Leeds banter 8

31 Aug 2026 09:46:08
A good point yesterday considering how badly we played in H1. The positives are we have a strong Defense and a great keeper, at last. Other than their deft goal we really didn't look like conceding and we eventually created that one key chance as they tired and it was a great team goal. I don't think it's useful to single out any individual players in that kind of performance. Other than our back 3 and keeper the rest were below par.

My biggest concern is our midfield structure. It's not clear to me how Ampadu and Stach are supposed to gel. It was our key weakness in H1 yesterday and is structural rather than down to individual performance. In fairness DF partly fixed it at HT with Tanaka and the subsequent substitutions saw us get out of jail. 🤞🤞 for at least 1 more outfield signing today / tomorrow.

31 Aug 2026 07:28:58
Yeah. Was pretty dire but we showed fight and that we are hard to beat.
I also agree with poster below that Farke is learning on the job and he was responsible for the fight back. Well timed subs and change of formation.
Still don’t think it was him at City. Anyway. Let’s focus on the present. Should have been Gnonto not James. Arronsen and ao were woeful.

As has been said. Jane’s is not prem player. Like Piroe.
Worried about Rodon. Although Spose amps and Justin can step up if we lose another cb.
There goal although a good finish was a bit lucky. Couple ricochets to get to him.
Trafford again very good. Like this geezer. Great temperament.
Gary again class.
Tick tock Mr 49. Break the bank now. Make amends later.

31 Aug 2026 12:59:21
You mean like Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday?
You can add Everton, Forest and even Villa now. There’s a price to pay for breaking the bank and dodging Financial Fair Play, Aus!
Making amends, as you call it, can see you in League 1, and every Leeds fan knows what that means.

31 Aug 2026 07:39:08
{Ed's Note - NOMAD_RANGER has posted a new article entitled, The Lewis Ferguson Thread That Still Won't Go Away

30 Aug 2026 22:51:12.
That first half was scary, and we could have shipped more than the one goal. Every player on the pitch was not anywhere close to the Bees. Reminded me of the Arsenal game last year.

Wrong state of mind and tactics - and two terrible contributions by BA and Justin.



However, in the second half we did much better, and sorry Baz, your love child James is just not good enough either.
MoT.

30 Aug 2026 23:19:42
While we were totally outplayed in that first half, Brentford had an xG at HT of 0.56. I think it was (we were something like 0.04) . So, our defense was doing OK and restricting chances.
I'd take that as a positive TBH.

31 Aug 2026 00:24:35
Blimey, CA, some peeps are hard to please. 😆

Not only was Danny James Man of the Match and goalscorer in the midweek Forest match.

In the Brentford match, for 69 mins Leeds United had hardly a sniff at goal.

Within 9 minutes of DJ on the pitch, Leeds had equalised, with DJ involved in the goal.

Furthermore, Leeds looked more purposeful in attack, and the better side after DJ's introduction.

31 Aug 2026 07:09:52
He was very poor, Baz, zero shots on target, zero key passes, zero out of 2 crosses, four shots off target and an xA of 0.01.

31 Aug 2026 07:28:15
Why do we think if a player comes on he has to be Superman? No one can be Man of the Match every game they play. There were 11 players out there, but we pick out two, DJ, BA. 🤦‍♂️

31 Aug 2026 07:38:40
That's true, Whitey. tbf, all 11 could've been singled out in the first half, for one thing or another. Tactics were irrelevant in H1, coz we were second to everything anyway!

Side note, Rodon looked like he carried that injury into the game, which is a big no no.

That could possibly lengthen his time on the sidelines. Fortunately, Elvedi looked class, and can really pick a pass!

31 Aug 2026 07:55:41
Agreed, Bright, he looked like he was holding his leg in the last game, but he wants to play every game. We need younger players who are fast; Brentford have that. Do you think we should be looking at Brentford's type of younger players? DL was caught out by their quick speed.

31 Aug 2026 10:16:21
I predicted a 2 1 Leeds win. Was expecting/hoping DJ to score that chip chance. He's scored a few similar to that before.

It would have been a 2 1 Leeds win, not deserved, but still.

30 Aug 2026 17:13:05
I'm still not convinced by Farke. It took him half a season last year to change to a winning format and hasn't adapted this year to the fact that we are a known quantity to all our premier opposition.

For most of today's game we were appalling. When we weren't, we struggled to string accurate passes together. Sorry about the negativity. Just telling it how I saw it.

30 Aug 2026 17:55:12
You have to factor in the opponent; Brentford are no pushovers. In the 2nd half, he changed things around, and it worked. Would he have done that first half of last season? I don't think he would. Farke has adapted to the Premiership, it took him a while, but he's got it now.

30 Aug 2026 18:34:22
What Bisto said. They were a quality opponent, and we adapted in the second half, a hard-crafted point. We are hard to beat. JT again showing what a signing he is. Early days, but the signs are good.

30 Aug 2026 18:43:56
CJS, if Farke started with all the changes at the beginning, would you have been happy? I'm sure you wouldn't. We were outplayed by a good side in the first half, and he has faith in our defence. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, my friend.

Farke did well, changed the team when required, and got a result that, after half time, I didn't think possible. It's a good point against a team who are going to batter quite a few this season, we move on. MOT.

30 Aug 2026 19:01:39
Farke's first season, he had to sort out the absolute mess of a squad in the summer, and we got to the play-offs. Then, second season, we won promotion. In our first season in the Premier League, Farke changed the system during the Man City game, and we were ranked 7th in the Premier League from that point on.

During April and May, only Arsenal got more points than us.

He then changed the system at half time today, and we looked much better in the second half against an excellent Brentford team.

Also, our net spend is less than all promoted teams so far this window.
I'm quite convinced he's done a good job for us.

30 Aug 2026 19:04:54
Think you're being a bit unfair here, Cjs.

Last season we moaned about his late substitutions, today he changed mid game and it worked out.

We got bossed 1st half.
We looked a whole lot better 2nd half.

I for 1 am very happy with Danny's performance today, and happy with his changes.

31 Aug 2026 00:27:18
It's a more than fair analysis, Cjs.. and, indeed, it's not negativity, you are just telling it as it is.

31 Aug 2026 07:16:46
It's only an opinion, which doesn't make it right, though.
Farke will never be accepted by some of the fan base, but I think the vast majority can now see that he is proving his doubters wrong, and he is becoming a Premiership manager with more and more credibility.
Forget what some hard to please fans think, you only have to listen to the after match opposition manager's interview, most have a lot of praise for Daniel Farke.



Personally, I think he has already adapted to the Premiership. For the moment, he accepts that he doesn't have the kind of quality to play his preferred formation, so he has had to adapt, and he's done that very well.
I look forward to many seasons with DF, and am very interested in how he will change and transform this Leeds Utd football team.

31 Aug 2026 07:42:21
Farkey played a blinder turning that game around yesterday! Would love to know what he says in the dressing room, and how he handles those situations!
He is really developing very positively!

31 Aug 2026 09:38:29
OP, if he set his team up like yesterday, I think it's fair for some to question his ability. Why didn't he do his homework on the opposition that his team were going to face? We were the home team, and you have to agree that was as poor as you can get.

Why wait to half time, you can clearly see we were having problems 10 minutes in. I hate it, but Leeds were falling apart. DCL is definitely not a loan striker, not quick, and in his case had no service. Fair play, it was better second half.

31 Aug 2026 10:18:35
OP, I wouldn't go by what managers at press conferences say about other managers.

31 Aug 2026 13:55:44
Whitman, we are not able to sustain the way we played in the second half for the full 90 mins. I think Farke wants to frustrate our opponents, especially the very talented ones like Brentford. I think the idea is to soak up the pressure in the first half and try not to concede a goal. It did take an exceptionally well taken goal to breach our defense.

Of course, fans won't like to see our team to be under so much pressure like we were in that first half, but I thought we defended very well and we even lost our key defender in Rodon.


I always felt, in the second half, that changes would be made to put Brentford under more pressure, and, sure enough, it happened and we equalized.

We are not going to overrun teams at home for the full 90 mins. We didn't last season either, simply because we don't have that quality throughout our team yet.

I think DF did his homework very well on Brentford, and we could've even nicked the win at the death. They couldn't beat us last season either, and they are about five seasons ahead of us with building their squad in the Premiership.

31 Aug 2026 14:17:41
I fully acknowledge that we are a team in the building, but we need to turn up. Sorry to say, we didn't until late in the game. Farke could have made changes; you don't have to wait until half time.

If, as many said, BA was s***, then take him off. It seems to me he can't do right by many on this site, and, having been on the Terraces, it's not the same story.

31 Aug 2026 14:53:46
He did make changes, at half time!

31 Aug 2026 16:51:27
Brentford are a really good side and I'm glad of the point. They will be top 7 for sure, and top 5 wouldn't surprise me. Are there 6 PL teams that are better than them? I'm not sure there are. Four out of 6 points, unbeaten, and one goal against us are alright with me for now.

30 Aug 2026 17:08:58
Fatawu and Ensico very good signings for Ipswich.
Not sure why we struggling to bring the right attacking players in.

30 Aug 2026 18:47:22
I particularly rate Encisco, but he cost £30m, and Fatawu was £24. I think that's too much for our resources.

30 Aug 2026 19:17:43
BBC reported that they paid a combined fee of £47M for them. We've not got that much left in our budget after the signings we've already made - it's all about money.

30 Aug 2026 16:42:54
Good point against the form team in the EPL, thinking, what do Brentford have that we do not have currently?

On today’s stats, technically more gifted offensive players from midfield or wide areas. Why?

This is their seventh season in the EPL. That’s a lot of transfer windows to shape a side, develop patterns of play and build continuity and understanding between players.

Lots of our lads off it today and personally think Farke should have started with Wilson instead of BA but understand he wants to maintain width in a proven formation.



But Jimmy again looks top draw and well done Farkey for going for it and getting us a very valuable point, Scienza at Saints looks at a technical level we could certainly use, but it’s a very different game in the Championship so it’s a gamble.

30 Aug 2026 16:25:58
Definitely need Max Aarons or someone similar who can fill in on both flanks because I have a feeling Justin might be needed centrally soon.
Justin didn't have his best game today but Rodon will clearly be out for a bit - let's hope the long int. break is all the rest he needs. If it's a tear it'll be much, much longer.
Elvedi looked solid enough once he came on.
Dan James - I'm sorry, I know he did well in midweek, but every time he tries to cross and often when he tries to shoot, he fails with the decision or execution.

The number of times I've seen his cross bobble because he can't seem to hit the right part of the ball. It seemed like the technical lads, Tanaka and Wilson helped us more than the physical Aaronson, purely because everything Aaronson does well they did better than him today.
One game, a point I'd have been satisfied with before kick-off and I'm satisfied (leaning towards slightly relieved) now.

30 Aug 2026 16:21:56
Credit to Farke for making the changes at half time.
Definitely more of an even contest second half.
A point against a bery good Brentford team after player so poorly in first half.
I will take that point and run.

30 Aug 2026 17:32:30
I'll join you on that, Devon. Farke does deserve a pat on the back for his changes at half time.
It's a point well earned against a team that could be going places this season. A very impressive start for Brentford.

30 Aug 2026 18:51:33
Agree with OP and Devon. Farke gets a lot of stick, but sometimes you have to give him praise, even if you're not convinced.

31 Aug 2026 07:45:19
Agree with Devon, OP and Dunelm. Mostly to just extend the thread of agreement!