Leeds United praised for Daniel Farke stance as Championship promotion credentials assessed
Leeds United have enjoyed a decent start to the season overall.
Darren Bent has hailed Leeds United’s decision to back Daniel Farke after a concerning start to the season, with the German quickly turning things around and building towards another promotion push.
Leeds endured a rollercoaster summer transfer window with plenty of ins and some worrying outs. The ‘sins of the past’ Farke often mentioned came to the forefront as release clauses were triggered for Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter, who all moved into the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham and Brighton respectively.
Those exits coincided with a slow start to the season as Leeds drew 3-3 at home to newly-promoted Portsmouth before a 3-0 defeat to Middlesbrough saw them eliminated from the Carabao Cup. But a run of three straight clean sheets, with a point taken from West Brom and victories over Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City, means they remain unbeaten in the league and Bent has praised Farke for building momentum this early.
“I think Leeds, if they can pick up results, and with the squad that they have got, I am not saying they have got one of the best squads in the Championship, but they certainly have quality and can have a push,” Bent told talkSPORT. “He (Farke) has done it before where a fanbase hasn’t been keen on him and, all of a sudden, he has put an unbelievable run together and they get promoted.
“I like that they have given him a bit more time. They battered Hull, it was 2-0 and it probably should have been more. Fair play to them, they got off to a slow start. At least you are starting to see signs of them getting a bit of momentum.”
The international break has arguably come at the worst time for Leeds, who were beginning to find their groove with a host of late-summer signings looking to settle in. Four new arrivals came through the door in the last week of the window with all but one - deadline day full-back signing Isaac Schmidt - featuring during Saturday’s win over Hull City.
Schmidt will at least get to settled into things during the break with no international commitments, with Largie Ramazani also present at Thorp Arch over the next week or so. Manor Solomon and Ao Tanaka have both gone away to represent Israel and Japan, respectively.
Leeds now have a weekend off before the visit of Burnley to Elland Road next Saturday kicks off what could be a defining early period. Six of their next seven fixtures are up against early promotion or play-off contenders in Scott Parker’s Clarets, Coventry City, Norwich City, Sunderland, Sheffield United and Watford.
Farke will hope a strong run of results during that period can but Leeds in the driving seat going into the winter, a position he could only have dreamed of last season as Leicester City and Ipswich Town came flying out of the blocks. That slow start was often cited as a deciding factor in promotion failure and so a better opening few months should put the Whites on pole position early doors.