Hull City v Leeds United: 'Brutal honesty' underpinning Leeds's turnaround under the impressive Daniel Farke

Which brings us nicely to Daniel Farke, with the Leeds United chief earning growing amounts of respect with the club's supporters not just with each passing game at the minute, but also press conference.

Leeds visit Yorkshire rivals Hull City on Wednesday night, where they are seeking to register a third successive away league win for the first time since the end of their promotion season in 2019-20.

Excellent victories at Millwall and Ipswich Town have secured deserved kudos for Farke of late.

The German's grounded demeanour is also resonating with his public - and more importantly with his players.

In terms of Farke's predecessors, Sam Allardyce chose to try and take the pressure off his players in his short stint in charge.

Jesse Marsch, by contrast, was relentlessly positive and glass is half-full whatever the situation. As for Javi Gracia? well no-one quite knew.

Farke, for his part, is not interested in psychology. Just plain old-fashioned honesty, even if it is 'brutal' at times.

Early days it may be, but his words are being listened to. Those Leeds players scarred by last season's relegation are formulating a response.

Farke said: "It's quite normal that after relegation, there's a bit of hangover and not everyone is there with full confidence and there's some question marks in the head.

"Especially as they had to deal with a lot of criticism and also after relegation, it's a bit deserved. You cannot hide and must be open, self-critical and take it on the chin and that is quite important.

"There is one solution and it's not like I come in with an arm around the shoulder and talk to them and everything is fine. Hard work is always the solution to gain fitness and make sure you gain confidence.

"There have been many discussions. But I don't try to play some psychological games. It's always important to be unbelievably honest and sometimes also to show brutal honesty and say: 'okay, this are areas we have to improve'.

"But it's also to give them trust and also some backing as we must not forget these are also some unbelievably young players. Some are just one or two years older than teenagers."

After two demanding road trips, Leeds - with two days less to prepare than their opponents - face arguably their hardest examination so far against an upwardly-mobile Hull side who have been beaten just once at league level on home soil since last November.

City have also not seen their colours lowered in the Championship since the opening day.

On Hull, who have not beaten Leeds in East Yorkshire since December 2012, the former Norwich City manager added: "I think it will be a different game in comparison to Millwall.

"Hull are definitely a different side from the way they play. I rate the work of Liam Rosenior very much and I liked his thoughts about football and man-management in general.

"It's a really good possession side who ask questions, especially with their quality in possession. Against the ball, I think we have to be unbelievably strong, but then also to make sure our quality with the ball and in possession still shines.

"It's a tough place and a complicated task, like each and every Championship game.”

Farke says that Patrick Bamford's return to first-team training is a 'major boost' for the club - but confirmed that he will not be involved at Hull.

Bamford is yet to feature this season due to a hamstring injury, but returned to training on Monday.

United are likely to err on the side of caution with the forward this week and he is also unlikely to feature in Saturday's home match with Watford as he continues to work on his fitness.

Farke expects midfielder Ethan Ampadu to be fit for the Tigers' trip and to shrug off a knock picked up in Sunday's fine success at Millwall.