Daniel Farke is cutting a divisive figure at Leeds right now.
Gordon Strachan feels the German deserves more time, although Leeds fans are losing patience amid a combination of poor results and some strange comments from the 49-year-old.
Farke angered supporters by accusing them of feeling survival was already secured after the 2-1 win over West Ham, before he then made an odd remark about having more possession than Nottingham Forest despite losing 3-1 at the City Ground.
The man from Steinhausen said: โPerformance-wise, it was not that we were played out of the park; we still had difficult away games at Brighton, and also against a Nottingham Forest side that was qualified for Europe and didnโt have the best start, but spent lots of money in the summer, and we went there and had more possession than the opponent.โ
The pressure is mounting on Daniel Farkeโฆ should Leeds United sack him?โ
Daniel Farke has now doubled down on that boast during his press conference ahead of Leeds vs Aston Villa on Sunday.
Daniel Farke is badly missing the point with possession comments and Leeds United fans will be concerned
The Leeds boss defended his run of four defeats in the last five Premier League games by saying: โLast two, we had more possession than opponents. Itโs not normal for promoted teams to do this.โ
What Farke is โ perhaps deliberately โ glossing over is the context of these games.
Brighton were 1-0 up after just 11 minutes and found themselves three goals ahead with 20 minutes left on the clock, so they were understandably happy to let Leeds have the ball with the onus on the Whites to create.
Most importantly, we have no idea where Farke is getting his data from, but Brighton seem to have had 51% of the ball compared to 49% from Leeds, so he is factually incorrect.
In regards to Nottingham Forest โ who had 48% possession โ Sean Dyche is often content to let opponents have the bulk of the ball, instead hurting sides by utilising dead ball situations and counter attacks, so it is nothing to shout about for Leeds to have had more possession at the City Ground.
Daniel Farke has no excuses now for Aston Villa clash
The longer Farke keeps making empty comments like this, the more trust and belief Leeds fans will lose in him.
Worryingly, Daniel Farke sounds too content with results at Leeds United
Farke needs to start being more critical of his side โ in our view โ at time is of the essence in the Premier League, and any complacency can quickly come back to bite.
During his press conference, the Leeds boss also said: โI see why there is criticism after the last two games. We were pretty self-critical too, but over the last 11 games, we have not once dropped into the relegation zone.โ
While that is true, it is mainly due to the fact Wolves, Nottingham Forest and West Ham started the season so badly.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 16 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 20 | -10 | 11 | |
| 17 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 22 | -8 | 10 | |
| 18 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 23 | -10 | 10 | |
| 19 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 20 | -10 | 9 | |
| 20 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 25 | -18 | 2 |
The latter two clubs can also leapfrog Leeds if they win this weekend and send the Whites into the bottom three, so there is little substance to Farke patting himself on the back for staying out of the bottom three so far.
Leeds fans are smart enough to see through Farkeโs feeble defence of his side, and he needs to start opening his eyes to the reality of the situation.
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