Daniel Farke questioned over 'head-scratcher' Leeds United decision during Millwall defeat
Leeds United fell to a disappointing defeat at the Den and were unable to create any late chances.
Former Leeds United defender Jon Newsome has questioned Daniel Farke’s decision to drop Brenden Aaronson deeper when introducing Manor Solomon during Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat at Millwall.
Leeds fell to their first defeat in nine games at the Den, with Japhet Tanganga latching onto the towering Jake Cooper’s header to score the decisive goal shortly before half-time. Farke’s side huffed and puffed but failed to create much of note on a disappointing evening in South East London.
Aaronson looked the most dangerous of a somewhat dis-jointed attacking unit but was asked to sit a little deeper when Farke made his customary 70th-minute change, introducing Solomon for the impressive Rothwell. Mateo Joseph and Patrick Bamford were then slung on but the lack of late chances suggests none of those moves worked, with Millwall comfortable in holding onto their lead.
“I think we said it in commentary, Popey said it himself, I reiterated it,” Newsome told BBC Radio Leeds. “It was a bit of a head-scratcher, is how we explained it. I don’t feel Manor Solomon has offered a lot so far, I think on his debut he looked a real handful, and we all went, ‘wow, I think we’ve got a player’.
“I think he has been disappointing since. To then take Rothwell out of the fray and stick Aaronson into the middle of the park, yeah I didn’t get it. I really didn’t understand it, I didn't understand why he would do that. I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Daniel Farke.”
One player Farke didn’t look to for inspiration was Isaac Schmidt, who watched on from the bench once again. The 24-year-old joined Leeds from Swiss Super League club St. Gallen in the summer but has been limited to three fleeting appearances from the bench, with the likes of Charlie Crew and Sam Chambers getting the nod first during Saturday’s comfortable 3-0 win over Plymouth Argyle.
Farke laid down the gauntlet for Schmidt in his pre-Millwall press conference, urging the versatile defender to ‘step up’ in training amid intense full-back competition. And Newsome isn’t expecting the Whites boss to hand out any gifts.
“Well I think it is quite telling when someone asked Daniel Farke this week about Schmidt and he said he has to do more in training,” he added. “He has to up his game in training, that tells me he isn’t happy with the levels he’s putting in on a day-to-day basis.
“He works with him on a day-to-day basis and if he’s not seeing enough, then he’s never going to put him in the side. Regarding Bogle, first game back, don’t think he did too bad. But I think he fitted into that category of the majority tonight, where he could’ve done better. Junior Firpo the same.”