How Daniel Farke is taking inspiration from Sam Allardyce in Leeds United’s promotion charge

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Daniel Farke is doing something similar to Sam Allardyce at Leeds United this season, according to Michael Bridges.

Leeds United moved within touching distance of securing Premier League promotion on Friday when they defeated Oxford United 1-0.

All Leeds have to do now to secure promotion is defeat Stoke City on Easter Monday and hope Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United fail to beat Burnley at Turf Moor.

If the five-point gap remains after the weekend, then Daniel Farke’s side will have to beat Bristol City in their final match at Elland Road this season to finally get their deserved return to the top flight.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	43	26	13	4	83	29	54	91
2	BurnleyBurnley	43	25	16	2	59	14	45	91
3	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	43	27	7	9	59	33	26	86

Leeds have been fantastic throughout the campaign and are by far and away the league’s highest scorers with 83 goals. The next closest is 66.

It’s with how they have scored so many goals this season that Michael Bridges sees similarities to Sam Allardyce and Pep Guardiola.

Bridges sees influence from Pep Guardiola and Sam Allardyce in Leeds

Manor Solomon scored the winning goal against Oxford as he ghosted in at the back post to turn in Jayden Bogle’s pinpoint pass across the face of the box.

Leeds have scored so many goals exactly like it this season, by getting their full-backs in behind the defence and then playing the ball into the most dangerous areas for forwards to score.

Bridges has been left very impressed as he compared the moves to what Guardiola and Allardyce – which might not go down well given his spell as Leeds manager – have done in the past.

He said on Sky Sports after the game: “You can go back and have a look at so many Leeds United goals this season that have come from these areas.

“Where you’ve got full-backs in behind the opposition’s back-line and the slipped passes are going into areas that people talk about as a Pep Guardiola half space.

“Ask all good wingers, if the opposite side of your field has the ball in a good position, where do you get yourself? It’s the backpost area.

“I tell you who’s mad for them positions, it was Sam Allardyce.

“When I went to Bolton Wanderers, he called them his POMOS, and I was thinking like ‘what are you on about?’ and he was like ‘these are the points of most opportunity to score goals.’

“And he’s absolutely spot on, if you cover them three or four positions in the penalty area you’re going to see the joy.

“This team is so selfless, they actually enjoy giving assists as much as they do scoring goals.

“I think the culture, the healthy culture this team has got since I’ve witnessed and being back at Leeds United for the last few years under Daniel Farke, he is the man behind everything to orchestrate this result tonight.”

Will Daniel Farke be able to replicate his tactics in the Premier League?

It might be too soon to start thinking about the future with promotion not yet set in stone but it’s interesting to wonder how Leeds will look next season if they do go up.

Farke has set his side up to play attacking football, with Bogle and Junior Firpo in particular pushing very high up the pitch to create width and stretch the opposition.

This can leave Leeds exposed – even Oxford found joy down the left on Friday – and the faster, more skilful Premier League sides will be able to exploit that weakness.

However, Leeds aren’t necessarily a possession-based side that wants to keep the ball which has been so costly to Southampton this season. They want to move it quickly up the field, attack wide areas and overload the box. That can certainly work in the top flight.

Additionally, though Burnley have justifiably taken the defensive limelight, Leeds are a very solid side as well and have only conceded 29 times, the second-fewest in the league, while still scoring the most.

Given a good portion of those conceded are down to mistakes from Illan Meslier, Leeds have more than enough defensive resilience to make a strong go at staying up next season.