A 2-2 draw at home on Saturday meant Leeds United dropped more Championship points and have now slid down to second in the league table. Daniel Farke is receiving heat for his team selection against the Swans and is getting slammed for playing a key star when he should not have been on the pitch.
Illan Meslier has grabbed all the headlines for Leeds United after costing his side more points with another big goalkeeping error, which has absolutely infuriated the Whites fans.
However, Leeds were poor throughout the 90 minutes and very few can actually claim that Swansea didn’t deserve something from their trip to Elland Road this weekend.
Farke’s decision to stick with Meslier this season has been viewed as one of the reasons why Leeds may miss out on promotion, but some of his decisions against Swansea are also coming under the scanner after another poor result.
“He was in no shape to play” – Leeds United journalist
Ethan Ampadu returned to the squad last week after recovering from a knee injury, which kept him out of action for the last five Championship games.
There was an expectation that he would be on the bench against Swansea, but Farke got him into the starting eleven and it was evident the Leeds captain was not ready.
Michale Normanton stressed that it was clear very early that Ampadu was in no shape to play a game, but Farke was again late to decide to sub him off.
He is insistent that the Welshman is not to be blamed for his poor performance, as he should not have played because he was not fit.
“It was clear within 20 minutes that he is not even vaguely in good enough shape to be playing”, Normanton said on the Square Ball Podcast.
“And it was very obvious half an hour in, 40 minutes in, at half time, but he didn’t change until 60 minutes or something.
“It was obvious; Ampadu doesn’t give the ball away, generally speaking and he was giving the ball away, all the time.
“I am not even blaming Ampadu for this as he shouldn’t have been on the pitch, he wasn’t capable of doing it.”
Farke made a litany of errors on Saturday
Leeds are by far the best team in the league, but in the last few weeks it is telling that the team have struggled to handle the pressure of earning promotion.
Meslier has been a problem all season. However, Farke made a few other critical errors against Swansea, which cost them the points at home.
Ampadu was clearly rushed back into action when he was not fit to start a game at this level. Ao Tanaka and Junio Firpo have been Leeds’ players of the season, but were on the bench.
Can you name these 10 Leeds United players from the 2000s?
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Granted, the duo returned late from national team duty, but at the business end of the season, Farke should have been playing his best available players regardless.
The errors are piling up, and given what is at stake, the Leeds manager is getting rightly criticised because another implosion would be disastrous for the club.
Automatic promotion is still in Leeds’ hands, but Farke needs to start earning his money and make some tough calls this week, which he has been avoiding this season.
Farke needs to be sacked now, he is to weak to make the big decisions. If a managerial change is not made it will be the playoffs again