'Not enough hours' - Daniel Farke reveals Leeds United's training ground top priority after Man United

Farke refused to sugar-coat the situation he has walked into at Leeds United, insisting there are ‘not enough hours in the day’ to complete all of the work that is required to prepare his team for 2023/24.

The 46-year-old is currently working with players who will most probably represent different teams this season, such is the nature of relegation from the Premier League and the ramifications that has on squad-building, but departures are not necessarily a bad thing.

Over the past 12 months, Leeds have not looked like a side comfortable in possession. During Wednesday evening’s friendly against Manchester United, the Whites struggled to get a handle on the game, while the majority of their chances came on the break.

Farke admitted after the 2-0 defeat, the first thing he has tasked his Leeds team with mastering in training has been their proficiency in possession.

"At the moment, the days don't have enough hours if I'm honest, in order to do all the work,” he said.

"I'm not too annoyed with the goals [conceded], to be honest, because in the last six days we have worked just on our possessions, how we want to work with the ball and not at all what we want to do against the ball.”

In order to implement his preferred style, the German needs his players to grow accustomed to having the ball, being patient with it and eking out goalscoring opportunities.

This time last year, Leeds were under the watchful eye of Jesse Marsch, whose vertical brand of Red Bull-inspired football sought the fastest route to goal, turnovers high up the pitch and few passes between winning the ball and hitting the back of the net.

It is an especially striking style when executed by the book, but Leeds were unable to, consistently at least, replicate the exploits of Marsch’s high-energy Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls sides.

In the Premier League last season, Leeds registered the lowest number of ‘build-up attacks’ with just 30, according to Opta. In addition, Leeds only managed 182 open play pass sequences totalling ten or more passes, one more than Nottingham Forest who recorded the fewest across the entire league. When they attacked, it was fast and direct. Marsch’s style left little room for tempo-setting or biding one’s time, recycling possession from one side of the pitch to the next, awaiting space to open up in the opposition’s midfield or defensive lines to progress the ball into.

Farke’s Norwich City team, the year they won their second Championship title under Farke, recorded the division’s most successful passes into the final third, most passes into the penalty area, most through-balls and most progressive passes – by some distance, too.

They were penetrative and picked their moments, occupying the ball for large periods of the game, before incisively finding the run of a Teemu Pukki or Emiliano Buendia.

In order to replicate the success of his Norwich team, Leeds’ squad must adopt Farke’s style. With 23 days until the season opener against Cardiff, and a squad which is likely to change between now and the end of the transfer window, there are variables which can work in United’s favour – or against them.

The German is not one for pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes. He is well-aware of the task at hand and has shared as much in his brief encounters with the press so far, suggesting supporters must be realistic. He has vocalised his frustration at the situation Leeds find themselves in with outgoing transfers – or loans, to be precise – and the admission that on-ball work has been prioritised during his early days at Thorp Arch, is as telling as any expression he makes at this stage in his tenure.

“The new gaffer has come in and we all know what style of football he plays, we’ve faced him a few times before and his teams have beaten us before whilst playing good football,” defender Luke Ayling said ahead of Leeds’ friendly defeat.

“The boys are excited to pick his style up, it’s a short pre-season so we will need to learn quickly. Hopefully we can do that, because it’s vital we get off to a good start this season."

"I know he’s a German coach, so I know some tactics,” ex-Hoffenheim forward Georginio Rutter said at full-time. “So, I understand better than another coach because when I was in Germany, it was a little bit the same and it’s more easy for me [to understand].”

With his coaching staff in place, the final tranche of Leeds players returning for pre-season in the next week, three friendlies to test a new way of playing and a core of young players eager to soak up the wisdom and tactical nuance Farke is likely to impart, there are raw materials to work with. What he is able to manufacture will only become apparent next spring.