Leeds United tactics: Wing-backs to keep solid or wingers to make use of Dominic Calvert-Lewin?

Brentford manager Keith Andrews had the answer.

"I saw Arsenal on Saturday night against Wolves trying to break down that system," he said of the 3-5-2 formation Leeds have kicked off three of their last four games with. "That was top of the table against bottom (and the Gunners only won 2-1 in stoppage time) so it's not easy."

Being hard to break down is Leeds manager Daniel Farke's top priority this season. Twice he managed Norwich City in the Premier League, and on both occasions the Canaries were too easy to play through. On both occasions they were relegated. The second came after he was sacked, but make no mistake, it was his relegation.

So Farke does not want to fall into that trap again, no matter how much criticism he gets from the terraces and the far more hysterical world of social media.

Better to be an unpopular manager than a popular ex-manager.

Just defending will not cut it either, certainly not with Leeds' squad. They are not good enough defensively to simply man the barricades because someone will always slip through.

In Brentford it was substitute left-back Rico Henry nipping down the left and cutting a ball back for Jordan Henderson. Jaka Bijol got a boot to the England midfielder's shot but could not keep it out. By trying he made it even harder for Lucas Perri to get in the way.

Leeds could have conceded a penalty, too. Okay, it might have been the wrong decision in many people's eyes when Dango Outtara went down rather eagerly as Gabriel Gudmundsson grabbed at him but it was enough not just for referee John Brooks, but for his video assistant Michael Salisbury too. It was only an offside call that spared the visitors.

It it a juggling act Farke is managing quite well right now. Although the team has kicked off in a 3-5-2 in three of the last four games, they have finished the last two in a 4-2-3-1, releasing substitute Gnonto to send that ball over in west London.

Deliveries like that are made for the Sheffielder, who has scored four goals in as many games. Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Hugo Ekitike can all match that, but no Premier League player can beat it.

Farke's post-match claim that Calvert-Lewin is "definitely one of the best English strikers" in the Premier League sounded bold but when you think about it, he has to be up there. When it comes to aerial ability, he is better still.

What Calvert-Lewin has, and what he demonstrated on Sunday, is an ability to hang in the air and wait for the ball to come to him.

"It's outstanding," says Farke, a former striker. "Wherever I've worked I've worked with excellent strikers. Teemu Pukki has won every award with Norwich but he was of course not that good in the air.

"At Borussia Monchengladbach I worked with a guy who was not a striker before and made a striker out of him, Marcus Thuram. He's played in the World Cup final for France, he's playing for Inter Milan and scoring goal after goal, he was also unstoppable in the air.

“He was a winger before and that's why I made him into a striker. Now he's a striker with all of his heart.

"I was a striker myself so I love to work with them.

"Dominic's excellent in his ability in the air, his hang time is unbelievable and he's really blessed with this skill and especially in this area he's really second to none."

Which poses a bit of a dilemma for a team who have found their best form since switching to a wingerless 5-3-2 formation in the second half at Manchester City – the start of a run of form that has lifted morale and the points tally at Elland Road.

"It's a price you have to pay," shrugged Farke. "If you play 3-5-2 then you play more or less without wingers.

"It's different if you have a nine (centre-forward) who drops more into midfield (like Joel Piroe), then perhaps you don't work with so many crosses and you want to overload the centre a bit more.

"Dominic is good on the ball, he can also drop and you can feed into his feet. But if you have a striker who has this (aerial) capability you can work with a few more crosses and can play it – I wouldn't say more pragmatically – but keep it simpler.

"You can even do it with a traditional cross and you want to play to his strengths.

"The winger or wing-backs or full-backs depending on the base formation should use this quality as well."

Formations are always something of a sacrifice – making do without something here to get a bit more there. Right now, Farke is managing to get the best of both worlds.

However he plays, the widemen need to be working hard on crossing with Calvert-Lewin in this form.