Daniel Farke will have taken great pride at his Leeds United side’s performance at Chelsea last night.
A young and much-changed Leeds ran their Premier League opponents all the way with Conor Gallagher’s 90th minute winner the only thing to separate the two sides at Stamford Bridge.
Mateo Joseph had given Leeds the lead early on with his first ever goal for the club, before Nicolas Jackson and Mykhaylo Mudryk turned the game around before the break.
Joseph then headed in his second of the night in a dominant second half to get Leeds back on level terms, and despite the defeat, it is a match that will live long in the memory for the 20-year-old.
Farke was speaking in his post-match press conference about Joseph’s performance and believes it is just reward for his hard work, but is also ‘delighted’ Leeds have been able to sign him to a new deal.
Farke praises Leeds for Joseph contract
He said: “Really good young players. Enjoyed pre-season with him and then he got an injury. Never easy for a young player to get into this side. We work with him on a daily basis. Humble, down to earth.
“Likes to work, open to hints and individual work. Today was not a gift or coincidence. He earned this appearance. Played excellent. Deserved to be in the spotlight with his two goals.
“Major step in his development. Delighted he signed a new contract. Great business. Many compliments to our key people.”
Joseph has been limited to just brief league cameos here and there this season, but in both his FA Cup starts at Plymouth Argyle and Chelsea, he has shown he is more than ready.
Those goals will give him so much confidence and it has to be said that he is perhaps more deserving of a place in the starting XI ahead of Joel Piroe at the moment.
Joseph with Georginio Rutter just in behind him could be an extremely exciting partnership with so much pace, and hopefully now he can get a proper chance in the league.
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