Inside Leeds United's stunning Liverpool comeback as Daniel Farke lifts lid on half-time message — YEP 3/8/26

By Kyle Newbould

Daniel Farke urged his Leeds United squad to play with more bravery and confidence during the second-half of Sunday’s 4-2 comeback win over Liverpool.

Leeds capped off their pre-season tour of America with an impressive victory, fighting back from two goals down at half-time to win comfortably. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, introduced during the break for his first summer minutes, played a key role with two goals while fellow substitutes Brenden Aaronson and Sean Longstaff also scored.

Some passive defending saw Leeds two goals down in the first-half, with young defender Luke Chambers scoring from a corner before Florian Wirtz turned Jeremie Frimpong’s cross home. But the Whites came out for the second-half at Soldier Field in Chicago a completely different side.

Asked by LUTV what changed after the break, Farke said: “Not too much, you know. In football, sometimes the momentum can change a lot. After 15 minutes I think it was 3-1 on corners for us, 3-0 long throw-ins for us, 1-1 in wide area free-kicks. But they scored out of their only situation, out of their corner kick.

“This sometimes does something with the self-confidence a bit. I think we didn't play with the bravery that we normally have in the first half. With good situations upfront, but could have been a bit more braver and in possession to dominate the game a bit more.”

Farke was visibly frustrated after Wirtz doubled Liverpool’s lead, gesticulating towards the officials. As it turned out, the assistant had raised a flag for offside during the build-up but seemingly without a line of communication to the referee, was ignored and the flag went down.

A difficult first-half for Leeds was compounded when Gabriel Gudmundsson, who was in a nasty collision earlier in the game, went to ground holding his hamstring and had to be substituted off. But with the help of those half-time introductions, Farke’s side dominated a Liverpool outfit that had been weakened via a handful of changes.

“I think the second goal against us was unlucky because normally it was offside and you know the linesman waved the flag anyhow,” Farke said. “But yeah, normally in the U.S. even head coaches have headsets, but it seems like they don't have any headsets for referees. And also for that, big confusion. Out of this we concede more or less the second goal, crazy.

“I told them at half-time - also we had a few changes and also spoke about a few details and tactical terms - but was more like, come on,” the Leeds boss added. “Sometimes there is a sucker punch, which is also a bit unlucky, like the second goal. But we could have also reacted a bit quicker. I don't blame just the referee. The reaction after the cross for the second goal could have been a bit better.

“But we wanted to play our process for that, also with belief, with self-belief, and not crumble just because it's more or less we're playing here in Chicago, many Liverpool fans were celebrating at half-time. We wanted to be ourselves in the second half, and we played with fire and confidence and bravery in the second half. And this is why we dominated the whole second half, and then fully deserved to win this game.”