Leeds United manager Daniel Farke happy if set-piece work goes under radar

This season set-pieces seem to have taken on greater importance across the division and the Whites have been right on trend in that regard.

They put great store on set-pieces this season, and it is paying off with the pre-Christmas win over Crystal Palace where all four of their goals came from them proved as much.

They will hope to continue that in their first post-Christmas game, at Sunderland on Sunday (2pm).

Riemer has had very little attention for the improvement in a side who did not pose much threat from restarts last season when the size profile of their squad was much smaller. Judging by what Farke said, he will not mind.

“My belief in set-pieces was always there and for me it's always a very important topic,” said Farke, who put a big emphasis on recruiting big players in the summer.

“You can only win trophies once you're capable of scoring from set pieces because even in a tournament like the World Cup or the Champions League there's sometimes a game when you will struggle to score an important goal in open play.

“Me and my coaching staff have always spent lots of attention on it and lots of time on it and my teams, even in Germany, normally are if not the best then one of the best set-piece teams in the league.

“It always depends on the players available. We were very dominant last season and had some very important goals out of set-pieces – Sunderland (at home) a good example.

“But we also had a set-up where especially in the offence Joel Piroe, Daniel James, Willy Gnonto, Manor Solomon, Daniel James, Largie Ramazani, they were all not made to score goals out of headers.

“It was perhaps not such a crucial topic for us in comparison to the big chunk of goals that we have delivered but even last season there were several games where set-pieces were crucial and we have always spent lots of time on it – how to defend them but also how to attack.”

Whether it is their job title or not, most clubs have a coach who leads the set-piece work but Riemer prefers to go under the radar.

“Especially my assistant coach Edmund Riemer takes care of this topic with some other key figures also in our backroom,” said Farke.

“They spend so much time analysing each opponent for what we have to do and to adapt the positions.

“I don't like to put too much spotlight on it because nowadays sometimes we make a bit too much noise around this topic instead of concentrating on delivering.

“I don't like it if the camera is always on my assistant coach or on the guys who are responsible for the set-pieces because we win together and we lose together.

“I also don't like to speak too much in public about this topic and what we do and celebrate us for several things but the numbers speak for themselves.

“I think Edmund is one of the best in business on this topic.

“What I like a lot is he doesn't make such a fuss out of it, he doesn't make so much outside noise and want to be always on the camera and in the spotlight.

“It's not about the backroom stuff or a set-piece coach or the assistant coach who is responsible or whatever,.

“It's still more or less how can we help the players to shine, not to have your face in the camera.”