Leeds United manager Daniel Farke had to adapt from the Championship dominance of 2024/25 for the Premier League in 2025/26.
The Championship to Premier League transition is harder to overcome than ever before, with the last six promoted clubs relegated immediately following promotion.
It’s fair to say that Leeds United have already made moves to have more adaptability this summer and Leeds’ owners, the 49ers, have done their Premier League research before the summer window even began.
It is not a guarantee that the decision for Leeds to prioritise Premier League physicality will work. There also has to be increased focus on Leeds using set-pieces this season and a horses for courses approach game-to-game.
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Leeds lead the Premier League in impressive counter-attacking metric
Even if the end to the window was a frustration, Leeds’ Premier League team is already significantly taller and more powerful and pre-season had Farke talking up tactical flexibility in the Premier League.
It’s not necessarily a tactic, but Farke has worked on shooting in training. However, his tactical nous will be tested in away games this season in particular. He said: “We are flexible and want to be flexible. I’m not addicted to base formations. I’m more addicted to principles.”
“There are different challenges and games where we don’t expect too much possession. When you travel to Man City or to Arsenal or Liverpool, those games will be different to the games against the promoted sides so we need different options.
“Last season, we played in a very similar base formation because we were winning games, and when you’re winning, you don’t want to disturb. I expect more challenges next season where we have to mirror the opponent more, so it’s important to prepare for that.”
That said, the early evidence was Farke’s tactical gameplan against Arsenal was a mistake, with the German outlining that Leeds would possess the ball frequently and try to build through Arsenal.
That they did, and it failed. However, since then, there has been more willingness to be direct and play into outlets like Dominic Calvert-Lewin as a focal point. But the major reveal pertains to Leeds’ approach out of possession.
Focus On Leeds on X (formerly Twitter) has noticed on FBref that Leeds are pressing in such a way that it is generating chances for them. That’s because Leeds have had more shot creating actions (6) via defensive actions than any other Premier League team.
It means that they are able to swiftly transition from defence to attack when the ball is turned over, meaning Leeds’ counter-attacking has been excellent thus far. Bournemouth have five but no other team has more than three.
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Daniel Farke deserves his flowers for a tactical tweak
Leeds averaged 61.6% of the ball last season — which was the most in the division. So far this term, they have had 44.0% and the fourth lowest in the division.
Making things tight and looking for counter-attacking moments is definitely the best way to go, which he has learnt from that Arsenal fixture.
That game went against ideas of being able to adapt to the opponent throughout the summer, with Leeds going away to one of Europe’s elite and playing more or less the same way and same team as the Everton game.
Instead of accepting some accountability for that, Farke doubled down that his approach was the right one tactically for Leeds against Newcastle the following game. But Leeds have been more solid and pragmatic ever since with their approach.
The fact that they have been more accepting of being able to soak up pressure for spells of games is refreshing. Farke deserves his flowers and credit for being able to coach such a shift from the second tier.
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