Simon Jordan has conceded that he expected Leeds United to be ‘better and bolder’ this season despite their 3-1 win over Chelsea on Wednesday night.
Leeds roared back to form at home with a 3-1 win over Chelsea. The result lifted the side out of the relegation zone, and the doom and gloom is no longer visible around Elland Road.
The Whites had lost their last four ahead of Chelsea’s visit on Wednesday. Farke needed the result to save his job, and his team needed it to boost their confidence during a tough period of the season.
However, Jordan has not been enamoured by what he has seen of Leeds this season and conceded that his judgement is clouded by the esteem he has for the club.
I expected Leeds United to be better than Sunderland – Simon Jordan
Jordan insisted that he thought Leeds would learn from their time under Marcelo Bielsa and be bolder in the Premier League this season.
He stressed that Leeds are a bigger club than Sunderland and they should have played better football than the Black Cats once they were in the top flight.
The former Crystal Palace owner stressed that there is nothing wrong with Leeds being physical and hard to beat. However, he feels Leeds’ stature should have inspired them to be better than what they have been this season.
“Leeds is always a difficult game, despite them not doing what I envisaged they might do this season. I thought they would do a little bit more of what Sunderland are doing”, Jordan said on talkSPORT.
“I thought the lessons Leeds would have learnt under this ownership model and were conditioned to succeed after they were up and came down last time.
“They came up under Marcelo Bielsa and were bold and were a revelation. They really challenged the Premier League after 17 years away, but lost their way under Jesse Marsch.
“I just thought Leeds would be bigger, better and bolder than Sunderland with the way they went up. But the decisions Sunderland have made a brilliant, but I just thought Leeds would be better.
“Saying that, when you consider the background noise around the manager and if he is good enough, the players were probably then questioning if they are good enough.
“Chelsea were the architects of their own downfall, they weren’t at it enough to match what Leeds were delivering.
“Leeds have got to play to their strengths. The problem for people like me is because I think Leeds are a big club, there is almost an idea that they will be bigger and better than what they have been.
“But really, there is nothing wrong with them being physical in their first season and trying to hang in the division.
“Daniel Farke is an unfortunate victim in the way he has been categorised. He is an odd character in the way he presents himself in the media, but I do think he is an effective manager.
“When he went up with Norwich, he had no budget. But the job of Leeds United was to stay in the division. It’s hard because you look at Sunderland and what they are doing.
“Leeds are a bigger club than Sunderland with huge scale, and if they were operating at full tilt, the Premier League is better for having Leeds United in it.
“I think Daniel Farke is a decent manager, I think Leeds are a great football club, and his job is to keep them in the division this season.”
Leeds do not have the players to play progressive football
Leeds focused on adding more physicality to the team during the summer transfer window and looked to bring in players who could handle the Premier League’s intensity.
Farke has already received internal criticism for putting too much emphasis on physicality and not enough on the technical quality.
However, this is the squad Leeds have, and the manager seems to have finally found a system that could get the best out of the current set of players.
Leeds either do not have enough players with technical quality, or the ones who could play more expansively may not be able to handle the league’s intensity.
Calvert-Lewin and Nmecha are not going to be strikers who are going to wow fans with their technical quality. However, physically, they can create problems for any defence.
Sean Longstaff and Anton Stach were brought in to be real handfuls in the middle of the park. Ao Tanaka is the only midfielder in the squad who has the ability to find that happy medium between physical intensity and technical quality.
Leeds need to survive in the Premier League, and if they do, then they can focus on taking the squad to the next level. However, their needs now are very different.
