And there it is... Daniel Farke has started the blame game, his upset directed at the "left hand side" of the Leeds team ... he made it clear that the Villa equaliser was a failure from the left side of the team, but it's not that simple During the 90 minutes, Matty Cash had little effect down the Leeds left, and Villa didn't really threaten much ... all that happened was Emery changed things at half time, and Villa jumped on Leeds from the kick off to score Here's what really happened ... Donyel Malen, the in form Dutch international, came on at half time with license to roam ... he popped up in various positions, helping to drag Villa back into the game ... what happened for the equaliser was simple, Farke had clearly not given anyone the specific instruction to pick up Malen ... the reason he found space was because nobody went with him ... this goal is on Farke, NOT on Okafor and Gudy ... once again Farke's inability to figure things out tactically cost Leeds ... a striker provided the cross, a midfielder scored the goal Let's prove Farke wrong for blaming "the left": Here McGinn is on the ball, and Okafor is tucking in to stop him driving towards the box, knowing ONLY Cash is out wide for Gudy to deal with ... the Leeds left back, sensing the danger, has already started to move wide, knowing that McGinn can't get through Tanaka and Okafor ... Malen is starting to move, and he's between Ampadu and Struijk ... Longstaff has left Rogers, and Aaronson is out wide rather than getting back to load the box, his man offering no threat from so far back McGinn's pass is floating out wide to Cash, Leeds have enough men back, and you can see Malen on the move between Ampadu and Struijk ... he's heading for the space in behind Gudy ... Okafor has turned, he sees Malen on the move and so he starts to head in that direction to help ... bear in mind that Malen IS NOT HIS MAN!!!! Malen has been let go by Ampadu, and he's now going to get in front of Struijk ... also look at Bogle tracking back, as well as Longstaff who has lost Morgan Rogers ... Cash has time to look at his options, a ball across the area for the runner with Rodon, or a cut back to Malen who has acres to run into Cash chooses the easier ball, the pre-planned ball, passes inside to Malen, free to cause damage ... Okafor has bust a gut to get back and cover for Ampadu and Struijk who have both left Malen to mark space in the box ... meanwhile, Rogers has finally been seen by Bogle, but our right back is on his heels, allowing Rogers to get in front of him, and Bogle simply can't recover in time Okafor is just a fraction of a second too late to stop the cross, but considering how far back he was, he's done brilliantly to get that close ... Tanaka has jogged back into a position that is completely ineffective, and Rogers has pinned Bogle, allowing him to simply have to get a touch onto Malen's powerful cross to deflect it past Perri, giving the keeper no chance So fk Farke for his blaming "the left side" for the goal, it's a fkn myth ... Gudmundsson did his job, he stopped Cash putting a cross into the box ... Okafor did his job closing the space for McGinn to run into ... Malen ran a long way from the middle to get into that space, he wasn't out on the wing ... the goal came about because Ampadau, Aaronson, Longstaff, Tanaka and Struijk all switched off, and I'm guessing this is because nobody had been assigned to pick up Malen Also, Longstaff allowed Rogers a free run into the box, he didn't track him, and Bogle realised too late that Rogers was free I'm also going to say fk you to Adam Pope and the BBC DGTB podcast, because they simply went along with Farke's left side blame, as did those idiots on The Square Ball ... if all you see is Okafor trying to stop Malen's cross, then you clearly can't see more in a football match than 22 blokes on a pitch, pretty much how Farke seems to be seeing things ... therefore, please don't sling mud at our players through your media platforms if you're not 100% clear, it's not helpful The Villa build up to the goal wasn't luck, it was planned ... get Cash out wide, get McGinn drifting infield to pull Okafor there ... then get Malen to use his pace to run in behind Gudy, and Rogers to make a run from deep to the near post ... Emery gambled on the Leeds defenders not staying with Malen and Rogers, and he was right ... Leeds were very much ball watching, because they hadn't been set up to deal with Emery's changes So why is Farke blaming the left side? Is it because he's tactically blind, or is there something else? Firstly, I do think he sometimes can't see things for what they are ... more importantly, I think he's passing blame to deflect away from Aaronson's weak play and constant selection ... Farke has rolled out the reason why he should drop Okafor against Citeh, probably bringing in James down the left, allowing him to keep Aaronson down the right Defending down the left isn't the problem, Farke is!!! Villa had little joy down the Leeds left all game, and this goal was not a failure of the left side at all ... two central runners were allowed to travel freely from distance into the red zone, and that's not on Okafor or Gudy If you still think Farke is doing a good job, think again ... we saw how Iraola outfoxed him in the Bournemouth game, and now Emery has shoved two fingers in his face Time for Farke to go? Probably!
Had a problem with Smyth, Pope and Co for a couple of years now as they dont do journalism and just rely on titbits from ER rather than go out and find a story. They seem to want to be the clubs mouthpiece rather than a real source of news. Tame journos at best. None of them go on their twitter accounts except a time or two per week trotting out the new ER line. If they go on social media they know they will be asked questions so they don’t bother. DF has never taken the blame for anything and prefers to throw anyone under the bus, Ramazani got both barrels last season for doing exactly what Okafor has done this season. Spence, Roberts, Anthony, Schmidt, Bornouw, Cresswell and a few more all know the issues. James and Gnonto have both been fit a while yet hardly used, so now will be forced into using them I hope against City. Aaronson must have some dodgy photos of DF otherwise justifying his starts ahead of Dan James needs some explaining.
Well here goes, after a lot of watching play and re running of some matches, especially the lead ups to us leaking goals there is a culprit that does not get named BUT sorry a Captain has to lead by example and Mr. Ampadau is not standing up to the job in my eyes, he gets caught out of position many many times, Tanaka was running around like a demented rabid dog and yes he did put his foot in where Villa didn't like it, hence McGinn running to the ref complaining every two minutes, the other one is Longstaff, he goes missing as well at times. Midfield is the most important area withing the pitch you have to command......sorry but we don't have the players that can do that. I think the team that can keep us up is within the squad we have, but Mr. Farke is at his limits, Mr. Emery showed him that by doing what he did at half time, i would of put Dan James on at HT for Aaronson and give Emery something to think about, but no lets leave it to 70th minute as per usual. one question i like to ask and for fellow fans the think or comment about is Perri 18 million better than Darlow, i don't think so personally. On another note the Villa keeper Martinez should of been red carded for the challenge on Stach, he went in with his studs showing that connected with Stach, then the big soft Argie was holding his head ffs. if an outfield player makes a challenge like that its a straight red, yes the official as per usual was dog sh1t, how do they keep there status!!!
Some good points made Infidel ... in the example above Ampadu is not positioned correctly to protect the CBs, he's just a few yards too high and Emery may have spotted this ... if Ampadu is deeper he's on Malen and can pass him off to Struijk, and he can then see Rogers coming and nullify his run ... the question is this, is Ampadu where he is because he's bad, or is he there on instruction? Same with Aaronson out wide ... he doesn't need to be there during this action, and if he comes inside in front of Rodon he is also then positioned to disturb the Rogers run ... so many things that are tactically wrong and that's on Farke ... he isn't coaching his players to see the bigger picture ... Aaronson stays out wide because that's his job ... it's a mess Perri is agile, and can be very good ... he was rated as one of the best in Ligue 1 so he must have something about him ... probably just needs a settled defence in front of him and we don't have that yet
The FARKE in/out will carry on and get worse after Saturday if we get a battering as is highly likely. I think it’s time for a bit of context. 23/24 Leeds Utd had the 2nd highest valued squad in the Championship and finished 4th in reality. 24/25 Leeds had the highest valued squad at £316m and finished joint top and won promotion. 25/26 Leeds are either 18th or 19th in the squad valuation stakes, so need to rely on their coach to make the difference. I cant believe I’m saying this but facts don’t lie: Fatfwank and his Coventry City outfit are punching way above their weight and are now 10 points clear at the top. Ipswich £198m Southampton £189m Leicester £168m Sheff Utd £133m M/Boro £108m Coventry £107m Leeds Utd in the Championship had had over £200m more than Coventry this season in player valuation. So for me Lampard should be poached because he obviously knows how to get the best from a team of journeymen and outplay opposition tactics as well as set up a team for each opposition. Think what I’m trying to say is DF should have won promotion in his first season with the players he had at his disposal and the valuation. Only Leicester had a higher valued squad and they did win promotion but Ipswich a complete outsider won automatic promotion. Southampton that season made Leeds look leggy and were outsmarted by a manager who gets sacked everywhere he goes
Nice photos, artwork and creative analysis Billy. Farke said we have a problem conceding goals down our left flank. 7 of the last 8 goals have come from that side so maybe he has a point. He didn't name check players and blame individuals, on the interview I saw - he gave the impression it was a collective problem. Maybe he chucked them under a bus on a different interview. I'm happy to apportion some blame. Okafor tries but is not a natural defender, he's made some good interceptions helping out but sometimes leaves Gudmondson exposed. Gaby looks good for most of the game but has howlers in him. He's scored a spectatular own goal at Fulham, a major mess up v spurs for their second and another one for villa's winner at the weekend. You can question his contribution on a number of other goals. He's firpo mark 2. Ampadu has struggled with picking people up this season. Better movement of quicker PL players? Or just concentration? Not sure. Or it could be, as some prefer, simply that Daniel Farke with his terrible management has confused the poor lad. I don't wish to be overly critical of the defenders, they're playing top class opponents and mistakes will always happen. We've been a bit unlucky with how much we've been punished. 2 deflections for spurs... a couple of great finishes for Rogers, he could get those chances again another 10 days and maybe not score 1 never mind both. Thems the breaks. Thing is we defend pretty well most of the time. Small moments cost us. When opposition defenders have their small moments... and they do... we don't punish them. That's why we are where we are. All Farke's fault innit.
Milky I think the Ampadu issue could just be frustration with himself. I have a feeling every yellow has been a “professional foul” as someone has left us exposed, or he has lost the ball in a dodgy area. Sure Aski might have the answer on that. Amps has been great but went through a bad period coming back from injury and the two games prior to Villa he was terrible and think he should have been subbed. DF seems to have different rules for different players and Amps is a good example. Out for a while with a knee injury and turns up in the starting 11 with no actual team training on the grass. Gnonto, James both back fully fit for a couple of weeks yet……..
Maybe Doc, don;t know. Agree that Amps is definitely a favourite. Farke has talked glowingly of him on numerous occasions so maybe he's overkeen to get him back and like's to keep him on the park. He sees him as a leader too which may influence that. I only really see 'leadership' traits from Amps and Longstaff in this team.
