Leeds United were held to a 2-2 draw on the opening day of the season at home to Cardiff City
While Sunday’s draw with Cardiff City was hardly the ideal start to life back in the Championship, Daniel Farke is confident his Leeds United side are moving in the right direction under his stewardship. The Whites were held to a 2-2 draw at Elland Road by Cardiff, who opened up a two-goal lead in the first half by making the most of some sloppy defending from the home side.
There was only one team in it in the second half, though, with Leeds dominating the ball and pushing forward at every opportunity in an attempt to get themselves back into the game. Liam Cooper’s header opened the door for a comeback and despite a resolute and compact performance from the Welsh outfit, the equaliser came in stoppage time through Crysencio Summerville.
The Whites had 71.7 per cent of possession and racked up 25 shots to underline what was a fairly one-sided contest and had it not been for the lapses in concentration at the back, Farke’s side would have more than likely secured the three points. Such a performance was pleasing for the manager, who has had less than five weeks with his squad since being appointed at the start of July.
The German has been consistent in his message that the process will take time, but he saw enough on Sunday afternoon against a stubborn outfit to be confident about the progress his side have made in a short space of time.
“Well, first of all, I want them to win football games so we were one goal away from winning the game,” Farke said when asked how far Sunday’s performance was from what he wanted. “I think for the first game under these circumstances so performance wise was really good.
“It was not a perfect game otherwise would have defended more awake in this situation and we would have been a bit more effective in using the chances, would have been even a bit more clinical in finishing and final pass and even the second last pass at the time. Football is never a perfect game, but I think overall, under these circumstances where we are at the moment, short preseason also with the hangover of relegation, many players injured not available even during the game, also many unlucky situations.
“You have to say under these circumstances it was really good performance but in percentage I couldn’t say. What I can say is that we are definitely performance-wise on the right path.”
He added: “It’s not just about finding a solution, I think 25 shots today, 10 corner kicks. So this is exactly how we want to set up and open opponents who dig in that deep and I think Cardiff has defended really really well.
“They have some proper defenders and a well organised team. I think we found good solution but one key is also not to give easy goals away because otherwise it’s even more difficult because they dig in even deeper. Also with confidence, it’s not that great.
“I think the most important topic is that we are always solid also in terms of defending and this is more or less the only thing I can criticise today that we gave these two goals away a bit too cheap.”
