Daniel Farke says he will have to wait until tomorrow to speak to one Leeds United player after today’s defeat to Southampton.
Heading into the final game of the regular season, Leeds still harnessed the faintest of hopes of automatic promotion, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
Leeds needed West Yorkshire neighbours and already relegated Huddersfield Town to do them an almighty favour at Ipswich Town, which never even looked like materialising as the Tractor Boys swept them aside 2-0.
And at Elland Road, Leeds were also unable to complete their side of the job as they fell to a 2-1 home defeat against a side they could well be facing in a few weeks time at Wembley.
Leeds will now have to settle for a place in the play-offs but after the last few weeks, it would be fair to say supporters are not exactly too confident.
Farke shares why he will speak to Junior Firpo tomorrow
Today’s performance was a little worrying given how often Southampton were able to play through Leeds’ high press, particularly in the first half.
Leeds have just seemingly lost all defensive solidity they had prior to the international break, when they conceded just three goals in 13 matches, something pundit Sam Parkin believes is very worrying ahead of the play-offs.
It would be easy to pick faults in both of Southampton’s goals this afternoon and unfortunately, it is Junior Firpo who will be kicking himself for the second one.
Firpo was beaten too easily on the by-line by Kyle Walker-Peters after the Leeds left-back had thought the ball had gone out of play, but it was not given.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Daniel Farke says Firpo is among the most ‘self-critical’ players in Leeds’ squad and so knows he was at fault, but will hold off from talking to him until tomorrow.
He said: “Junior cannot hide how the game developed. Fantastic in the last weeks with his performances and assists, he knows he played a big part in the second goal. Emotional player, always self-critical. Have to leave him alone to speak about it tomorrow.”
Firpo needs to move on from error ahead of the play-offs
Question marks over the defensive side of his game have always been labelled at Firpo since his move from Barcelona, but this is one he should move on from quickly.
Walker-Peters is an excellent player and in fairness, Firpo has been excellent since coming into the team and was a key part of Leeds’ good run, providing several assists.
Firpo should undoubtedly remain Leeds’ number one left-back in the play-offs and so this is simply an error he needs to put to the back of his mind.
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