'If I am honest' — Leeds United boss Daniel Farke's candid assessment after friendly loss to Wrexham — Yorkshire Post 27/7/26
By Tom Coates
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke had “no complaints” after
his side’s 3-2 friendly defeat to Wrexham.
The Whites and the Red Dragons did battle at the weekend,
braving the intense Florida heat at the Raymond James Stadium.
Joel Piroe and Sean Longstaff cancelled out Wrexham’s first
two goals, but Sam Smith struck late to secure a victory for the Championship
outfit.
Pre-season friendly results mean very little and while Farke
was not particularly upbeat about the scoreline, he was quick to point out the
importance of fitness-building.
“I am always struggling once there is a loss to be in a good
mood afterwards, if I am honest,” he told LUTV. “But today, no complaints.
“We played against Wrexham who played a relatively strong
side, a few weeks ahead in their preparation.
“If you have a look at the game, normally we should have won
this game. We had more possession, we had more chances, should have scored also
more goals than them but they were effective.
“You could feel today, lads were tired. We have trained the
whole week, more or less two sessions per day. We had even a session this
morning and to play without many important players so for that, no complaints.
“Pre-season you build a foundation for the whole season. It
is most important that you do lots of physical work. You need this endurance,
this fitness level during the whole season.
“We have proven last season how important this is. You have
to integrate the new players. And the best way is always like once you are 24/7
together and you have lots of communication.
“We need, of course, to work on our game. We had many, many
good pre-seasons in the last years and yeah, it was quite often then also the
basement for a really good season. Hopefully we can also keep working hard and
for that we also have a successful season ahead.”
Leeds handed opportunities to some of their most promising
young talents, including defender Jayden Lienou and midfielder Callum Mills.
The latter was particularly impressive, drawing praise from
plenty of supporters after a bright showing.
“For us, we gave many, many debuts away today, also full
debuts,” said Farke. “I am just a bit sad and feel a bit especially for our
young lads, that they couldn’t celebrate their debut and their full debut with
a win.”
Leeds will face Sunderland and Liverpool before their
stateside tour comes to an end. Farke’s men will then take on RB Leipzig and FC
Augsburg at Elland Road, with a Dublin showdown with Manchester United
sandwiched in between.
