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5 hours ago
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Like it or not, Daniel Farke has become a one-man buffer zone, insulating players and directors from growing supporter anger at Elland Road.
Leeds heads to Manchester City on Saturday with Farke acutely aware that defeat against his good friend Pep Guardiola will only intensify suggestions that Brendan Rodgers could soon commandeer his parking space. While it remains unclear as to whether Rodgers, a free agent after a dramatic divorce from Celtic in October, would actually want the job, five defeats in the past six Premier League games have raised awkward questions about Farke’s future.
With the trip to the Etihad Stadium followed by visits of Chelsea and Liverpool on Wednesday and Saturday respectively, a pivotal week looms for the German who, only last spring, celebrated promotion from the Championship.
Outwardly at least, Farke remains unfazed. “I quite like it that the outside noise is on the manager and not the players,” he said on Thursday. “I need to be a leader who stays calm and doesn’t think about his own career. It’s about how Leeds can stay in the Premier League long term.
“I’ll be honest, it’s not very enjoyable at the moment; we’re getting a lot of stick. But I don’t need to hide. I was aware of how passionate this club is from the first day here. If you can’t handle the heat don’t become manager of Leeds United. I never expected this season to be an easy ride.”
No manager is flawless and, during Leeds’ slide to 18th, Farke has undoubtedly made mistakes. Even so, the disaffected supporter who attempted to confront him in the technical area during Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat by Aston Villa was arguably scapegoating the wrong man.
If a last-ditch intervention from security personnel prevented what could have been an ugly incident, the wider chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” directed towards Farke could, instead, have equally been aimed at Paraag Marathe, the club’s chair, Robbie Evans, the managing director, Adam Underwood, the sporting director and Alex Davies, the head of recruitment.
After all, although around £100m was invested on 10 new faces in the summer, Farke’s persistent close-season warnings about the need to add more “attacking quality” went unheeded. In contrast, 97 miles up the road, a newly promoted Sunderland squad was refreshed by a highly astute £167m spending spree that has left Régis Le Bris fully able to showcase his managerial talent.
Might it have been different for Farke had Noah Sadiki and Habib Diarra not chosen Sunderland rather than Leeds, or if the Yorkshire club’s owner, the San Francisco-based 49er Enterprises, had been better placed to remain within the Premier League’s spending rules? The horizon would certainly have been brighter had Dominic Calvert-Lewin not underachieved so conspicuously. On the underwhelming evidence to date, Leeds might have been better keeping faith with Patrick Bamford.
Farke was, at least, furnished with two far-from-shabby midfielders in £17m Anton Stach and £12m Sean Longstaff last summer but, ominously, the pair will be absent at the Etihad. Stach is subject to concussion protocols, while a calf injury will sideline Longstaff for around six weeks. Not that the man in charge is contemplating surrender.
after newsletter promotion
“The data shows we’re in the top two with Manchester City in terms of physical output and fitness levels this season,” says Farke. “I see how united the players are. What’s missing is the clinical edge in both boxes. We have to improve little details.
“But we knew this could happen. To finish 17th would be a great success. In the past two years all the promoted sides went straight back down but I’m confident we can succeed in our aim”. The target is around 38 points and, with 11 accumulated from 12 games of the season so far, Leeds have not, in fairness to Farke, drifted too far off course.
Preventing any further deviation will surely necessitate Farke relocating his forwards’ shooting boots and fixing the persistently leaky left side of the defence. Not to mention perhaps replacing the increasingly error-prone Lucas Perri with Karl Darlow in goal and, arguably, identifying an upgrade to the much vilified Brenden Aaronson on the right side of his attack. The American’s phenomenal workrate and assiduous tracking back helps fortify Leeds defensively but, creatively, he has disappointed.
Not that the manager is impressed by the crowd’s hostility to the 25-year-old. “Is it really how we want to treat another human being in our society?” he says. “We feel better if we can put our anger on another human being; I don’t like it.”
There is much to like about Farke – Guardiola says he has “an incredible opinion of Daniel” – but the 49-year-old is starting to look battle weary. Very soon, the Leeds hierarchy must decide whether to back him, or sack him.
