Leeds United, Norwich City, Southampton, and West Bromwich Albion will compete in this season’s Championship playoffs.
The Whites were forced to settle for a top six finish in the regular season following a disastrous final month in which they scored only eight points in as many games.
Leeds still had the smallest of hopes of catching Ipswich Town on the final day, but, unfortunately, that did not happen, and they will now face a two-legged encounter against Daniel Farke’s former side Norwich City for a spot at Wembley.
After such a disappointing end to the season, it’s fair to assume Leeds fans aren’t very optimistic about the play-offs.
Martin O’Neill also believes Farke faces a difficult task in getting his players over the disappointment of missing out on automatics, but that is what he is paid to do.
Farke must improve one critical area for Leeds to win the playoffs.
In the eight days between Leeds’ final-day defeat to Southampton and Sunday’s first leg journey to Carrow Road, Farke will be racking his brain for ways to strengthen his team.
Raising the confidence of players like Georginio Rutter will be critical, but he must also look closer to home for areas where he can improve.
A couple of Farke’s flaws have surfaced in recent weeks, and one area where he has just fallen short is the use of his bench.
According to Opta data during the March international break, Leeds only scored five goals through substitutes. Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe have scored for Watford and Coventry City, respectively, bringing the total to seven.
By the same time Leeds had five, Ipswich and Southampton had both scored 20 goals from substitutes, demonstrating how powerful changes can be.
Farke frequently waits until it is too late to make changes. At Boro, his first substitution occurred in the 75th minute, whereas at Blackburn Rovers, it came just before the 70th. Sunderland was ranked 71st.
QPR was the earliest at 63, but Leeds had just put on their worst first half performance of the season, and adjustments should have been done at halftime.
There is just not enough time for players to join, adjust to the game’s tempo, and make a difference.
Leeds United can benefit from using substitutes during the EFL play-offs, which can be a demanding period for players both mentally and physically.
The mental strain of knowing your season may be gone with a loss takes its toll, and such vital matches at the end of a 46-game season will undoubtedly be physically demanding.
With that in mind, bringing on subs early may be quite beneficial against tired minds and bodies, especially given Farke’s depth.
Dan James and Patrick Bamford could return on Sunday, giving Farke plenty of attacking options. If things aren’t going well, he just needs to use them.
