A number of senior players players left Leeds United at the end of last season. Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling and Stuart Dallas were excellent servants, playing integral roles in the success the Whites enjoyed under former boss Marcelo Bielsa.

But after coming up short in the play-off final at Wembley, Daniel Farke expressed his desire to go in a different direction. He felt it was necessary to lower the average age of the squad. Farke was keen for others within the group to step forward and take on more leadership responsibilities.

United's leadership group? It is made up of Ethan Ampadu (24), Pascal Struijk (25) and under-fire goalkeeper Illan Meslier (24). There are just two outfield players over the age of 30 in Farke's squad.

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And Farke was left bemoaning their youthfulness after watching his team throw away a two-goal advantage at Hull City last time out. "We are one of the youngest sides in the league and we don't play without making mistakes," he acknowledged.

"A more experienced side at 3-1 up would have kept the ball and maybe scored a fourth goal but we allowed ourselves to not be switched on."

As Farke pointed out in his post-match press conference, his team are not the finished article. Nobody expects them to be. Players are human. Mistakes will happen. Every team drops points during a 46-game season.

Despite injuries to Struijk, Junior Firpo, Ilia Gruev and Patrick Bamford, Farke has promised to stick to his plan of building a team on youthful lines. "It's not like we'll sign four 35-year-old guys with lots of experience," he said. "We decided to go with a pretty young group (last summer). We earned lots of money in the last summer (by selling players) and decided to stick with our young prospects.

"But you also have to accept they are not steeled in 300 battles at Championship level. I would prefer it if we cruised easily and were seven or eight points ahead but I was expecting it would be a long road and we'd have to keep developing the players. We've done pretty well, we are top of the league after a busy period. I can guarantee you whatever we do in January we will still have a relatively young squad."

There is no arguing the fact United are missing a few experienced heads right now but this narrative Farke has kept on pushing for several weeks that they have a "pretty young group" who lack experience doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Meslier? Played hundreds of matches and in the Premier League. Bogle? A Championship promotion winner. Rodon, Ampadu and James? Three Wales internationals, the latter a former Manchester United player. Wober? Played in some of Europe's top leagues. Tanaka? A Japan international who cost over £3m. Rothwell? A 29-year-old central midfielder on loan from a Premier League club. You get the drift.

It is crystal clear Farke is trying to take the pressure off his players. No one, though, is buying his rhetoric on his team. This squad is packed full of experience and ability. Anything less than automatic promotion this season will be deemed failure.