Mark Robins is why Leeds United cannot take Coventry City lightly, according to Daniel Farke

Farke's Leeds United host the Sky Blues on Saturday with them 19th in a Championship still taking shape.

Coventry often make slow starts but there is a reason why former Rotherham United, Barnsley and Huddersfield Town manager Robins is the country's third-longest serving boss and as someone else with an enviable Championship reputation, Farke knows better than to write him and his side off.

Harrogate Town's Simon Weaver and Pep Guardiola of Manchester City are England’s only league managers who have been in their jobs longer than Robins.

Asked if it showed the importance of longevity, Farke – who some Leeds fans have lost patience with over the last six months – made an important distinction.

"Just when you have the right manager," he said. "If the quality of the manager is not great or he doesn't fit the club it makes no sense to just give him time, you have to be convinced by a manager.

"I'm totally convinced of the quality of Mark. I always rate him as a top manager in this division.

"He has so much experience and when I judge what he's doing, he more or less always delivers in every season.

"He has developed this club into a club who always comes close to promotion to the Premier League. They've finished either in the top six – they were in the (2023) play-off final – or close to the top six."

Two years ago, damaged to their pitch caused by the Commonwealth Games was a factor in their slow start, but there is a more familiar factor he is grappling with again.

Like Leeds, they have had to sell their best players in the Championship. In the summer of 2023 it was Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer, this year they lost Kasey Palmer and Callum O'Hare to Hull City and Sheffield United respectively, signing Jack Rudoni from Huddersfield.

"It's always the same, he loses his best players, has to rebuild and quite often a bit like this season they have a slower start but the longer he works with his team the better and more competitive they are," said Farke, who lost Archie Gray, Georginio Rutter and Crysencio Summerville when their release clauses were activated in the summer.

"He always has to replace key positions and he uses his quality, his experience, his calmness to develop a squad and rebuilds.

"When bigger, financially more capable clubs buy his best players he finds another solution.

"I'm pretty sure he will be one of the competitors to finish in the top six.

"I'm not distracted what might be labelled their poor start – they're on five points but in terms of the league position. Of course they want to be in a better position but I'm 100 per cent sure they will do what they have done for years, develop the squad and finish in a really good position.

"I expect a difficult game for us."

In a more temporary way, Leeds could also have to cope without key players at the weekend.

Leeds will certainly be without centre-back Max Wober as they weight up knee surgery, but perhaps also Pascal Struijk. The versatility of Ethan Ampadu, who played the second half of last season at centre-back in Struijk's absence, means it should not be a major problem.

"I'm pretty pleased with James Debayo at the moment," stressed Farke, "but it's always a solution to play with Joe (Rodon) and Ethan, they were impressive last season and we have other good midfield options.

"I'm still carefully optimistic that Pascal, who was a pretty key player for us in all areas in the last five games where we conceded one goal with our central defenders behind the ball, will be capable of playing but we need to be prepared for other solutions."

Daniel James (hamstring) and Manor Solomon (back/hamstring) will definitely miss the first of three games in seven days but the issues do not stop there.

Patrick Bamford and Junior Firpo's reactions to their first training sessions back after knocks will be assessed on Friday, Struijk's last chance to train and make himself available to face Coventry.

There is a bigger decision looming on Wober, injured on international duty with Austria.

"Max Wober will also miss this game because there was also a setback in training, last week on Friday in our final session," said Farke.

"There are still some ongoing problems with his knee so our medical department tries everything to find a solution. We're trying to treat it in a conservative way. We'll find out in the next days if we can get him back into training.

"We need to make a decision soon because we can't go on if he can't go back to team training in the next days it will be surgery.

"If surgery is the case he will miss out for the next few weeks but we are still hopeful there is a chance to bring him back in the early stage of next week to team training."