Daniel Farke goes ‘berserk’ as Leeds ‘horrified’ by Middlesbrough incident
Daniel Farke was clearly the pressure at the Riverside Stadium as Leeds United were left outraged by events against Middlesbrough.
Dan James had relaxed the away fans’ nerves after just two minutes, bundling past goalkeeper Mark Travers with the first attack of the game, handing Michael Carrick’s side a major blow.
Farke, whose job at Leeds has been under the spotlight recently, has been desperate for his team to get back to winning ways following three consecutive frustrating draws against QPR, Swansea City and Luton Town, which saw the Whites drop out of the automatic promotion places.
The emotion of potentially facing the sack by 49ers Enterprises appeared to spill out pitch-side in the first half as the Whites had a perfectly-good goal chalked off.
Leeds United denied goal after a wrongful offside call
Ao Tanaka looked to have doubled Leeds’ one-goal advantage, stealing in at the back post to score after 34 minutes, but the linesman was very quick to have his flag up, albeit incorrectly.
Supporters, players, and Farke were all protesting, with Leeds Live journalist Isaac Johnson reporting via X (8 April): “Farke went berserk at the fourth official when he saw the replay that Tanaka was onside.
And backing up the manager’s actions, Steve Sidwell said live on Sky Sports Soccer Special (8 April, 8:41pm) of Leeds’ treatment at the hands of the officials: “They should be horrified, really. It was nailed on, it was onside.”
There is absolutely no denying, the goal should have stood, and would have if VAR was in use. No one will be able to imagine quite how angry the manager was after Patrick Bamford’s Leeds goal was also wrongly disallowed in the second half.
Daniel Farke feeling the pressure as Premier League promotion race heats up
Football Insider verdict
49ers will be left with no other decision but to sack Farke if the Whites are to miss out on promotion for a second consecutive campaign, with the club running out of time as they risk getting stuck in the division again.
Last summer, Archie Gray, Georginio Rutter and Crysencio Summerville all departed Elland Road, with Leeds missing out on automatic promotion late on before falling at the final hurdle to Southampton in the Championship play-off final.
| Championship standings | Points |
| 1. Leeds United | 85 |
| 2. Burnley | 85 |
| 3. Sheffield United | 83 |
With five matches of the league season remaining, it is almost impossible to guess which teams will finish in the top two spots, but Farke’s players will be doing absolutely everything to make sure they are one of them.
However, James’ goal made all the difference here, and the team can now head into a tough clash against Preston North End with their heads high and remaining positive, which has been rare in recent weeks, knowing that it was only miserable officiating which kept them from a big away victory at Middlesbrough.
The manager will certainly need more from the likes of Manor Solomon, Joel Piroe and Wilfried Gnonto to step up more, but this will be an incredibly important step towards promotion.