"Going to be a long day" - Daniel Farke reveals plans for Leeds United players after QPR embarrassment | OneFootball

Highlights

Leeds United's automatic promotion chances took what looks to have been a fatal blow after a 4-0 defeat to QPR on Friday night.

Daniel Farke's side still remain in the automatic promotion places but are just one point ahead of Ipswich Town, who have two games in hand over Leeds, so it looks as if they're going to have to settle for the play-offs.

It was a disastrous night for Leeds, and the result meant that Leicester City were promoted to the Premier League at the first attempt, and it also secured QPR's status as a Championship side next season.

It was Leeds' worst performance of the season by a mile, and whilst people expected it to be a tough game at Loftus Road, no one would have envisaged a 4-0 defeat.

It's going to take a while for the Leeds players and staff to recover from this one, and with an eight-day turnaround ahead of their final game of the season against Southampton, Farke will have plenty of time to prepare his troops.

Speaking to the press at Loftus Road after seeing his side defeated by QPR, Daniel Farke insists his players will be set for a long day at their Thorp Arch training base as they analyse what went wrong.

He said: "There is no reward for poor performance. Sometimes it’s good to clear the heads, but in such a moment we have to speak about this, and it would be wrong to send such a young group of players away without giving important messages and without analysing the game.

“I want to understand what happened today and for that it’s important to be in tomorrow and to speak about the game, analyse the game and also to have a proper training session for the players who didn’t have that much load today.

“It’s going to be a long day at Thorpe Arch, and we will definitely have a day off to clear our heads, and we will start the new week with energy and refreshed, and it’s more like then the game is done.

“We’ll remind ourselves of what we’ve done over the course of the last 44 games, and then we’ll keep going."

Leeds United must look to regain some momentum ahead of the play-offs

It looks as if Leeds United are going to have to settle for a play-off place, and it's crucial that they finish the season on a high next week against promotion rivals Southampton.

We've seen plenty of times over the years that the side that wins the play-offs isn't always the best side throughout the 46-game season, it's the side with the most confidence and momentum.

At this stage of the season, momentum is crucial, and after a shaky few weeks, Leeds must win next week against Southampton just to stop the rot and give them confidence.

Obviously, Leeds will be very disappointed to have seemingly missed out on automatic promotion, but they have to dust themselves off and go again next week.

With an eight-day turnaround between games, there's plenty of time for Farke's side to recover both physically and mentally before a huge game against the Saints, where both sides will be looking to make a statement before the play-offs.