Sunderland 1-0 Leeds United: Full-time reaction

Yorkshire Evening Post

Transcript

00:00 Good evening everyone, Joe Donnelly here from the YAP here at the Stadium of Light where

00:06 Leeds United have been beaten 1-0 by Sunderland this evening. A really difficult game, one

00:12 which Farker described as the opposition having a very good defensive performance and one

00:18 in which he felt as though Leeds were a little bit naive at times and maybe couldn't find

00:22 a way to break through what was a very resolute Sunderland defence. He did say that he was

00:31 finding it difficult to criticise his young players though because they were, of course,

00:37 they executed the plan to what he wanted but they struggled to deal with how Sunderland

00:42 set up today. They went through, as I was saying, apologies for the disruption there,

00:48 as I was saying, Sunderland set up for the 5-3-2 in defence and that did cause some problems

00:53 for Leeds because it effectively made them have to play through the middle, which Sunderland

01:02 packed with bodies. They were very diswarmed whenever they were in possession and it was

01:08 a very difficult game for Leeds on a slick pitch, a very difficult, cold evening. It

01:17 opens up a 10-point gap now between Ipswich and Leeds. Ipswich have gone top this evening

01:23 before Leicester play tomorrow. It's a specious belief that those two teams at the top have

01:33 started so, so dominantly and ultimately Leeds in any other season would be in the top two.

01:40 They're not and tonight is a sour one, it's a difficult one to take. They are still obviously

01:47 in the shout with automatic promotion, it's still only December but tonight's a bit of

01:52 a blow. I think it's important to say we should look with a bit of perspective as well that

01:59 Leeds have won nine of the last 12, which is a remarkable run. That has come to an end

02:04 here tonight. It might not come to an end actually if this weekend against Coventry

02:10 City they get back on the horse with three points but it is disheartening when you see

02:16 Leeds drop points and then the likes of Ipswich which went 1-0 down tonight and ended up winning

02:21 2-1 that lot further away. Ultimately the message from Daniel Farke remains the same,

02:27 he wants his players to continue, he wants his players to just take it game by game.

02:33 That is ultimately all that can be done until March or April time when the table will start

02:44 to take shape towards the end of the season. Tonight's game was very much indicative of

02:50 what the play-offs will be like if Leeds are to rely on them with their promotion goal

02:56 this season. It was a slugfest at times, it was very physical. Sunderland really got in

03:00 their faces, lots of big big challenges and there will be a lot of that, a lot of low

03:08 scoring, cagey, tentative fixtures which Leeds are to rely on. Now that's obviously not the

03:15 ideal scenario, it's not the goal, the goal is obviously promotion but I think what Leeds

03:22 need to make sure is that they just keep the pressure on, keep winning the home games,

03:27 keep the fantastic home record at Ellenbrook this season as they have done and bounce back,

03:34 they are going to need to bounce back. George Spence was a left back tonight, very good

03:40 going forward, not as effective defensively but certainly good enough and you can see

03:47 why he was drafted in to the starting 11 for his full day of the tournament.

03:52 Farker, when asked if he would make changes and rotate and maybe give a few rests at the

03:59 weekend against Coventry, he did say that he'll have to wait and see. There's a bit of cold in

04:04 the squad, a little bit of illness, a little bit of flu. So we'll have to wait and see what the

04:10 line-up is against Coventry because it has largely been the same personnel over the past

04:16 month or month and a half. So perhaps the likes of Jadon Altony come in, perhaps the likes of

04:20 Kylian Mbappe too, just freshening things up. But yeah, a difficult night on the whole for Leeds

04:27 but that's exactly what this league is all about, 46 games, you can't win them all

04:33 and you have to react and respond and that's exactly what Farker will want his players to do

04:39 on Saturday. We'll be hearing from him again on Friday afternoon so we'll have quotes and

04:45 all that sort of thing on the YAP website on Friday afternoon from him. But in the meantime,

04:49 keep your heads up and we'll chat to you after that game at Elland Road. Bye for now.

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