Leeds United are growing increasingly concerned with manager Daniel Farke following their 1-0 defeat against Burnley on Saturday, according to Football Insider.
The Whites suffered their first loss of the campaign against their potential promotion rivals at Elland Road at the weekend, leaving the club eighth in the Championship. However, it is the two wins from their opening five fixtures which is reportedly causing concern.
Having missed out on a place in the Premier League last season with a play-off final defeat against Southampton, the expectation this time around was that they would secure a top two finish. It is said that the board are wary that it was a slow start last year that cost the club, with Farke overseeing two wins from their first seven outings. This eventually proved to be lethal, with the Yorkshire outfit ultimately missing out on automatic promotion by six points.
Losing to Burnley was a hammer blow, especially with the clash taking place at Elland Road. The Clarets are expected to be one of Leeds’ main rivals at the top of the table and it is a result which saw Scott Parker’s team move up to fourth. According to reports, Farke is now said to be ‘under pressure’ after last season’s failure and another slow start, despite the club sticking by him this summer.
The German has had to contend with a second successive summer of disruption. He has lost key stars such as Crysencio Summerville, Glen Kamara, Georginio Rutter and Archie Gray, although was boosted by Wilfried Gnonto’s decision to commit his future to the club.
Whilst a decision is not expected imminently, it now means that upcoming fixtures against struggling Cardiff City and Coventry City are all the more important. The early form of others, such as West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United means that they can’t afford to drop many more points at such an early stage of the campaign.
Writer’s View
Whilst there may be some at Elland Road which will be concerned following Saturday’s loss, it does seem unlikely that the Leeds hierarchy would consider a managerial change at this stage. They made the decision to stick by their guns in the summer and there is still a long way to go before the trigger will be pulled.
The Whites’ form at the turn of the year shows how quickly things can turn around in the Championship and Farke would feel hard done by to lose his job after having to deal with another tricky transfer window. His team are still one of the favourites to finish in the top two and those above them will certainly drop points. Burnley for example have already suffered defeat at Sunderland, who then conceded their 100% start to the season with a shock defeat against lowly Plymouth Argyle at the weekend. This is one that shouldn’t be taken too seriously at this stage, but things do change very quickly in football.
