Daniel Farke happy with Leeds United draw after 'over-complicated' spell
At points in the first half of Leeds United's 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion Daniel Farke was visibly angry with his players, but by full-time he was able to reflect philosophically on another point gained in the chase for promotion to the Premier League.
When Junior Firpo have Leeds a ninth-minute lead it felt like it could be a comfortable day for the hosts after very late victories in their last two matches. As the manager observed, perhaps they fell into that trap and a talented and positive West Brom team whose own fight is for the play-offs punished them.
Darnell Furlong equalised before half-time and although Mateo Jospeh and Daniel James both shot against the woodwork for Leeds, the Baggies also had chances to win it, so Farke was pleased to his side extend their unbeaten run to 17 league matches.
"It's not frustration," he said when asked for his emotion, "sometimes you have to settle for and live with a draw and we can do this today.
"We are used to winning games, especially home games, and of course you want to win home games so you are a bit disappointed it's not a win, there's no doubt about this.
"But sometimes you have to live with the draw and if you can't win the game you have to make sure you don't lose it.
"I think we started excellently. I was a bit nervous after many emotional games and big wins if we would be on it. From the first second were were and that was the reason we started excellently, scored a fantastic goal and had good situations perhaps to bury the game already in the first 15, 20 minutes.
"The second danger was lurking when you have difficult games and you have to invest so much and be at your best in the last games, then you have a relatively easier start to this game, you score the first goal, the sun is shining, the stadium is buzzing, everyone is in a good mood and you think, 'Thank God, today it's an easier game.'
"Then we allowed ourselves to enjoy ourselves a little bit too much. We went too much for the most complicated pass instead of the pragmatic pass, we went into duels at 98 per cent, not 100 per cent, and a good side like West Brom is able to get a foot back into the door.
"They equalised with a great header you have to say but you could see it coming because we didn't fight like in the games before with the knife between the teeth and really concentrated to be there with a tidy pass every moment.
"We played with perhaps a bit of over-confidence and enjoyed ourselves a bit too much.
"By doing this I would say we lost a bit of dominance from minute 15, 20 and control over the game until half-time. Probably they deserved to equalise.
"It's really difficult when you lose the momentum to win it back and we did this in the second half and were more on it and concentrated but you play a good side with something to fight four.
"They are a good side, dangerous in counter-attacks, and we didn't find a winner.
"We had good situations – Mateo a great chance, Daniel James hit the crossbar and had another good chances with a header, strikes were blocked in the last moments.
"Against a good side you have to score in these situations and normally in football the unwritten law is you lose such games.
"There was an 89th minute counter-attack and thank God Joe Rodon was spot on (tackling Tom Fellows as he broke away).
"In the end it's important we gained at least one point. When you have experience of games like this so often, you have to say we're not overly-happy but it could turn out to be a valuable draw so no complaints today."
Joseph was able to run off an injury when he rolled his ankle in a tackle, leaving his manager fearing he might have to substitute the substitute. Rodon showed some discomfort late on, but his manager felt it might be a touch of cramp.