Daniel Farke’s use of substitutions has been one of the more questionable aspects of his time as Leeds United manager.
Farke has done a brilliant job to get Leeds into the position they are now in with just two matches of the season remaining, as they sit second in the Championship.
Considering the chaos of the summer, Leeds legend Johnny Giles actually believes the work he has done has been ‘remarkable‘, with the potential of an immediate return to the Premier League now very possible.
Having said that, there are certainly some areas of his management that could be improved. Leeds have often struggled to break down deep defences this season, something which Farke just does not seem to have rectified if recent matches against Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers are anything to go by.
Despite boasting one of the strongest squads in the league, Farke has also not made enough use of his bench. As per an article written by Opta in March, Leeds are significantly behind each of the three sides around them when it comes to goals scored by substitutes.
When chasing matches, Farke has often resorted to throwing on as many attackers as possible. It backfired against Blackburn, and has arguably only worked on one occasion in the comeback win at Norwich City.
Sam Parkin was ‘surprised’ when Farke subbed Willy Gnonto on Monday
After a barren spell in the eyes of Don Goodman, it would be fair to say Leeds’ attacking quartet were back to their best on Monday night.
All but Georginio Rutter were on the scoresheet, though the 22-year-old played a big part in Leeds getting back level quickly after winning the penalty.
By the end of the game, though, not one of Leeds’ starting attackers were still on the pitch, a decision which almost backfired as Farke’s side came really under the cosh in stoppage time.
And speaking on the latest episode of the ‘What the EFL Podcast‘, there is one attacker in particular that pundit Sam Parkin was baffled to see come off.
He said: “I thought Gnonto was actually really good in this game and I was surprised to see him replaced.”
One reason why Farke may have opted to do so was for an incident that took place in the second half when he was heard ‘screaming’ at Gnonto to keep focused after disagreeing with a refereeing decision.
That said, his replacement Dan James was hardly much better at focusing on the defensive side of the game after his introduction, with pundit Jon Newsome critical of his work rate post-match.
Parkin says Crysencio Summerville should not have won Championship POTS
After another starring performance from Crysencio Summerville with two goals and an assist, Parkin was also asked whether he was deserving of his Championship POTS award.
Summerville beat Leicester City’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Blackburn Rovers’ Sammie Szmodics at the EFL’s award ceremony 10 days ago.
However, Parkin does not actually believe Summerville was the right man, instead claiming Szmodics should’ve claimed the award.
He said: “No, I think Sammie Szmodics is the Championship player of the year, in my mind. But he is exceptionally talented Summerville and he is a big reason for their success… But that was very much a Summerville signature move, if there is such a thing in the Championship, cutting in and finishing like that.”
