Every word Leeds United manager Daniel Farke said on Djed Spence loan decision and Peterborough FA Cup preview

I am not a big believer in separating too much in home and away game, our approach is always the same. It’s the same rules, there are two rectangles at either end, the pitch is the same size, it is 11 against 11, mostly at least, Preston was not the case! For that, I don’t want to differ too much in home and away games and I don’t want to speak too much about it. When I judge also some of our away games we have won in a brilliant way. We won away at Leicester, at Ipswich, at Blackburn, Millwall, difficult places to go and we delivered it. We are capable to do this. Sometimes I get the feeling because we still have many young players in our starting XI in crucial positions, sometimes in away games when there is a tendency the referee is 50/50 decisions against you, because the stadium is more excited, sometimes we pay the price for our youth and naivety in these games. When not everything works straightaway in our favour, then to show steel, experience that a really mature group is doing, that’s all we are lacking a little bit. That consistency we are working on, to develop our younger players to show maturity and steel in this position, this cup game is another chance because we accept resistance and odds against us. You also don’t know what the idea of the referee is, if he denies us two clear penalties or perhaps gives us a red card - No, he won’t give a red card, we won’t concede one in this game! - but perhaps poor decisions against us, if we then show resilience and mental strength not to be too down and lose our focus, it’s what happens in a few of the last away games, to speak about this and develop our young players, this is our task, my task to work on it, and another chance to show that we have learnt in this difficult away game and we want to show this!

Yes. During my whole time as a manager, wherever I have worked, always careful. One thing is the quality and potential but I was always on it that we got good personalities and characters who are desperate to defend the shirt of the club and love the badge of the club and give everything, are professional, positive and give good energy for the group, thinking more about the group than themselves. For me, it is every important not just to bring good players in terms of tactical, technical or physical skills, but also in terms of personality. We were careful who we brought in, in the summer, and one secret why many signings worked out with lots of praise, is because we were really careful with personality and character. We will keep going in this way, we will be careful which persons we bring in, we have a good group with unity that are tied together and we don’t want anything that distracts this group from being focused on this level, so that’s a key point, yes.

Yes, a little bit, and this is one of the reasons we chose to bring Djed in. Sadly he was also a bit injured, so it is always tricky, especially in January. We are aware that Junior and Sam have both had records in terms of injuries, it’s also fair to say right now in January we head into a period which is a bit more relaxed, we just have one game per week. It will be more relaxed and we have Junior a few weeks back in training with a good first appearance on the pitch the other day against Birmingham. We hope he stays fit as he’s an outstanding player on this level. As you mentioned, we’ll watch carefully what happens over the next weeks. We more or less have four weeks to make a decision and if there is an emergency case or a really good solution in these positions, we will try to make it happen. This is our responsibility, to make sure we create the bet possible squad, but we won’t do anything stupid or out of panic, we will stay awake.

Yes, first of all, I will tell them they've got quite a good record in cup competition in order to motivate them. We are always respectful, so for me it's more or less a game on Championship level because if you're one of the top teams in League One, you have the quality like a team who is perhaps in mid table or at least in the bottom half of Championship otherwise you can't be in the top position in League One and fight for promotion. We've seen what Ipswich for example, is doing during the season on Championship level and last season they played on League One. So it's a really good side and also a home game for them, a special stage for them to play against Leeds United and everyone each and every player would like to use the stage in order to impress and for that, we expect a pretty tight game and difficult game and we have to be there on our best level because especially also to bring a bit more consistency in our away results also in the league is one of the topics for 2024. And yes, we want to start in the FA Cup knowing that yeah, it's perhaps not the importance of a cup final right now in this game because it's just more or less for us the first round but nevertheless, we want to be there with a good performance and want to go through in order to come as far as possible in this competition.

I like this and also when I remember some games, really magic cup nights also this quarterfinal [vs Man Utd, whilst at Norwich] I think yes, we lost in the added time, the 120th minute against Man United. So really like great, great game. So this will be a different right now because after 90 minutes if there is no winner, then there is a replay. It was a scenario during Corona at these times. I'm a big believer in cup competitions, if you wouldn't believe in the cup competition we would send them straight away into the next round and say no we don't travel. I'm a big believer, I want to go as far as we can come and want to win each and every round. I know it's not realistic that we win the FA Cup but I mentioned who knows. I think it's 50 years ago meanwhile for Leeds United and yes it's a great competition with a big history and I think it's also responsibility to present our club and our shirt in this cup in the best possible way. And for that we won't do something stupid in team selection. We won't risk any players but we will also put a strong line-up out because we want to go into the next round knowing that it will be a difficult task. There's no doubt about this, but we're looking forward to our first game and want to go into the next round.

Yes, definitely. I was even convinced before that he would be there with a good performance because I could see him growing under the leadership of Ed Wootten each and every day in training but it's definitely something different when you play the first game in a competitive game, his first big full debut for us and then full packed Elland Road in an important game. He had not so much to do but he was there in one or two situations also with good positioning and also some good saves, so to return back to the dressing room with a clean sheet is always a perfect game for a goalkeeper. I'm pretty delighted for him because he deserves it he's a great lad and works hard on the training pitch and he has all our backing and trust and we trust him for the FA Cup game. I'm quite sure that he will also deliver a good performance. But it's also good that it's the last game where we have to miss Illan Meslier, so it's also important that he can return after this game so but for this game, definitely Kristoffer will get our backing and our trust, yes.

No, I'm not interested in because I shared quite often really my appreciation and what I think about Luke and his value for us and I'm not tempted to comment [on] rumours each and every day. Because during this time of the year, so it's a January window, each and every day a player is connected with us or perhaps with outgoings, so if we would comment each and every rumour then we don't have the time in order to work on the training pitch and to concentrate on the game. So we just comment [on] things once business is done and yeah, so I've also no signs for something different. So far, no player was in my office to tell me that he wants to leave or asking for letting him go so it was a different scenario in the summer, I couldn't close the door early enough if I'm honest, I was tempted to shut the door with my keys but right now we are in a much better situation and situation as a club also in a good situation. In the table, good situation, and the season, everyone is really buying into it. So I have no signs that something will happen. We spoke about a few things yes, but that's it and no player was in to tell me that he wants to leave.

It's not the solution that he [Perkins] comes back and then shines for Leeds United in [the] Championship, where we have even higher demand. So it doesn't work in this way.

Together with our 21s, he has to train and develop into and work on the things that he has to improve and yes, he's got lots of potential and if he can work consistently, there's other chances to shine.

No, like I mentioned, it will be a game on Championship level or you can’t be on the top positions on a League One side. I mentioned the Ipswich example, we are fully aware we lacked consistency in away games - we are fully aware that it’s a difficult game and like I mentioned, we won’t risk any player. I forgot to mention Liam Cooper showed a little muscle reaction after the last game, it will be a tight call and I am not sure if he is available for this game. One thing for sure is that we won’t take any risks and we keep in mind that some players desperately need minutes, and some players have had lots of load in recent months, we take this into account but we want to put a side out who has the chance to go through. We try to balance it in a proper way, but it doesn’t take anything away from our ambition that we want to be successful in this game or we wouldn’t even travel. We would stay at home. No. We want to go into the next round and this is the mentality I want to bring into this club. Whenever you put a Leeds shirt on, a pre-season game, a league game, a cup game, whatever, just a friendly, a show game, you have to take the responsibility to present this shirt in a proper way. The FA Cup is one of biggest cup competitions in the whole of Europe for me, one of the competitions with the biggest history in football and to play this cup competition in the motherland of football, nobody has to motivate me. And if nobody has to motivate me, then also not my players. I will make sure we are on it in this game and again it is not a guarantee we will go through, because it will be a difficult game and we are very respectful but we will try our best to go into the next round.

Difficult to say. I was too far away and had to concentrate on the lads here, so it is difficult to give a reason. It’s also difficult what will happen right now, at the moment he’s not part of my plans, I spoke about the culture, he was with us in pre-season and got the chance to impress during training and in the few games in pre-season and first competitive games. We then decided it’s a bit too soon for him to be involved because he didn’t shine in this period. We then had the option to loan him out and it’s fair to say, if we judge it, he was not able to get game time on League One level and sometimes struggling to make the gameday squad. It’s not the solution that he comes back and shines for Leeds United on Championship level when we have even higher demands. It doesn’t work in this way and is the totally wrong sign. He’s together with our Under-21s and he has to train and to develop, work on the things he has to improve and yes, he has lots of potential and if he can work consistently he has chances to shine. But, it’s not like after a loan doesn’t work out and you get no game time, you are credited with a position in the first team, it would send totally the wrong sign in terms of the culture we want to create. We can just back players and trust them and develop them, but we can just bring them close to the door, they have to make the step through the door. This is what we will do, we will work on U21 level with Sonny, give him all the support and trust, work with him to improve and the challenges he has in his game. If he improves he has the chance step by step to be on a higher level, at the moment it is to stay humble and work hard, because if you’re not capable to get any minutes on League One level then it is difficult to shine for us on the level we are.