Leeds United boss Daniel Farke delivers 'big' promotion verdict on Burnley

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke believes Burnley are one of the ‘big contenders’ for the Championship title this season. The Clarets were relegated from the Premier League last season after they finished in the bottom three along with Luton Town and Sheffield United.

They saw Vincent Kompany make a surprise exit to Bayern Munich after they slipped out of the top flight earlier this summer. He has since been replaced at Turf Moor by former Fulham, Bournemouth and Club Brugge manager Scott Parker.

Leeds’ upcoming opponents make the trip to West Yorkshire on the back of their 1-1 draw at home to rivals Blackburn Rovers last time out before the international break. They have seven points on the board from their first four fixtures of this campaign and are sat in 6th position in the table.

Farke has delivered his verdict on the Lancashire outfit: “I think even the first games were really big tests. Away game at West Brom unbelievably difficult, they’re more settled and less fluctuation than us and Burnley. In the Championship, every game is a challenge and Burnley is without doubt one of the best sides in this league, very experienced coach, mature players, one of the big contenders for winning the title.

“Top start into this new season, little setback in the last game but overall we know it’s a tough task. Lots of individual quality within their team, lots of experienced players in the central positions. We have to be at our best, it’s tricky when 13 players are away, but at least we have a home game. Early kick-off on Saturday, would’ve wished for a later kick-off but it is what it is. We want to stay unbeaten with good defending and want to win as many points as possible.”

Farke was also asked about the number 10 position in his Leeds side and suggested he doesn’t want to change much: “I think it’s important you don’t change your whole principles because a player is not available. For that, it’s not like you say we go for proper 4-4-2 long balls and second balls to our strikers, that’s not our style. We stick to our beliefs. There could be an injury, you can’t change your whole processes. It’s important you adapt to your reality and make the best of what you’ve got.

“We have players who can fulfil this creative role, perhaps not like Georginio Rutter, but can fulfil it in a slightly different way. We will always adapt our style to strengths of our players. We want to have different scenarios, we’ve played with a goalscorer in this No. 10 role with Joel Piroe, good against the ball and covers a lot of distance. We’ll keep going with what we’ve got and adapt to the reality. So far we’re unbeaten and have found some good solutions.”

Leeds haven’t lost yet this term and won 2-0 against Hull City on their own patch in their last game. They are a point above Burnley at the moment.