Sunderland were defeated at the hands of Daniel Farke, who has revealed how he managed to turn the game around at Elland Road.
Sunderland were handed a late 2-1 defeat to Leeds United as Pascal Struijk’s second-half brace turned the game around.
For Regis Le Bris’ side, they were not expected to come away from the game with a win, but made a brilliant account of themselves in the first half, with Wilson Isidor’s goal splitting the teams at the deficit. But, after some brilliant tinker work by Leeds United boss Daniel Farke to bring on Struijk, as well as some other changes, topped by Le Bris’ inability to combat it, it was the Whites that would eventually come away with all three points.
Following the game, which looks to have put a severe dent in Sunderland’s promotion hopes, Farke was quizzed on how he was able to outfox the Sunderland boss, and he pinpoints one moment which he believes swung the game in his favour.
Daniel Farke reveals how he turned around Sunderland game as he suggests win was ‘well-deserved’
The second half in particular saw Le Bris’ side up against the cosh, looking to hold onto their slender lead, and from the 78th minute onwards, praying to snatch a point away at Elland Road before Struijk’s 95th-minute winner.
Leeds United boss Farke has regarded it as a ‘well-deserved win’ for his side, who he has highlighted were significantly on top throughout the tie. The German has also highlighted how he managed to tactically outshine Le Bris on the day, as, per Sunderland Echo, he said: “Normally you bring your offensive players on.
“We’re not the tallest side and the feeling was in the last 20 minutes perhaps we had to score out of these moments but I was also thinking to bring a centre-back on for a longer period of time to a game when you have to attack counter-attacks from [Wilson] Isidor, who was also a bit difficult. It meant I had to take Ao Tanaka off who had an excellent game so it was a difficult decision.
“When you look at the statistics we had nearly 70 percent possession, 21 to six shots, 11 to nine corner kicks, it was a well-deserved win.
“But you face one of the best counter-attacking sides in the league and once they go in the lead with one situation we could have done a bit better (from) it’s so complicated and difficult to turn this game against such a good side.
“They are well structured in their defending and you have to be patient to create, so to score with a set piece and turn the game with a set piece is important. Once a team is sitting that deep you can’t expect to create 10 one-against-one situations or one perfect team goal after another like we did the last weeks. You have to fight to earn the right to score a goal.”
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Daniel Farke and Leeds pressure had to be combatted more successfully by Regis Le Bris
Looking at the second half in particular, Sunderland were holding on by the edge of their teeth throughout, and it was very little surprise that Leeds United were able to squeeze them out eventually in the dying embers.
Leeds United recording 11 shots to two in that second half speaks of it being one-way traffic, and whilst it is expected that Sunderland would be up against the cosh against the Whites, the fact that Le Bris didn’t look to repeat the first half successes was always going to come back and haunt them.
It is yet another learning curve for the French boss, who was very close to notching a brilliant point on their travels, but the overly defensive shape was the issue in the end.