‘I saw’… EFL manager shares what he noticed about Leeds training when Daniel Farke invited him to watch

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Colchester United manager Danny Cowley says he paid a visit to watch Daniel Farke in action at Leeds United’s training ground before Christmas.

Cowley had been out of work at the time following his departure from Portsmouth back in January of last year, and was clearly keen to see some of the best in the EFL in action ahead of his return.

Farke has done an outstanding job at Elland Road since his appointment back in the summer and has Leeds well in the mix for the top two with 66 points from their 32 matches.

The 47-year-old had to navigate his way through an extremely difficult first window at Leeds and has won praise from around football for the way he handled situations such as Willy Gnonto.

Cowley was speaking on the latest episode of the BBC’s Football Daily Podcast, and says he was very impressed with the work Farke and his staff did on the training, as well as the level of respect he commands from the squad.

Cowley very impressed with Farke work

He said: “Nicky and I had the pleasure of spending a day at Leeds just before Christmas watching Daniel work and I was so impressed with him and his staff. It was the day before a game, the work he did with the group was so interesting.

“A lot of that group has played under Bielsa and had difficulties under Marsch. Daniel has done it very differently to Bielsa but the players had the same level of respect for Daniel as they did for Marcelo. I saw a group that was very together, a clear way of playing and offensively they are a real threat.”

Doubts had began to start creeping about Farke after a sixth away defeat of the season at West Brom in December but he has since silenced the doubters with a winning run of seven league matches.

Leeds just seem to be getting better and better under his management with the 4-0 demolition of Swansea City on Tuesday up there with the best performances of the season.

Farke has been renowned for driving high standards and the run that Leeds are on is reminiscent of what he did twice at Norwich City, which is exactly why the 49ers brought him in.