Daniel Farke asks for Leeds United Elland Road patience as rivals' key weakness is highlighted

The Owls and QPR will not be in a band of two by the time the season is over, it is inevitable that others come to Elland Road to sit in, frustrate, take a 0-0 at worst and maybe try to nick something on the break at best. Wednesday came and did exactly that, laying out a blueprint of sorts for those who have designs on similar results. A newly-promoted Championship team can hardly be blamed for parking the bus, not against a freshy-relegated top flight side that boasts the quality of Daniel Farke's squad. Had the Owls come to fight fire with fire then the chances are they would have been obliterated because even if they were uber defensive on the day, they still should have lost by a conclusive margin.

Farke has acknowledged the similarities between QPR and Wednesday and plans to use the game against the latter in his preparation for the midweek clash.

"In terms of shape and set up, I would label it quite similar," he said.

"Obviously there are also a few details that are different. I also expect that they are a bit more of a threat on the counter attack because we didn't allow Wednesday one chance until the last moment of the game. So expect that we also have to be aware of their strength on the counter attack. They have good options and good players, technical players in the midfield also good striker options so I expect that we have to be even a bit more aware of their threat and control all their counters. But in terms of breaking and opening up a site sitting that deep, also quite often with five at the back, we use the Sheffield game in order to speak about a few things, yes."

Perhaps the most surprising thing QPR could do at Elland Road on Wednesday night is not to win but to come and play football. Once upon a time not so long ago the men in blue and white hoops wanted the ball in the way that Farke wants Leeds to have it. Rangers expert Ian McCullough of West London Sport says things have changed dramatically under Gareth Ainsworth's management.

"Ainsworth, a popular player at QPR in the early to mid 2000s, had been linked with the job regularly when at Wycombe, but concerns over the style of football never saw anything eventuate," he told the YEP.

"That changed in February when the board brought him in to try and revive their play-off push and lift a fractured dressing room, but what followed was a run of alarming results highlighted by a humiliating 6-1 loss at cellar-dwelling Blackpool.

"A highly fortunate win at champions-elect Burnley and a victory at Stoke kept Rangers in the division and because of how Ainsworth sets up his teams, away from home they have been quite solid. However, the form at Loftus Road is abysmal with Ainsworth winning just one of 12 games on home soil and losing nine, and the team registering just one victory in almost a year. Wins at Middlesbrough and Cardiff this season were deserved but the free-flowing, possession-heavy style the team played under Mark Warburton and then Beale, that allowed Ilias Chair and Chris Willock to flourish, is very much a thing of the past.

"Under Ainsworth the team is last in possession stats in the Championship with powerful young striker Sinclair Armstrong largely employed to chase balls over the top and use his pace and power to unsettle defenders. This has been effective but has its obvious limitations against experienced centre-backs."

As Farke admits, Leeds will have to keep an eye on potential counter attacks but it's a safe bet that their primary concern will be how to get the first goal and crack open another stubborn visiting defence.

His players will have to resist the urge to give in to frustration or impatience in order to craft attacks with the necessary precision. The supporters will have a part to play on that front, too.

"I think the key is to stay balanced, on the one side to prepare our offensive actions and don't force it too much because otherwise you will produce one loss of the ball after another, you will be frustrated and concede counters," said Farke.

"It's important that we stay patient, make them shift and make them run, make them work. In such games you have to be relentless and you have to exhaust them physically and mentally in the beginning and then take your chance in the second half a bit like we did in our last home game when we opened them up after investing so much in the first 60 minutes. We scored three goals in the last third of the game. Obviously I would take going into the lead earlier, it would make our life more simple but you can't choose and I expect a game where we need to be patient and need our supporters to be patient and to help us exhaust our opponent mentally and physically."

Ainsworth's switch to a back three, which in reality will form as a back five when Leeds have the ball, has not entirely shored things up for QPR and a weakness identified by Championship rivals could be one avenue Farke explores.

"Teams have worked out Rangers are vulnerable defensively down their right side against Paul Smyth and right centre-back Osman Kakay and have taken full advantage of it," said McCullough.

All three of Coventry's goals in their 3-1 win over QPR targeted that side of the Rangers defence at some point in their build-up and that's where Swansea found joy en route to what was admittedly, and ironically when a past QPR and Leeds clash comes to mind, a mistakenly allowed handball goal.

And while Leeds' preparation for the game will be based largely on a high likelihood of QPR parking the bus and playing for counters, Farke will be able to keep Ainsworth guessing until the last minute on who it is he will pit against that problematic right flank. Sam Byram will be a late call at left-back, Jamie Shackleton could play there with Luke Ayling at right-back and ahead of them it is not yet known if Jaidon Anthony will come in for a first start or if Crysencio Summerville will continue to occupy that position.

Whoever gets the nod from Farke against Wednesday night's visitors will be tasked with telling a different story to the one that played out when Wednesday visited.