Daniel Farke expresses gratitude to the Leeds United players for saving him from a “long day at the office” during the Swansea City match.
The game began wildly, with the Swans scoring a legitimate goal in the first minute and Dan James having one disallowed.
Even though Leeds’ defense looked a little shoddy at first, they quickly composed themselves, canceling out Jamie Paterson’s goal and adding another through Georginio Rutter towards the end of the half.
“Today after one minute you think you’re in the lead and you think, ‘Happy days’ but the goal’s disallowed and we conceded out of nothing,” stated Farke.
“I thought that today might be a really long day at work because Swansea is a really good football team that can cause problems, especially when they play with confidence and are good on the counter-attack, but I have to give my guys some props.
“Despite the fact that the first half of the match was challenging and intricate, we maintained our composure and played flawlessly. We didn’t waste any opportunities.
“They gave us some possession problems, and we had some pressing issues, but we managed to turn the tide of the match with two outstanding goals before halftime and one or two more excellent opportunities.
“We discussed a few pressing details that we wanted to change to gain more control over the game against the ball, and that’s what we did, which is why the second half was more impressive.
“Earlier on, we blew the opportunity to score the third goal. The only thing I could possibly find fault with was our effectiveness. I just looked, and we scored seven or eight times as many goals as Swansea was predicted to.
“All in all it was a pretty mature performance and a well-deserved win.”
It was significant that Rutter’s goal, which came just seconds before the half, was scored after he stole a pass from Ethan Ampadu.
It’s always a positive psychological and confidence boost to score that close to halftime. The opponent finds it a little challenging to handle as well,” the manager remarked.
“You enter the dressing room in a positive frame of mind, but it didn’t really affect the team conversation because, in my opinion, we could have improved the pressing details and that’s what we discussed anyhow.
“But the general mood and confidence of the second half changed and in tactical terms it was an advantage to go into the second half with a lead because the opponent have to open up a bit more but we didn’t allow them to develop the game more because our pressing was more spot on and more focused so we had everything in control against the ball against a really good footballing side.”