Farke puts Leeds United duo in spotlight and explains 'painful' no-brainer omission at Wednesday

The Whites were not at their thrilling best in the first half and looked set to go down the tunnel locked at 0-0 until Junior Firpo’s perfect cross took several Owls out of the game and presented Patrick Bamford with a back-post tap-in. That goal made life a lot easier in the second half and with space opening up they toyed with the hosts on the counter attack. A well-worked second, in which Bamford again played a key role, was laid on by Georginio Rutter and finished off by Willy Gnonto. Crysencio Summerville and Connor Roberts had chances to add gloss to the scoreline and Illan Meslier was called into action with a late double save, but the win was never really in doubt and it puts Leeds two points behind leaders Leicester City ahead of the weekend games.

Farke was delighted with what he saw from his side. “I think it was well deserved, and overall a pretty, pretty mature performance, pretty controlled performance,” he said. “Obviously you could feel that Sheffield was on a good run, they play with confidence, excited home crowd they're always good on the on the counter attack and dangerous with set pieces. It was important that we had so much control over the game already in the first half. But then you have to tire opponents a bit and take their enthusiasm and aggressiveness away in the first half. Perhaps we allowed them to have a few too many corners, that was the only point I can criticise – one big chance when Illan was there was a world class safe. But apart from this, we were pretty much in control.”

The manager heaped praise on the scorer of the first goal, even if it looked like a simple finish. “I tell you what everyone speaks about a goal he scored at Peterborough, a worldie, but this is for me also a world-class striker goal, to have this instinct – okay Junior will be there with a cross. To have this movement away from the opponent on the far post and still have the concentration to press the ball down. It was not that easy to score. I was really pleased, it’s a sign of a top class striker. When it counts you have to be there, you have to be clinical. His contribution before the second goal, same as Georgi Rutter, really good assist.”

Farke was also over the moon with the contribution of his centre-halves Ethan Ampadu and Joe Rodon. The pair made a number of vital defensive interventions, Ampadu in particular popping up exactly where Leeds needed him to clear danger and get team-mates out of trouble. “I think they deserve to be more in the spotlight,” said Farke. “I think they were outstanding today – we had one or two weaknesses in the positioning in front of them or next to them but they won each and every crucial duel, always switched on against the ball. Also in possession how they initiated and started our attacks, apart from one or two passes perhaps. The leadership, the soft skills, the maturity, this was outstanding. To show this leadership for such a big club as Leeds United this is quite impressive."

The big talking point prior to the game was the changes Farke made to the starting line-up, taking out Connor Roberts, Sam Byram and perhaps most surprisingly at all Daniel James. Farke had mixed feelings on removing the latter from the side and replacing him with Willy Gnonto, because on one hand it felt like a necessity and on the other he loves having the Welsh winger on the pitch. He said: “Obviously, everyone knows how much I love Dan James and I trust him and he's amazing for us, and after what he's done also like the last game, there with a crucial goal. So it's it's always difficult when I can't allow him to start the game but I think this was more or less a no-brainer because he was so crucial for us during the during the whole season and Tuesday was his first game back in the starting line-up over 90 minutes. He put in an unbelievable shift in, the data said his intensity output was top class, we just had two days between the games. For that, a recovered Willy Gnonto, a really good option, it was clear it’s the Championship and with this schedule you can’t always start the same lads. You have to use the squad and trust the squad. It’s always a bit painful for me to leave Daniel out, I rate him so much, but due to the load it was more or less a no-brainer. The same with Connor Roberts, he covered more than 12k the other day but you have to make sure everyone stays fit, sharp and in a good mood.”