Leeds United had no problem dispatching Derby County on Sunday in the FA Cup. The team found the perfect way to bounce back from their disappointment against Newcastle last week.
There were concerns before the game that Daniel Farke would not treat the competition as a priority. Leeds got knocked out of the EFL Cup earlier this season by Sheffield Wednesday. In that cup tie, the Leeds boss decided to try a few players and it backfired as the rotated side failed to put away a poor Championship side.
This time around, there were no surprises as Farke’s side walked away with a win away to Derby County.
Jermaine Beckford praises Leeds United in FA Cup win
Leeds were surprised when Derby took the lead early on Sunday, the home side took a 1-0 advantage into half time. But the visitors sprung to life in the second half – goals from Ao Tanaka, James Justin and Wilfried Gnonto. Jermaine Beckford noted the quality in the football between the two sides he was watching at pitchside:
“You can see the quality difference between the two clubs, Tanaka, bossing the midfield. Really, really well controlled. You look at when the ball went forward from Gnonto, to Joel Piroe, the control that he had, the awareness that he had to play forwards, break the lines but it’s always easy when you’ve got a player like Nmecha up top as well who’s willing prepared and willing to do the dirty work, running in behind, making the opposition defenders drop back as far as possible.”
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Daniel Farke needs to trust his squad more
Last year in the Championship, the Leeds boss was adamant that he liked to work with a small squad. When Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev went down with serious injuries in the middle of the season, he had to adjust a lot of things. Things worked out as the team managed to lift the league title at the end of the season.
This season seems to be repeating the same trend; despite bringing in over 10 new faces to the first team, he has been reluctant to use the full depth of the squad. It has been just a few weeks since he decided to rely on the likes of Sebastiaan Bornauw and James Justin. And even these came because of injuries and suspensions. The duo have shown that they can be called upon, so Farke has to also trust them in these types of games.
