After 16 Championship games, Leeds United sit top of the Championship table after Sunday’s win against Swansea City with results going the way of Daniel Farke’s men over the weekend.
Sheffield United went down to 10 men and could not hold on to their lead at Coventry, who are still yet to replace Mark Robins. Meanwhile, Sunderland’s injury and suspension-hit squad drew with Millwall.
Nine wins, nine clean sheets, just 12 goals conceded in 16 games and 32 points secured. Leeds are one point better off than they were last term at this stage, two places better off with Leeds third last term.
But most importantly, Leeds sit first while last season they were eight points behind both Ipswich and Leicester. Daniel Farke gets his critics, but he is getting the job done so far this season as Leeds manager.
The stats show Daniel Farke is outperforming Marcelo Bielsa
Marcelo Bielsa clocked up 170 matches as Leeds manager in total, 92 of which were standard league games in the Championship. During that time, Bielsa guided Leeds to the play-offs, and then first place.
Leeds won 53 games, drawing 17 and losing 22 – accumulating a total of 176 points. A rate of 1.91 per game during the two years spent in the Championship under Bielsa, not including games in the play-offs.
But Farke, despite the criticism he gets for his style of play and substitutions, has accumulated a total of 122 points from 62 Championship games. A ratio that sees him sit above Bielsa, a total of 1.97 per game.
Daniel Farke is the Championship’s best manager since 2004-05
Given Farke won 90 points from 46 games last season and 32 from 16 games this time around, he is working just below an average of 2 points a game. Opta’s Jonny Cooper reported on it on the weekend.
He says that compared to every other manager to have taken charge of 50 games or more in the second tier since 2004-05, Farke has the most points-per-game during his Leeds stint, an astounding record.
Should Farke and Leeds continue in this manner for the next six months, The Whites will be back in the Premier League. Anything over 90 points and possibly 90 itself will be enough to secure a top-two spot.
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