Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has been at his best this season as his team race towards securing automatic promotion to the Premier League. The German attracted severe criticism last season when his side lost the playoff final while the fact that Leeds scored 90 points was completely ignored. He had to work hard with the recruitment team to rebuild a demoralised squad that lost three of their biggest players last summer and it seems to be paying off. The Whites boss has often been criticised for being too predictable but his Leeds players have ensured that predictability has become the team’s strength this season and his detractors are now being proven wrong.
The Whites sit at the summit of the Championship table and have scored 18 goals in their last six league games without conceding a single goal at the other end.
Leeds have shifted gears in the last few weeks and even Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is now tipping them to win the Championship although it could be more mind games from the experienced coach.
However, Leeds are looking impeccable at this stage of the season and a lot of the credit has to go to Daniel Farke who has stuck to his principles and style of football despite contrarian noise coming from the outside.
Farke’s football has often been termed predictable and it is indeed easy to predict Leeds’ starting eleven and the way they would play in a game but that consistency has become their strength this season.
The Leeds boss’ detractors are now gradually admitting that the German has more or less got it spot on this season to make his side the outstanding team in the Championship.
“I called Daniel Farke a one-trick pony but what a trick it is proving to be” – Adrian Clarke
It would have been easy for Leeds to drop off after last season’s playoff final defeat as their failure was too emotionally jolting for many players.
They also lost three key stars and had to wait until towards the end of the transfer window to bring in the players who eventually made a huge impact on their season.
Farke deserves immense credit for not only keeping the club together during those difficult moments but also not compromising on his style of football.
Adrian Clarke, a regular EFL pundit, has been a fervent critic of the Leeds boss and often jibed that the German was too predictable for his own good.
However, he conceded that while Farke has one-trick, it has worked like a charm for Leeds in the way the players have applied it this season and it is set to take the Whites back to the Premier League.
“I have given Farke a lot of stick in the past for being a one-trick pony”, Clarke said on the What The EFL Podcast.
“But when that trick is working as smoothly and with as much intensity right now, it’s a great trick.
“And it looks like it will take them all the way to the Premier League.”
Farke’s detractors are being forced to accept his brilliance
A lot of the criticism towards Farke at the end of the season was off the mark. His Leeds side scored 90 points and it would have earned them automatic promotion on any other campaign in the last two-and-a-half decades.
They were just unlucky to come up against two juggernauts in Leicester City and Ipswich Town and had one bad day in the office in the playoff final against Southampton.
However, the criticism was fierce while completely ignoring the context and the Leeds boss had to knuckle down and go again this season.
Yes, he has a predictable style of football but he has turned Leeds into a better unit this season compared to last year when they were heavily dependent on one or two individuals.
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The Leeds manager also deserves credit for ensuring that the players picked themselves up after last season’s disappointment and re-focus on being promotion contenders again this season.
It is no surprise that the German is winning over his detractors as his Leed side march towards securing automatic promotion to the Premier League.
However, it should satisfy Farke and his fans that the ones who came after him are now being forced to eat humble pie and made to accept his brilliance.
