Leeds United may have defeated Cardiff City 2-0, but the result did not please everyone.
Despite Cardiff being down to ten men since midway through the first half, the three points were not secured until Joel Piroe scored in the 87th minute.
Cardiff were horrible, but Leeds couldn’t finish them off. In fact, despite being up 1-0, Leeds’ travelling fans were heard booing due to their team’s lethargic performance.
Most teams would be pleased to win 2-0 away from home at this level, but Farke’s plodding style of play has sparked criticism.
Farke, like the supporters, was left dissatisfied on Saturday. Farke believes Leeds has struggled to complete games this season, with Cardiff serving as a prime example.
Dorigo thinks Farke was angrier than ever at Leeds vs. Cardiff.
While Farke criticized Leeds’ finishing after the game, he was most outraged during it.
Cardiff had only three shots whole game at the weekend, but one of them came right after Leeds had gone ahead 2-0 and appeared to have sealed the three points.
However, right from the start, Chris Willock was able to locate an opening in Leeds’ defence, allowing Anwar El Ghazi to score.
Illan Meslier was able to make the save, but Leeds showed a serious lack of attention. Tony Dorigo, speaking on the Square Ball Podcast, said he has never seen Farke so agitated on the sidelines since that incident.
He stated, “Looking at Daniel Farke over the weekend, he was going crazy on the touchline. I’d never seen him that animated when we were 2-0 up and they ran right through and almost had a chance to equalize.
“Those lapses in concentration is what he guards against and maybe that’s quite important to him, and rightly so.”
Leeds has one of the Championship’s youngest squads this season.
Farke has frequently mentioned the youthfulness of his Leeds team. With that in mind, these types of errors are probably not surprising to him.
Only five clubs have a younger average age of players in the Championship this season, and two of those teams are flying.
Farke will be missing a wealth of leadership in the Leeds dressing room in 2024 with the departures of Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, and Luke Ayling.
The new leaders are Ethan Ampadu, Pascal Struijk, and Meslier, all of whom are still young. It will be a labor in progress to smooth out these minor gaps of attention.
