Daniel Farke shows optimism, as he reveals dressing room reaction to Leeds V Huddersfield draw

02/03/2024 Raymond Leeds United 0

 

“I’m far away from punishing my players for their performance,” stressed Farke, whose side missed the chance to pile the pressure on league leaders Leicester by winning the lunchtime kick-off.

“We have won 28 points out of the last 10 games so I won’t criticise them because they didn’t have their best game. Individually they didn’t have their best day. But you have to expect that sometimes.

“We have to draw a line under that pretty quickly. It’s difficult when a team defends and that’s all they do.

“It was a quick turnaround for us and the pitch was not easy to play. We created chances, we got the equaliser, but it was a bit like a cup game with how scrappy it was.

“We had to rely on the offensive players to put the ball into the net. We should have won, Summerville hit the post. But we have to accept the point.”

After Leeds’ hopes of achieving a club record of ten straight league victories were dashed with a 1-1 draw against 10-man Huddersfield in a West Yorkshire derby, Daniel Farke declined to complain about his side’s lackluster performance.

The Whites, who were vying for promotion, had a flawless league start to 2024, but they had to rally late to salvage a point.
The Terriers’ surprisingly highest scoring substitute, Michal Helik, gave the home team the lead before captain Jonathan Hogg was sent off in first-half stoppage time.
In the second half, Patrick Bamford—making his first start since February 10—leveled the score, but Farke’s team was unable to find a winner when Crysencio Summerville struck the post in the closing moments.

After Hogg’s careless elbow on Junior, the hosts were forced to play for over an hour with ten men.

Farke felt the Terriers resorted to time wasting as they secured a hard-fought point.

He added: “Someone told me it was the lowest time the ball was in play ever in the Championship. It’s difficult to create because every goal kick takes two minutes.

“It’s difficult when a game’s scruffy like that. We conceded from a set-piece and shouldn’t have given that set-piece away.

“If there’s such a day when you have such a scruffy day, you have to make sure you don’t lose it.

“We had 80 per cent possession. You have to play from side to side when they have nine players in defence.

We would have preferred to have moved the ball a bit quicker. The pitch was also horrendous.”

The hosts gave themselves a boost in their relegation battle after picking up a decent point in Andre Breitenreiter’s first home game in charge of the club.

He hailed his side’s resilience after going a man down and said: “The boys did a fantastic job today to play over 60 minutes with a player less.

“It’s very hard against Leeds with their quality. They did a really fantastic job. They showed hard work, hard fight and good discipline in defending.

“Until the 45th minute we made it hard for them, we pressed high and went into the lead with a set-piece.

“But the red card was unnecessary. We have to take the right decision so we made a substitution at half-time.

“It’s a derby and we spoke before the game about keeping clear heads, but derbies are full of emotion.

“He knows about his mistake. He apologised. As a leader he’s fantastic, but next time please not again.

“The players were fantastic and can be proud of their performance. We can be happy with this point and thank the players for their performance.”

Daniel Farke reveals dressing room response to Huddersfield Town draw

Daniel Farke says he will have to lift his Leeds United side after a 1-1 draw at 10-man Huddersfield Town that felt in the dressing room afterwards like a heavy defeat.
“I need to lift the mood a bit because it was really quiet in the dressing room and it looked a bit like a loss,” said Farke. “It’s a sign of how far we’ve come. It felt like we’d lost the game 5-0, but I like this attitute and ambition. I didn’t expect 22 wins in a row, it’s never that easy.
We’re not so much used to it, we didn’t have too many draws but it’s important to value that one point is sometimes a good point. Sometimes one or two points can make a difference. Don’t underestimate that you stay unbeaten and came back from a losing position. I’m not dancing on the table, that’s for sure, I would not even had we won it, my players maybe, but we take this one point.”

Farke was appreciative, highlighting the ways in which Huddersfield caused Leeds problems and expressing no real dissatisfaction with the physicality with which his team was treated in the first half. He believed his squad could have attacked with greater poise instead.

“It’s disappointing in the way we have to accept we’re not there with a 10th win in a row, just 28 points from the last 10 games,” he said. “To speak about a disappointing day shows our ambition. Obviously we wanted to win this game. We had a massive chance with Glen Kamara or Cree Summerville, normally it must be 1-0, we know if we go in the lead it’s difficult to win points against us. They played with a knife between their teeth, credit to them, you can see they’re a side that fights against relegation, tactical fouls, many yellow cards, lots of injury time.

More or less every goal kick lasted two minutes. If the ball is just 18 minutes in play it’s also difficult to creat chances. We were a bit slow in the head attacking. I was not happy with the yellow-red card because I thought they would park the bus even a bit more. They did brilliantly you have to say. We found the situation to equalise, but quick turnaround for us, the pitch was difficult and always stop and go, I think we created situations but you have to use them to score the second.

Rutter’s header completely free, Cree Summerville normally scores eight out of 10 in this situation but hits the post. We didn’t score the second and then we have to accept we were not at our best as a group today. If you don’t win you have to make sure you don’t lose it. When you know how the Championship is, sometimes you have to say we take the point and that could prove pretty valuable at the end of the season.”

Similarly, the Leeds boss refrained from criticising the officials over their handling of the game’s flash points or time management. “I don’t like to complain too much about referees or ask for more yellows or reds,” he said. “It’s what you’d expect a bit from a side fighting for their lives. As a neutral observer you might say it would be nice to protect the offensive players a bit and keep the game more fluid. There were one or two situations I would have wished for different scenario.”