Farke so far this season

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Would welcome your thoughts - mine below.

He has done some very good things and we?ve played some really good football. I thought we?d be lower in the league after the first couple of months so credit where credit is due.

For a brief period he played much more attacking football and was making subs earlier so he had it in him. He just seems to be innately cautious so when the pressure is off seems to revert to that.

Not sure how flexible he is mentally with tactics and how well he reads a game in real time.

His late subs seem to be a problem on many fronts

Players get tired and are left on
The momentum shifts and we can?t get it back
Players who need more game time don?t get it
When said players come on maybe they try to hard

He seems to have favourites and bear grudges

How Piroe gets on the pitch before Tanaka, Longstaff, Gnonto and at times James is beyond me.

It also means until injuries players don?t get opportunities to shine - if Bogle hadn?t got injured would Justin have had May minutes and he has been exceptional.

Whatever the outcome one of the season if the club want to progress then sadly for Farke unless he can change his spots and the hustler is unlikely to say yes then this summer we need to upgrade the coach too.

We have thrown away points by his cautious stubbornness and as Rev pointed out we could easily be 10 points better off.

[ozleeds]

His no different to Bielsa in tactics and favs. We hit form when we went no wingers 3 cb and 2 strikers. Now he plays basically a 4 4 2 game style no wingers but more or less 1 striker Aaronson and 4 mids with either bogle or justin alternating.
Why change a strategy that got you back in the game to this.
He always has been a poor manager and nothing I have seen is changing my mind.
Hope forest which i think will find form as it might end up been us or spurs to go down and I know who the corrupt league is going to save.

[spaldy]

Hoping he uses he cup tie as a change back to 2 strikers.

we really need to have a game where we attack and dominate to restore the faith like after the first Citeh game

[Billyni]

Basically shyte.
We all know we should be 10/12 points better off and clear of trouble.
We all know the team can play better because we've all seen it.
Only man who doesn't know is Farke.
We're all cheek clenching now until the end of the season, instead we should be having drinks and a cigar.
Hope that clears things up.
Am I angry?yes.

[Pacaman]

I can’t add anything of worth to that which has already been said other than to agree with most of what’s been said.

V Black Cats was unfortunately and uncannily reminiscent of what was tried unsuccessfully before and for the love of me I don’t get it. Unsuccessful then and will be unsuccessful going forward.

We have the players!

[WTF11]

This may sound strange coming from me given what I’ve said about Farke in the past (none of which I withdraw by the way), but…..I feel a bit sorry for the guy. Why you may ask?

Look at his record since his playing career ended, in particular since the time he became Norwich manager…

In his first season he managed a 14th place finish, then promoted to the PL in his second season, then relegated in third, promoted again in his next season, then sacked after one of the longest runs without a win in PL history. Finished at Norwich with 87w, 49d, 72l

Went to Gladbach for just about a year before being sacked again, record there 12w, 10d, 14l

Then to Leeds, missing out on promotion first season then doing better with the Championship title.

So, a record of ups and downs, little in the way of consistency (except being inconsistent in terms of results) and (I suspect) a growing sense of “Am I good enough to make it?”. He probably wouldn’t admit to such a thing, not even to himself, but the caution that many on here have mentioned could well be the product of a lack of self-confidence and a consequent reluctance to change anything (even when its plain to other outside observers that change is necessary).

If that is the case, whilst his behaviour may appear similar to that of Bielsa, the underlying reasoning is vastly different. Bielsa never lacked self-confidence, quite the opposite, his stubbornness was borne out of a firm belief in his own abilities and a degree of disdain/rejection for those who might challenge him (as with Jansson).

Farke doesn’t change because he fears the uncertainty that change inevitably introduces, something he finds hard to cope with. The evidence of what change can do has been writ large in most of the recent games, most remarkably in the first City game where we spent the first half having a new one ripped with no threat or any form of PL-style play, and in the second we were putting (supposedly) the best team in the world to the sword and only narrowly being defeated. Nevertheless, whatever it was that sparked that remarkable turnaround has gradually seeped away over subsequent games, the leopard can’t change his spots, no matter what the signs tell him.

That’s why I’m sorry for him. He’s spent over a decade achieving very little (relatively speaking), and given that lack of achievement the voices in his head won’t be the most encouraging to listen to. Players aren’t the only ones who from time to time need some psychological support, perhaps he would benefit from that kind of “assist”, to break the shackles and realise that he had a significant role to play in making Leeds dangerous this last month or two, and could do so again?