Leeds United proving their own worst enemies as Daniel Farke boils over in rare outburst

This was, statistically, the worst performance of the season from Leeds United. There have been losses before Saturday’s and miserable displays, but Blackburn Rovers are the first opponent to outdo them on expected goals, and that’s without the penalty taken into account.

An analysis of United’s chances suggests they should have scored 1.3 goals, according to FotMob. Blackburn, meanwhile, should have scored 1.4 goals without their spot-kick taken into consideration.

So, for all of the possession and territory the Whites may have had, it ultimately led to very little between the posts. This was meek and disjointed and tired and stunk of a third game in six days.

Most of the teams in the Championship have been given three matches in the past week and even if Blackburn did benefit from a postponement last weekend, it wasn’t enough to justify beating a team with designs on the league title. Losses will, as Farke warned after Millwall, happen this season to the promotion winners, as they did to Leicester City (11) last season.

With a third of the season gone, United have lost three. None of them have been easy to swallow, but at least in the others, there were enough chances to suggest they might have done better on another day.

Leeds just never seemed to get going at Ewood Park. Their best chances were created for them by errors in the Blackburn backline. One of the more telling statistics was the number of duels lost by their strongest players.

Ao Tanaka had arguably his worst game in Leeds colours, not only giving away the decisive penalty, but losing nine of the 12 duels he went in for. That’s not a statistic Leeds can gloss over in such a crucial part of the field.

Pascal Struijk, also tied in knots as Tyrhys Dolan dribbled towards his penalty fate, lost eight of the 12 duels he fought for. As one of United’s strongest players on the field, that’s not an underperformance they can ignore in their own backline.

Dolan should not have been on the pitch

It’s not why Leeds lost the game and Blackburn were so deep in the latter stages it may not have mattered, but they undoubtedly should have been down to 10 men for the final half an hour. Dolan’s flying, knee-high tackle, with an ankle-swipe follow-through, should have seen him sent off a little after the hour mark.

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Junior Firpo, who had been given a torrid time by the winger all afternoon, was clattered near the halfway line by Dolan and required treatment. The number 10 was clearly out of control with his movement and would have been relieved to walk away with a yellow card.

Had he scored with one of the chances he had after that tackle, Leeds would have felt far more aggrieved. As it is, they will point to the extra space they might have had in the build-up of their moves towards the home box, which was rammed by the final quarter of the match.

Farke’s frustration boils over

Daniel Farke is a regular presence on the field after full-time. Usually, he can be seen coaching his players through specific scenarios he has noted during the match and wants to get off his chest while it’s fresh in his mind.

There’s also the customary applause of the Leeds fans, home or away, but what we do not see very often is a prolonged debate with the match officials. We never see heated debates with opposition players either.

Evidently, Farke was riled by the decisions made by referee Lewis Smith, though he would not go into a huge amount of detail during his post-match press conference. Lewis Travis was spotted, from afar, having words with Farke too.

Though it ended in an embrace, there were frustrated gestures from the manager about what he had seen, which Travis evidently took exception too. The point is, Farke usually keeps a cool head, win, lose or draw, but he couldn’t hold in his frustrations yesterday. This pushed his buttons.

A poor end to a difficult week for Aaronson

The external debate around Brenden Aaronson’s place in this team does not seem to be cutting through to Farke or his staff, based on the German’s comments post-Luton Town. The American’s work rate and desire to win the ball back are crucial amid the flurry of creativity and flair around him, the manager said.

However, on a day when nobody in yellow played well, Aaronson turned in a third straight display that prompted more questions than answers. It wasn’t a day where the wingers looked so impressive that Farke needed to shoehorn one into Aaronson’s berth, but it did shine another harsh light on his limited impact of late.

Work rate, pressing and winning the ball back should be a bare minimum for every Leeds player. It’s the quality he has in attack which should be making a difference and Aaronson did nothing to hurt the hosts.

In the moments he did have the ball, he either took the wrong option or executed the right option poorly. When it is evidently not a good day for the team and the opponent is defending stoically, any side’s number 10 needs to flick that switch or find that moment of quality to open the match up.

That is not something we are seeing from Aaronson.

Away questions persist

When a team is so dominant at home, it only raises more questions when the away form is so inferior. The Whites are piling so much pressure on their home results when they are struggling so regularly to pick up wins on the road.

The Whites have taken six points from their last six away matches. In order to then sustain the two-points-per-match average generally needed for promotion, every home match has to be a victory, without fail.

Thankfully for Leeds and Farke, they have won their last six home games to sustain a pace which had them top of the table as recently as Friday evening. They need to start doing themselves a favour though and allow themselves a little wriggle room for the odd home hiccup.

Continuing to underperform on the road in this way is giving zero margin for error when we all go back to Elland Road each week. Even the one away win which has been delivered since September 21, last week’s 4-3 in Wales, was heading for another stalemate until the 91st minute and was hardly a picture of control for Leeds.

Leeds played decently at Carrow Road and were robbed in Sunderland, but Ashton Gate, The Den and Ewood Park have all served up similarly insipid, blunt displays. They are proving their own worst enemies and it’s an obvious area of improvement needed in a fortnight at Deepdale.