One standard" training ground but now, in that respect too, United truly are back. Even the ageing Elland Road is getting an overdue facelift. When Leeds were a force in European football at the turn of the millennium, their Thorp Arch training ground was high-spec, but depressing though it is for those who lived through those times to think about, that was a quarter of a century ago. Now clubs like Bournemouth are high-end, wanting three points on Wednesday to push for ...