Daniel Farke solved a major Leeds United issue vs Middlesbrough and it’s gone completely under the radar

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CThere were plenty of positives from Leeds United’s win over Middlesbrough and Daniel Farke may have found a new undroppable partnership at the perfect time.

Leeds United finally got back amongst the wins on Tuesday night when they edged past Middlesbrough 1-0 on Teeside to go back to the top of the Championship table.

Dan James, who would later go off with a hamstring injury, bundled the ball home after just two minutes and that proved to be the difference.

Leeds did see two goals from Ao Tanaka and Patrick Bamford wrongly disallowed for offside, which made the match much tougher than it needed to be.

Promotion-chasing Boro pushed the Whites all the way and came forward with wave after wave of attack, but Daniel Farke’s defence held firm.

With Pascal Struijk injured, Ethan Ampadu dropped back into defence to partner Joe Rodon. It might just be a partnership the manager sticks with from now on.

Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu answer Leeds United’s defensive prayers

Many Leeds fans wanted Max Wober to come into the defence rather than Ampadu drop back but it turned out to be a masterstroke from Farke.

Ampadu looks much more at home in defence, where the game plays out in front of him rather than having to play on the half-turn in midfield.

He pushed up from defence to lead Leeds’ defensive line, made eight clearances as Boro bombarded the box and three blocks in a captain’s performance only bettered by his partner.

Rodon was a colossus at the back, digging in deep to keep the onslaught at bay and the pair worked really well together.

According to @LUFCDATA on X, formerly Twitter, the duo have now kept 21 clean sheets in the 32 times they have played together in defence.

That stat alone should be enough evidence for Farke to make the ‘Red Wall’ his first choice, undroppable centre-back partnership for the rest of the season, even if Struijk does return from injury.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	41	24	13	4	80	28	52	85
2	BurnleyBurnley	41	23	16	2	55	12	43	85
3	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	41	26	7	8	56	31	25	83
4	SunderlandSunderland	41	21	13	7	57	37	20	76

Crucial moment shows the difference between Karl Darlow and Illan Meslier

Although the centre-back duo were excellent, they also have Karl Darlow to thank for the clean sheet.

It was Darlow’s second Championship start of the season after replacing the out-of-form Illan Meslier and the third member of Leeds’ solid Welsh trio once again proved why he should have got a chance much sooner.

He had no saves to make in the first half but when Boro finally started getting shots away from the hour mark onwards, he was equal to every single one.

A particularly nerve-wracking moment saw Delano Burgzorg shrug past Junior Firpo and get a shot away from a tight angle on the cusp of the six-yard box. Darlow was across to guard his post and got down quickly to make the save.

Against Swansea City, Meslier faced a shot from a similar angle but from much further out and let it squirm past him for the last-gasp equaliser.

Darlow’s solid, basic competence, combined with a composed dominance at set pieces, is the biggest difference from Meslier and allows the defence to have trust in their goalkeeper again.

Darlow has made himself undroppable as well.