Leeds United and Daniel Farke play host to Ruben Amorim on Sunday.
The man born in Lisbon brings his Manchester United side to Elland Road after a 1-1 draw against Wolves at Old Trafford on Tuesday, a truly embarrassing result considering the Old Gold sit bottom on three points from a possible 57.
If that draw wasn’t enough to enrage Manchester United fans ahead of the trip to Leeds, they will surely be furious after Amorim gave Daniel Farke an apparent helping hand.
Ruben Amorim tells Daniel Farke that Manchester United “struggle with” pace
It’s not often a manager tells his opponent all about his own side’s weaknesses, but that is exactly what the 40-year-old has done by telling Leeds that Manchester United “struggle” to handle pace.
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The Manchester Evening News quote Amorim as saying: “They (Leeds) have a lot of pace, sometimes we struggle with pace. They are confident but we proved we can win any game in any situation, in every context, so we will try to do that again.
“We know they change the system, they have different players in front. The last game they rotated two players (Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Noah Okafor] that usually are the starters. They have good players, good manager, great environment – so it is going to be a tough game.”
Farke has several rapid outlets he can use to attack Manchester United. The German has two pacy wing-backs in Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jayden Bogle, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin uses his speed well to stretch defences, as does Lukas Nmecha.
Amorim – who could send Kobbie Mainoo to Elland Road on loan – may well be bluffing, but the odd comment at least gives Leeds a chance to analyse whether his admission is true.
If analysts do find that Manchester United struggle to handle pace, it gives Farke a valuable blueprint to study, which would be handy with little time to prepare his side.
The German can also research that 1-1 draw between Manchester United and Wolves to see how Rob Edwards caused Amorim problems, so Leeds fans should be optimistic about getting a result on Sunday, even more so considering the Whites are unbeaten in six games.
The statistics which give Leeds United further hope of defeating Manchester United
Interestingly, Manchester United have won on their last two visits to Elland Road, but have never before recorded three consecutive victories at the home of Leeds.
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FULL-TIME: Liverpool 0-0 Leeds United
Manchester United have also never beaten Leeds in the first game of a calendar year.
Four times it has happened, with the Red Devils drawing 0-0 in 1931 before a 1-1 draw in 1958. A 2-1 defeat in 1969 then followed before a 0-0 draw in 1994.
These statistics, along with the odd comment from Amorim, should give Leeds fans plenty of optimism ahead of the visit of a bitter rival on Sunday.
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