Leeds United v Aston Villa: Defiant and passionate Daniel Farke battens down the hatches
Leeds United v Aston Villa “THE sun is shining, so I cannot complain too much”, remarked an under-pressure Daniel Farke at the start of the live section of Leeds United’s latest pre-match press conference, which lasted 35 minutes.
The winter sun was certainly not as warm as the temperatures in Perth where England and Australia’s cricketers stepped out to start the Ashes series at the Optus Stadium, but one thing was for sure.
Farke’s strong defence of his players and the way he handled some testing questions as opposed to hostile bouncers and short-pitched bowling on the other side of the world was rather more forceful than the way both sets of batsmen performed by the Swan River on day one of the opening Test down under.
The Leeds manager, under a fair bit of scrutiny of late ahead of Sunday’s home fixture with Aston Villa following two poor away losses at Nottingham Forest and Brighton and a run of four defeats in five top-flight matches was fully prepared for what was to come.
And he was keen to get some key messages across as well in the process.
Among other things, he spoke about his club’s wingers, specifically Dan James and Willy Gnonto and the importance of not ‘bigging up’ them up when they aren’t playing and results aren’t going well, which would subsequently put undue pressure upon them when they are, in his eyes.
He spoke about all players being the same, a collective unit who must not be afraid to make mistakes, while also referencing the importance of defiance and not splintering if the club are to achieve their aims. Both among his squad and the club’s fanbase.
“Us against the world’ was mentioned more than once, and Leeds United followers know a fair bit about that from over the years.
Farke said: “The reason why I signed my contract is because I work for one of the most passionate clubs in the world. Because we have this unbelievable support and you want to work for a club where it really matters. And I don't want to change one thing.
"I want our supporters to be over the moon if we win and dream about Europe because this is what football is all about.
"And I want our supporters and everyone who is connected after a loss (to feel) that we don't want to go out of bed.
"But I mentioned to the players that we have a job to do. We have to make sure that we're not driven too much by our emotions. “So if there is a bit of criticism after poor performance or losses, don't let this in your head and heart.
“It is also my job to protect that we don't create an atmosphere and a culture here (among players) that is more or less like when we lose a game that the players who didn't play are the winners. “I want us to be one unit who is successful.”
Among United’s joint top-scorers is a defender in Joe Rodon and Farke was similarly prepared when it came to a question about his side’s lack of goals in the forward department up to press and more especially Dominic Calvert-Lewin, whose only strike arrived back on September 20. Again Farke was keen to stress it is a team as opposed to an individual responsibility.
"For offensive players, it (goals) is always good for the confidence, mood and for everything," Farke continued.
"But again, I also don't want to create an individual battle there and criticise too much. For me, it's just important how many goals we score as a team. I don't just have one striker who should score goals.
"For me, the amount of striker goals is always important. So Lukas (Nmecha), Dominic, Joel (Piroe) and also some of our youngsters are on a proper level. Or the whole amount of offensive players are on a proper level.
"So we need Brenden Aaronson to chip in. He had a good assist in the last game and good goal in the last home game. Noah Okafor has also had two goals and a few assists. So this is what we need. We need the whole group.
"As a promoted side, you will never have a striker who wins a golden boot. This is also not important.
"Of course, I would take 20 goals from one of our strikers because then this one striker all alone has already the amount of goals that we need. already.
"But if we share it with my offensive players here and they score three or four. Lukas sometimes decides a game or Dominic decides like against Wolves; then this is what we need.
"Of course, I always back my strikers also to score goals and I hope that they score. But for me, the most important thing is just that we are successful and that we stay in the league. And I'm not out for a personal tally of goals for a striker.”