Leeds United boss Daniel Farke issues stern order after Coventry City draw and avoids one question

Not for the first time this season, or even this week, Leeds dropped points against a side sitting deep and putting men behind the ball, but unlike the defeat at Sunderland when they struggled to create, against the Sky Blues they were wasteful. Farke’s men spurned a number of golden chances to win the game comprehensively and compounded their profligacy with poor defending for a second half counter attack.

Farke was quizzed before the game on the possibility of changing it up to freshen his side, but he went with an unchanged line-up again and the decision was so nearly justified. A tepid first half still held chances for the Whites, most notably for Daniel James who was played clean through but went to ground looking for a penalty that never came.

In the second half Leeds pressed and pressed, dominating possession, and finally hit the front when Georginio Rutter slotted a ball through for Crysencio Summerville and he finished with aplomb yet again. There were opportunities to double the lead before a poor giveaway in the opposition half led to a breakaway, and though Leeds got back in numbers, they still conceded from a cross into the box, centre-back Bobby Thomas arriving between Archie Gray and Pascal Struijk to head home. After that it was almost all Leeds, and though James was played in again, he shot wide. Joe Rodon headed over from a couple of yards out and Farke’s front line almost all had efforts to try and win it, before settling for an unsatisfactory point on a day when second-placed Ipswich Town drew 2-2 with Norwich City.

Farke was in no mood for positives at full-time: “Just disappointment and frustration. In this league when you win a point you always see many positive aspects because it's always valuable but after this it just feels like two points dropped. We should have won, we did more than enough to win this game. To come out with just one point is very frustrating. We're all deeply disappointed. I want us to feel this. I don't want us to speak too much about the positives, just frustration today.”

Asked what he could do to lift the players’ spirits at the end of a difficult week, Farke revealed he had no intention of doing so. Instead he ordered his players to reflect on how disappointed they were, before getting ready for a huge game against Ipswich Town next weekend. He said: “I don't want to make them get their chins up today, I want them to feel the disappointment, this helps them next time to feel more brutal, more greedy, more focused. I don't want to take this pain away, it's quite crucial. I will allow them to be down for two days and then we will go again. We were not too high after seven wins in a row at Elland Road. It's not also today we have to go to a funeral, we're still unbeaten at home. It's just frustrating today. I want them to feel this and for the next game we'll be ready to go again.”

Although he insisted that freshness was not an issue, because Leeds were able to dominate and make runs that created chances, Farke once again had to answer for his team’s ability to be clinical. “We created more than enough to win two or three games. The amount of chances, not just the amount, the quality, was unbelievable. The header, one-v-one from five yards. Efficiency is also a quality you need to have. Normally when you create such an amount of chances, with this quality, you have to win this game. Sadly we didn't show enough [efficiency]. It's a quality we have to work on.”

One thing Farke would not be drawn on was the performance of referee Geoff Eltringham, who struggled to control a game that almost boiled over during and afterwards. Summerville, who was booked for dissent during the game, was involved in a pair of flash points, along with Thomas and Kasey Palmer. The winger could be described as fortunate to escape a second yellow after the final whistle. Farke elected to remain tight lipped on the officiating. He said: "I’ve had this referee several times already. Today, I don’t speak about him. In the last few years I’ve had him several times, one or two times I’ve spoken about his performance but not today.”