Leeds United boss Daniel Farke on derby 'fireworks' and welfare of star men after half-time reports

Farke’s men roared into a 4-0 lead in a scintillating first half, the gulf in class between the hosts and their visitors made abundantly clear as Daniel James and Crysencio Summerville scored twice each. Georginio Rutter was involved in so much of the Whites’ best work and the back four were rarely troubled – Joe Rodon providing one vital intervention to halt Huddersfield’s most promising chance.

The second half was a more underwhelming affair with the game won and Huddersfield sitting deep to try and stem the tide, but the Terriers did at least spoil the clean sheet with Michał Helik’s goal.

Farke stopped short of describing the first half performance as perfection but admitted it was not far off: “First of all I think you could see how much it meant to our players to win the local derby and show a reaction to a disappointing result at Stoke, we did it in a perfect manner. It was an electrifying first half, we were all over them. It was not perfect, I got the feeling we don't make enough out of our dominance but if you're 4-0 up at half-time you can't complain too much.

"We allowed them a bit too much to cross into our box and once or twice they were in behind our backs, sometimes we played with a bit too much altruism but I didn't want to stop my lads in the first half. There were situations and periods where our game management could be a bit better but there were spells when you could say this was best practice. The fourth goal felt like 500 passes, we were so calm to exhaust them with our possession and then to find the right moment to speed up the game, with a perfect give and go with Rutter and Byram. There were spells when it came pretty close to our ideal picture. We're pretty pleased with this result and performance.”

On the more sedate second half showing, Farke pointed to the importance of managing minutes for key players and felt the toll of a hectic week came into play: “Third game in seven days, one day less to recover, the players were back in the early hours of Thursday morning, it’s always difficult with a Saturday early kick-off. We wanted to be smarter in our game management in the second half. We wanted to control the game a bit more. We did this with 80 per cent possession in the second half. Sadly we didn't have this energy to attack the same any more. It was also due to managing the minutes.

"But the electrifying offensive firework was also good for the confidence. The next two days is also important after a busy schedule, especially for our international players, to allow them to enjoy this feeling a little bit. The next game [Leicester away] will be a different game, needing different solutions.”

Farke rang the changes after the midweek loss at Stoke City, bringing James, Summerville, Glen Kamara and Jamie Shackleton into the side. Archie Gray was given a rest, Shackleton slotting in at right-back, and Ilia Gruev, Jaidon Anthony and Willy Gnonto all dropped back onto the bench. Summerville repaid his manager with a stunning attacking display but he, like Joe Rodon, was protected in the second half.

"Cree and Sam were reporting minor muscle problems at half-time, we didn't want to take any risks,” he said.

"Joe Rodon felt something in his hamstring, not an injury, but I had to take him out. Joe didn't want to risk anything, I don't think it's a major injury. We'll calm the load a bit and we have a bit more time until we play on Friday evening. All three of them, Sam, Cree and Joe will all hopefully be available. I'm quietly confident.”