{"id":603327,"date":"2025-11-30T12:32:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/603327\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T12:32:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:32:27","slug":"daniel-farke-proves-leeds-united-fans-were-wrong-over-maligned-duo-against-man-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/603327\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Farke proves Leeds United fans were wrong over maligned duo against Man City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Man City were not expecting to have almost surrendered two points on Saturday afternoon, especially after going 2-0 up. Leeds United made them sweat and Daniel Farke was the reason for that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha both scored, cancelling out Phil Foden\u2019s opener and a goal from Josko Gvardiol. Nico O\u2019Reilly got an assist for Gvardiol\u2019s goal, but Lucas Perri was the architect.<\/p>\n

Leeds<\/a> came roaring back in the second half and by the time it was 2-2, it could have gone either way. Such was Leeds\u2019 second-half fight, that Pep Guardiola organised a mini team-talk before Leeds\u2019 second.<\/p>\n

Who was your Leeds MOTM against Manchester City? <\/p>\n

\"ManchesterPhoto by Shaun Botterill\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Something which Daniel Farke<\/a> has criticised in his press conference, while Lukas Nmecha says he\u2019s never seen anything like it<\/a>. It proves City were rattled and that was down to Farke\u2019s tactical nous at half-time.<\/p>\n

For weeks, fans have called for Farke to start Willy Gnonto<\/a> and Dan James<\/a>. On Saturday, they finally got their wish. The two recently-injured wingers coming in for Noah Okafor and Brenden Aaronson out wide.<\/p>\n

\"MateoPhoto by George Wood\/Getty ImagesDaniel Farke in I told you so moment, towards Leeds fans<\/p>\n

While Gnonto and James may feel hard done by, in that the game they finally returned to the starting line-up was an away outing against Man City, neither impacted the game and were hooked at half-time.<\/p>\n

In a rare example of Farke being proactive, he brought Jaka Bijol and Calvert-Lewin on at the break and it was a move that paid off. Switching to a 3-5-2, Leeds were more compact in defence and better in attack.<\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

If starting James and Gnonto was Farke giving in to fan pressure, then taking them off was a message to the fans who have been begging him to drop Aaronson. In this system, James and Gnonto can struggle.<\/p>\n

It is just one example, but Paul Merson recently said James isn\u2019t good enough<\/a> for the Premier League. On Saturday, taking the duo off was Farke showing fans he\u2019s listening, but showing fans why it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

Phil Foden gives Daniel Farke credit for his half-time switch\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up there as one of the wildest games. We had full control in the first half. They changed their system in the second half and we couldn\u2019t get going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phil Foden after Leeds\u2019 3-2 loss to Man City<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Who starts for Leeds United when Chelsea come to Elland Road?<\/p>\n

Farke has a few selection headaches when Chelsea come to Yorkshire on Wednesday night. Even Lucas Perri will be under threat, as he failed to deal with a corner and it allowed Josko Gvardiol to score for City.<\/p>\n

But Karl Darlow was missing on Saturday. Then, there is the formation. Does Farke try a three-man back line from the off? Does Jaka Bijol come in for only his fourth start in the Premier League since his arrival?<\/p>\n

In midfield, Anton Stach is back in contention after observing concussion protocol<\/a>, but Ao Tanaka and Ilia Gruev were excellent having come in for Stach and Sean Longstaff. They deserve to be kept in the side.<\/p>\n

James Justin did a job on the left, and Farke says Justin is fine<\/a> after coming off on 69 minutes despite \u201ca little hit\u201d. Gnonto and James might not expect to start after being taken off, and who goes up front?<\/p>\n

Massive decisions for Farke to get right, with the majority of the squad feeling they probably have a good case to start on Wednesday night. The only certainties? Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon and Lukas Nmecha.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man City were not expecting to have almost surrendered two points on Saturday afternoon, especially after going 2-0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,72047,1385,393,4884,1860,16,15,4515],"class_list":{"0":"post-603327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dan-james","10":"tag-daniel-farke","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-leeds","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-willy-gnonto"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115638669480326170","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}