Leeds United face Norwich City on Sunday for the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final, and Daniel Farke has spoken about what will be his goal in training this week.
Leeds United’s eight clean days of preparation were insufficient to significantly improve their form on Saturday, but Daniel Farke believes the eight days before Norwich City will be different. The Whites were thrashed 4-0 by Queens Park Rangers, and despite a week of intense focus and training, they were defeated 2-1 by Southampton, relegating them to the playoffs.
Farke is certain that by returning to their traditional pre-match practice, his players at Thorp Arch will be able to progress to the appropriate levels. The German stated that last week was atypical for both staff and players due to the emphasis on attacking, gung-ho football as they sought the victory over the Saints.
“The week [before Southampton] was beneficial, but, as I mentioned, it was a bit of a strange approach,” he added. “We deviated from our usual approach, and especially after conceding a few goals, as in previous games, the next phase is usually to focus on sitting back, being concentrated, not allowing chances, and not allowing goals.
“You want to return to the clean sheet. This is what a coach would ordinarily do if they had conceded seven goals in the previous two games.
“We completely went the other way around during this week and it was a bit difficult to say we could prepare them for the perfect approach.”
In a barely disguised gesture to what David Wagner could expect Leeds to be working on ahead of Sunday’s game, Farke made it obvious that strengthening his defensive would be a priority this week. The former Canaries manager hopes that a return to the home comforts of the previous nine months would restore confidence, which has been dwindling in recent weeks.
“This time around we have two games where it’s more or less a final,” he told reporters. “It’s not like you need to win this game in the first five minutes to impress a new opponent.
“It’s not as if a draw or a close outcome isn’t an option. The playoff games: you approach them differently, and we have time to revert to our best behaviour, particularly our best defensive behaviour.
“We can focus more on ourselves during training week, on our normal standards, approaches, and habits.” Working on your typical habits and principles increases the players’ confidence.
“Hopefully, it’s enough in order to have them back at their prime at Norwich, but it will be definitely beneficial to have this proper training week, yes.”
