A run of two wins in their last five games has led to Leeds United fans fearing the worst like last season. The Whites collapsed towards the end of the 2023/24 campaign and dropped out of the automatic promotion spots. Leeds are desperate to avoid the situation, but Daniel Farke insisted that there is a key difference between then and now.
Farke and the Leeds United players are preparing for a big game this Saturday when they will host Swansea City at Elland Road. They are under pressure to get back to winning ways by picking up three points.
Leeds have received some good news ahead of the weekend’s clash in the form of club captain Ethan Ampadu returning to the squad after recovering from a knee injury, which meant he missed the last five games.
Last season’s failure is still haunting the fans and the club, but Farke indicated that it would be different this time around as he feels the atmosphere inside the squad is better.
Many players were thinking of a move towards the end of last season – Leeds United manager
Last season’s failure to get promoted led to Leeds losing a number of key players, including Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray and Georginio Rutter.
However, the Leeds boss indicated that some of these players were already thinking about moving away from Leeds even before the season had finished.
He revealed that with the uncertainty around promotion at the business end of last season, some players lost focus while thinking about future moves.
“I think you can’t compare last season’s run-in with this year”, Farke said in a press conference.
“We had a different setup, but due to the contract situations, we had a group of many players, where they knew ‘ok, if we don’t make it to the Premier League, there’s a good chance of a move’.
“This made it difficult in the run-in, without accusing anyone, it’s just a fact.”
The Leeds squad look more together
Several players are still unsure about their future at Elland Road but it appears it is more to do with whether Leeds would keep them if they get promoted rather than vice-versa.
There appears to be real unity behind the scenes and everybody seems to be reading from the same hymn sheet compared to last season.
Leeds have a chance to shut their critics up with a couple of good results in the coming days and wrestle the momentum back from the chasing pack.
The Swansea game is a great opportunity for the players to prove that history won’t repeat itself this season, and Leeds are on their way back to the Premier League.
