"I’ve had a few people asking" - Pundit questions Daniel Farke, Leeds United pressure claims | OneFootball

It has been reported that Daniel Farke is under pressure behind the scenes at Leeds United following their 1-0 loss to Burnley

George Elek has claimed that Daniel Farke should not be under pressure at Leeds United following their 1-0 loss to Burnley.

It has been reported by Football Insider that the German coach is coming under scrutiny behind the scenes at Elland Road due to earning only eight points from a possible 15 to start the new campaign.

It was a difficult summer for Farke following the team’s play-off final defeat to Southampton, which consigned them to another year in the Championship.

The departures of Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray, Georginio Rutter and Glen Kamara hurt the first team squad, leading to several new faces needing to come in.

The defeat also came to a potential promotion rival, which saw Leeds fall out of the play-off places at this early stage of the campaign.

Farke Leeds future verdict

Elek believes that the manner of Leeds' defeat was more down to individual errors as opposed to anything systemic with how Farke set up the team.

He has claimed that the Whites are due a turnaround in fortune, citing the winning run that brought them into automatic promotion contention last year as a sign of their potential.

“I’ve had a few people asking about Daniel Farke off the back of this,” said Elek, via the Not The Top 20 podcast.

“It feels like whenever Leeds drop points, the question marks are again around Farke, and I’ve seen it be reported in some publications that he’s come under pressure internally.

“I just don’t know what, from his perspective, when I see Leeds dropping points the story is always the same.

“It’s bad finishing, and it’s conceding goals and they don’t concede very many chances.

“I can’t remember a time, except for maybe the play-off final, where Leeds have come out of a game and been like ‘we didn’t really create anything there, second best side the whole time’.

“So, if Daniel Farke’s job is to set out his team to have the best possible chance at winning a game, and personally I don’t think you can be culpable for individual mistakes or individual wasteful finishing.

“So Farke must be the one coming away from games so frustrated.

“You see [Mateo] Joseph’s one on one miss and that is genuinely a chance you would hope your player is able to put away.

“You look at the [Luca] Koleosho chance, which is also kind of a one on one, and also there’s a covering defender so it’s a much harder chance, and he puts it away.

“You look at [Wilfried] Gnonto’s misses too, it feels like Leeds aren’t getting the rub of the green.

“Obviously they had that incredible winning run at the back end of last season, so maybe this is just a bit of variance at the back of that where they’re not going to win every game.

“But I personally, and as someone who has predicted Leeds to win the league, and has backed Leeds to win the league, I come away from Saturday not thinking Leeds need to get rid of Farke.

“I just think they need a break, and I think it’s going to come.”

Leeds suffer 1-0 Burnley loss

The 1-0 loss to Burnley was the team’s first defeat of the new campaign, with points also dropped in draws against West Brom and Portsmouth.

Farke’s side sit ninth in the table after the opening five fixtures, one point behind Sheffield United in sixth.

The gap to league leaders West Brom is five points, with the Yorkshire outfit looking to secure promotion back to the Premier League at the second attempt.

Next up for Leeds is a trip to face Cardiff City on 21 September.

Leeds can’t afford another slow start to the season

Leeds had a slow start to life under Farke last season, which ultimately proved costly in their promotion bid as they finished third in the table, six behind Ipswich Town in second.

The Whites are only two points better off after five games compared to last year, so cannot afford too many more poor results in the coming weeks.

Otherwise they risk getting cut adrift and then needing a big winning run to get back into contention, so it’s understandable that some pressure is being applied on Farke.