The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (

Good Morning. It's Tuesday 25th November, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road

Potential fall out between Tanaka and Farke hits social media

Rumours of a potential bust up between Ao Tanaka and Daniel Farke are being suggested on social media after Sunday’s defeat to Aston Villa. Initially named among the substitutes, Tanaka was called into action early following Anton Stach’s injury, only to be withdrawn in the second half. Farke later explained his decision by claiming the fourth official had warned him that the referee was “looking to send Tanaka off” for a potential second yellow card, suggesting that even a minor foul would trigger an his early bath.

His explanation has left many fans scratching their heads. Under the laws of the game, a referee can still return to caution or dismiss a player after playing advantage, casting doubt on the tactical necessity of hauling the Japanese international off. For Tanaka, the episode may raise deeper questions about trust and confidence in his manager, particularly if he feels his removal was based on a misunderstanding of the rules or an overreaction. As speculation swirls, this incident could linger in the background, potentially impacting the relationship between player and coach in the weeks ahead.

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Points between now and New Year

Leeds United face a daunting task in their final six fixtures of the 2025 season, with survival in the Premier League hanging in the balance. A run of three consecutive defeats has already plunged them into the relegation zone for the first time this campaign, and the immediate schedule offers little respite. A trip to title-chasing Manchester City, followed by home games against Chelsea and Liverpool could realistically see Leeds losing streak stretch to six games, leaving them in a perilous position heading into the closing weeks.

The pressure will then shift to a challenging visit to Brentford, where even a point would be hard-earned, before high-flying Crystal Palace visit Elland Road five days before Christmas. With the Africa Cup of Nations starting 24 hours later, Oliver Glasner's side will be without the services of Christantus Uche (Nigeria), Chadi Riad (Morocco), Cheick Doucouré (Mali) and the ever-dangerous Ismaila Sarr (Senegal), which could give the Whites a chance of picking up points.

Similarly, 72 hours before New Years kicks in, Leeds are away at the Stadium of Light, facing up against an impressive Sunderland side that have already picked up 19 points from their opening twelve games. Out of all top flight teams, the AFCON tournament with hurt Regis Le Bris' side the most, as seven of the first team including DR Congo duo Noah Sadiki and Arthur Masuaku, Burkina Faso’s Bertrand Traoré and Ivory Coast's Simon Adingra will miss as many as six games.

While Farke's side showed good battling qualities against Aston Villa, once again defensive lapses proved costly; a habit they must quickly rectify if they are to survive. These next six games present a mountain to climb for the Leeds players. The question is how many points can they pick up between now, and their trip to Anfield on New Years day?

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New manager required ASAP

 

We’re going down but I’d prefer we go down all guns blazing than with a pathetic whimper.

At least give ourselves a chance. Instead of this slow painful death.

 

The ref could very well have given Tanaka a second yellow, he continued to make borderline tackles - he wasn't taken off to avoid retrospective punishment, he was taken off because he was being reckless. I think he was trying really hard to make an impression and just overdid it. Hard to criticise the lad for that, but neither is it a rod to beat the manager with. He was obviously disappointed and Farke did the right thing to have a word to try and explain it.

But hey you can't beat a social media fuelled fall out.

 

Morning all

This is what happens when you scrap around at the bottom, other teams sow seeds of doubt, other teams try to make unrest, journalists want clicks, we all want to point a finger, some at owners, some at Farke, some at signings, some at underperforming, we all just want an answer or excuse, it's just a crappy all round feeling.

 

He had a problem with Spence
He had a problem with Cresswell
Now he has a problem with Tanaka

Maybe he's the problem

 

You'd prefer a few 5-2 defeats to freshen it up a bit?

 

You forgot Joseph.

 

4 in 2 1/2 years. cheers

 

you also forget Largie, who improves in fans eyes every week he's not here.

But hey players unhappy at not being picked - who'd have thought it.

Everyone had a problem with Spence, Cresswell wasn't happy he wasn't playing... and demanded a move - would you have caved in and dropped Rodon?

 

oh I forgot Paddy was hinting at something about Farke on Saturday

 

No I would have got rid of Wober who we loaned out again in the summer.

Point still stands

 

Plastic paddy needs to be effing grateful for the millions he received for basically doing nothing.

 

Don't believe there's a rift, it's a cheap shot to further unsettle Leeds ... however, I do think the players are getting fed up with how Farke is doing things, which is why they switch off at crucial moments and produce limp displays such as Brighton and Forest

The next few games are just a feature of the Prem, and if Leeds go and fkn attack for a change anything is possible ... the best team right now battled to get a draw at Sunderland where they were expected to win 4-0 ... Pool got hammered 3-0 at Anfield by a Forest team who played without fear

Farke needs to just go for it, because playing his usual rubbish will guarantee defeat anyway ... it's hard to watch our club stumble along under this wreck of a manager, no fkn intent to go and dominate games, just passively hoping a result comes

 

Paddy was brilliant in getting us to the Prem, and even better in 1st season to get us up to 9th ... he never properly recovered from injury after that, but having had 3 1/2 seasons ibn Bielsa's punishing system it was bound to happen ... interesting that Bielsa made it clear that "older" players needed to be rotated out of the club after three seasons of murder ball, and the stack of injuries in second Prem seasons backed that up ... sometimes the manager does know more than the CEO I guess

 

I dont know whether Farke is a tw*t behind the scenes any more than you do. Paddy is obviously unhappy with how it was dealt with. He may have good reason or he may be just bitter. I found Paddy's goodbye speech a bit bucket reaching tbh and I sense he's quite a sensitive soul. Nothing wrong with that. I'm not going to take sides on something I know nothing about. I do think Bamford was done at this level and i wish him well.

Paddy thinks Joffy warranted game time, Joe's a talented lad, i just couldn't work out where he'd play or who he'd replace in our system. Either way i'm pleased for him that it's going well at Hull. If Farke gets the chop he may still come back.

 

Wouldn't Bielsa have walked if he wasn't happy though? Wasn't that just part of the whole 1 year deal and not signing contracts until the season started?

Personally, I thought the team always played better when Bamford was in it, he led the line and linked play well. His finishing was poor though and his regular missed chances arguably impacted negatively on the promotion pushes. Great back in the prem with no crowds... maybe something in that. Mixed bag.

 

I don’t really get the blame culture. We are newly promoted, fact is we were always likely to struggle with the way the EPL is geared financially towards the established clubs.

No one on this website knows our true financial position, who we went for and what we offered, or whether players we went after were interested in joining.

Also before anyone chucks Sunderland at me, as I understand it they didn’t have the financial obligations we had on past transfers purchases. Also, even after a great start, there’s no guarantee they’ll stay up.

I don’t like what’s happening atm, quite disappointing tbh, but then again I didn’t expect much better for the reasons in the opening bit of this post. I think we’ve thrown away a few points, I don’t like the regimented way DF uses the subs each match, but we’re not fully aware of each players fitness levels. The club are.

Whether DF is getting the best out of what we’ve got, I have no idea, but at best if we managed to finish mid table I reckon he’d exceeded expectations.

Just trying to bring some perspective MOT

 

Irrespective of their maybe having different constraints, the Sunderland squad on paper is not valued a lot higher than ours.

 

Well we’re not going to do that are we