‘Daniel Farke completely changed the game with key decision in Sunderland vs Leeds’
Daniel Farke has been showered with praise for his role in Leeds United’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Sunday afternoon.
The West Yorkshire outfit have been resurgent in the Premier League of late, and they continued their recent upturn in form with a dominant second-half display at the Stadium of Light.
Leeds found themselves behind through Simon Adingra at the half-time interval, but promptly responded in the early stages of the second period as Dominic Calvert-Lewin found the net for the sixth successive game.
The pair of newly-promoted sides played out a hugely entertaining encounter, and Farke has been credited with the game’s defining decision, which helped to change the course of the action.
Danny Murphy praises Daniel Farke for first-half tactical switch
Farke has breathed new life into Leeds in recent weeks by switching to a 3-5-2 formation.
The German made the tactical alteration midway through the 3-2 defeat at Manchester City at the start of November, and it has prompted a five-game unbeaten run for his team off the back of that game.
The Whites set up in that system once again for Sunday’s draw, but were left reeling when Joe Rodon was forced off through injury in just the 31st minute.
Farke used the enforced substitution as an opportunity to tweak the shape of his team, and he brought on Ao Tanaka in the Welshman’s place, instead of a like-for-like replacement.
Danny Murphy felt that the boss’ decision to alter Leeds’ shape changed everything and was a major contributor to their second-half dominance.
“Farke deserves great credit for the decision that he made,” the former Liverpool midfielder said during Match of the Day.
“He changed the system when the substitution happened from a 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3, and it completely changed the momentum of the game in Leeds’ favour.
“It’s a system that didn’t work initially at some stages early in the season, and he’s had a lot of credit for getting a strike partner alongside Calvert-Lewin.
“This was exactly the right time to do it against the way that Sunderland set up. They almost matched them. The attacks came time and time again. All of a sudden, Leeds were in control, and they looked like the home team.”
Leeds United’s remarkable second-half stats vs Sunderland
Leeds can count themselves unlucky not to have beaten Sunderland, given the dominance that they enjoyed after their manager’s tactical tweak.
The visitors put the Black Cats under severe pressure for large parts of the second half, but ultimately couldn’t quite find an all-important winning goal.
| Sunderland | Stats | Leeds |
| 51% | Possession | 49% |
| 0.16 | xG | 1.67 |
| 3 (1) | Shots (On Target) | 11 (3) |
| – | Big Chances | 3 |
| 10 | Touches in Opposition Box | 23 |
They created an eye-catching xG of 1.67 during the second period, which towered over Sunderland’s own total of just 0.16.
They also outshot Regis Le Bris’ men 11 against three, and created three big chances to win the game.
One of those was converted by Calvert-Lewin, but the others went begging, and that will perhaps be the one source of frustration for Farke.
It was another spirited display from his group, but there will surely be a lingering feeling that they should have claimed all three points.