Ally McCoist pinpoints where Daniel Farke is going wrong at Leeds United after Aston Villa loss

Add as preferred source on Google

TalkSport pundit Ally McCoist has urged Daniel Farke to change his tactical set-up at Leeds United following their latest Premier League defeat.

Leeds United have now lost five of their previous six Premier League games, having let an early lead slip against Aston Villa.

The game followed a familiar pattern as Lukas Nmecha gave Leeds an early lead before the away side pegged them back with two second-half goals.

Daniel Farke is now under serious pressure at Leeds, after the Elland Road crowd voiced their displeasure with the manager both during the game and at full-time.

Now, McCoist has told Farke exactly what he needs to change at Leeds to halt their alarming slide into the Premier League relegation zone.

The pressure is mounting on Daniel Farke… should Leeds United sack him?⌛

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Ally McCoist believes Daniel Farke needs to change Leeds United’s approach

Speaking on TalkSport Breakfast, McCoist told Farke that he needed to adopt a more forward-thinking set-up to improve Leeds’ conversion rate in the final third.

According to McCoist, Leeds looked more dangerous once Dan James and Willy Gnonto were brought on as second-half substitutes, and Farke should look to use the pair more.

McCoist said: “If he changes his style and goes more forward-thinking, that would be a start. At the same time, it doesn’t come without its problems at the back, so you’ve got to accept that.

“But they definitely looked a better team, I think, when the substitutes came on, particularly Dan James and Gnonto came on, on the other side as well, and they looked livelier. But they’ve had a problem putting the ball in the back of the net.

“Calvert-Lewin started the game on the bench. He came on, he had a couple of headers, but he didn’t really look as though he was a massive, massive threat.

“If Leeds are going to win games, it looks very much like they’re going to have to win them maybe 1-0 or 2-1. They ain’t going to score three or four goals a game, right? So you have to be really strong at the back if you’re going to nick games 1-0, 2 -0.”

• READ MORE: Latest Leeds United poll indicates exactly what fans want The 49ers to do with Daniel Farke

Leeds United’s defence is becoming an issue

Although Leeds’ attack has been highlighted as a problem area throughout the season, McCoist is right to call attention to their back four at the end of his comments.

Although Joe Rodon was excellent again, Farke called out Leeds’ left edge as a problem area after the game, with another goal coming from that channel.

The FBRef statistics for the season to date highlight how Leeds are conceding more and more chances as the season goes on.

After 12 games, Leeds have now conceded 22 goals, from a combined expected goals against (xGA) of 16.2. However, if the season is broken down into three four-game blocks, a pattern begins to emerge.

Leeds conceded a total xGA of 1.22 across the first four games of the season, including the 5-0 defeat at Arsenal. This improved to 0.9 over the next four games, as Leeds took four points from four games.

However, in the block of four games starting with the win over West Ham, Leeds have conceded an average xGA of 1.93. With Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all to come in the next block of four, that figure could be set for another jump.