Good morning all. So Chelsea next on Wednesday night KO 7-30pm (Live on ITV 4). Should we play the bench or go full strength and is anyone actually bothered about this stupid FA Cup which is nothing more than a distraction now. Plus were we to win down at The Bridge our home game against Millwall on the 17th March would have to be rescheduled and with the busy Easter period coming up surely that's a negative. Also will the Leicester manager Enzo Maresca regret his pre and post match comments before facing Leeds on Friday night. Possibly something was lost in translation before the game as he seemed to be saying all the pressure was on us to win the match and due to their lead at the top of the table it was just another game to them. However his post match comments were a disgrace and totally lacked class when stating only one team were trying to win the match. Personally I hope we can now reel Leicester in and stuff those words down his throat (again).
Current fa cup does nothing for me. 70’s fa cup I loved it. Having said that I want us to have a right go on Wednesday. Reason being, Chelsea are a mediocre pl team and exactly sort of side we’ll need to be beating next season if we’re promoted and we don’t want to be flops again. I want to see rutter Summerville Archie etc hopefully hive an indication they’re capable of stepping up a level. Hell of a difference running rings around Rotherham who have an annual wage bill of 6m and an outfit with a wage bill of a small country
Three times now Daniel Farke has managed to get his teams challenging for the Championship title (winning it twice previously) but is he actually a good coach or does he just have excellent management skills when presented with a squad that should be at the top end of the table ? Other than retaining possession at the back and therefore trying to have some sort of control over the match is there anything else that stands out as being his style of football. Bielsa always went man for man and by passing and moving with high energy created a beautiful game of football, whereas Jesse Marsch was all about keeping things narrow and swarming the opposition but what if anything is the secret to Farke's coaching that makes him successful ?
Wednesday night is a perfect game to get some important minutes in to the likes of Dan James, Bamford, Cooper, Roberts, Joseph and Anthony. These lads will be needed in the coming weeks and could get vital match fitness against Chelsea. As for Leicester. They have their matches and we have ours. We've taken 6 points off them and we move on. Don't really care about them from now on. We can't control anything they do. Focus on us.
Seems to me Farke is just brilliant at managing people and getting the best out of them. Bamford in particular looks a new player under him for example.
Farke always talks about representing Leeds United with pride and the players doing their best for the club, the city and the fans. Which is why I think he might go virtually full strength.
Interesting question. Bielsa took us from nowhere to championship winners, I don’t know if Norwich were the same as us when Farke took over or already one of the favourites for promotion.
Not fussed how farkes doing it but if I’m honest I prefer the score lines we’re achieving over Bielsas. We couldn’t defend to save our lives back then. Set pieces a disaster. We’re far better balanced. Still great to watch scoring three in nearly every game but few hearts in mouth moments at other end
The season before Farke joined they finished 8th, 5 pts behind Monk's team. Farke's first season he finished 14th below Leeds on gd.
Farke finished 14th in his first season with Norwich before winning it the year after. Never mind. Leeds down south is all over it.
Think he’ll put out a strongish team, he seemingly takes the Cup seriously. He doesn’t appear to believe that 3 games in a week is especially tiring, more the travelling and timing of the games that is the issue. Think Bamford and James will start, I’d like to see Roberts start and Archie play in midfield (to see how he gets on against better players). Just hope we can avoid injuries. DF seems a classy guy, got tbh I wasn’t overly thrilled when he got the job. However the way he dealt with the summer chaos, his strength of leadership has been outstanding. For me he seems close to the squad, even those no getting minutes. The way he goes over to all the players, immediately the games end, and either has a quiet word or hug, or both is great to see. He has helped bring a fantastic togetherness to this squad. There will be bumps to come, because we are such a young outfit. On tactics/playing style. Firstly the fitness levels are fantastic. Clearly the players like the system we play. Though the passing across the back line can sometimes be a little tedious for supporters (me included) I can understand why it’s done. Think we are brilliant in transition, breaking forward at speed. He’ll do for me. Should we go up, it’ll be interesting who he brings in/ships out ready for next season. I’m sure he’ll get backing.
I’m not sure he’s the greatest coach to be honest but he certainly improves players by giving them a strong team environment to perform well in. Tactics wise there does seem to be limitations to Farke’s thinking.
Bielsa realised lack of intelligence in a lot of players was a big problem. That’s why he utilised one system and perfected it. You saw the chaos that followed by changing coaches and systems. Some of the players were like fish out of water. Take a look at our ex wonder kid KP as a perfect example. Unable to adapt
Probably more important next season if promoted would be his ability in man management couple with ability to source the correct type of players. Huge difference in managing a group in championship striving to reach the riches of the championship and the endless Prima Donna’s trying to get signed to the pl for the cash only. They don’t even sign for a team, they sign for the premier league and irrelevant to them who they sign for. We’ve had our fair share of those and must avoid a repeat of that. Hopefully Farkey can find what’s needed and can keep the great team spirit. That’s easy at the moment as we’re winning every game but if the drubbings come then it’s a big Job maintaining spirits
