‘Unplayable’ is a word which has come up quite a lot in recent weeks; Daniel Farke’s Leeds United take another huge step towards the Championship title with a 4-0 win away at Watford.
Any dissatisfaction the Yorkshire giants may have felt following their dreary, cure-for-insomnia draw against Burnley at the end of January has been extinguished by a run of three consecutive victories and 13 goals.
The flood followed the dryness of Turf Moor.
Cardiff City were washed away by Leeds United’s tidal tsunami.
Leeds United could have come close to replicating that 7-0 victory at Coventry a few days later. And, as Daniel Farke’s squad pushed five points clear at Vicarage Road, the irrepressible three of Dan James, Manor Solomon, and Joel Piroe scored again.
A trio Farke, in another smiling post-match chat, hailed as nothing short of ‘unplayable’.
Daniel Farke praised Manor Solomon, Dan James, and Joel Piroe as Leeds United smash Watford.
“Credit to them today. When questioned about James, Solomon, and Piroe’s spectacular performances, the former Norwich City manager, who is chasing his third promotion from England’s second division, stated, “They were really unplayable.”
“Outstanding individual performances.”
James took advantage of a terrible missed ball to open the scoring before extending his Championship goal tally to ten with a right-footed strike. Solomon now has eight goal contributions in his previous seven games, with his speculative 35th-minute shot deflecting in.
The Tottenham Hotspur loanee provided for Joel Piroe as Leeds sealed another dominant victory in stoppage time, squaring as the delicate Dutchman glided through and scored.
Manor Solomon is determined to give Leeds’ backline the credit it due after keeping a 20th clean sheet in 32 games,
maintaining that Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu, Jayden Bogle, Junior Firpo, and Illan Meslier provide the groundwork for his free-scoring strikers to do what they do best.
That was a point Farke repeated, with Meslier only five clean sheets away from matching the Championship record in a 46-game season.
Farke praises Leeds’ defense and emphasizes Dan James’ improvement.
“[Our attackers] are able to shine because we had a good organisation,” Farke continues, Leeds high-pressing also vital to opening the Watford backline. “We were able to win the ball in interesting areas and they were able to use their quality.”
Farke chastised Dan James after he squandered Leeds’ finest chances away to title rivals Burnley some weeks ago. That was a rare off-day in front of goal for a player who has developed into one of the division’s most dependable performers in the final third.
“Daniel perhaps could have scored a few more [against Watford], but, overall, on the counter-attack, it was a really, really good performance,” Farke recalls, the Welshman outgrowing his reputation as something of a penalty-box jigsaw and falling apart with the goal at his disposal.
“I am a huge fan of James’ abilities and character. There has previously been criticism about his goals and assists, but we have addressed this issue. We’ve given him a few details. He is always willing to accomplish it, thus all credit belongs to him.”
