‘Fear for the manager’ – Jamie Carragher issues new Farke sack verdict after Leeds loss to Aston Villa
Jamie Carragher fears for Daniel Farke’s job at Leeds United after the run of defeats continued at the hands of Aston Villa.
Leeds were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa after a Morgan Rogers double completed the turnaround at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon.
An excellent first-half showing from the Whites saw them overwhelm the visitors, and they probably should have been more than one goal to the good at the break.
Lukas Nmecha was credited with the early Leeds opener after Sean Longstaff, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Anton Stach’s contributions to a sequence which saw Ezri Konsa try to clear but only hit the home forward.
Instead, the defeat makes it three on the trot in the Premier League through November after losses to Brighton and Nottingham Forest prior to the international break, and Leeds are now inside the bottom three after West Ham’s point against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Jamie Carragher fears for Daniel Farke after Leeds loss
Leeds’ response against Aston Villa was likely to be key to Farke‘s situation as pressure grew over the break, but the German had played down the significance of the game compared to any other ahead of kick off.
However, Carragher reacted straight after the final whistle on the live match coverage from Sky Sports and was clear that Farke will know he is under major pressure.
The ex-Liverpool defender said: “Yeah it was [a significant defeat] and to be fair to the manager he will know that. That’ll be an answer he gives to try and take some sort of pressure off his team going into the game.
“The longer this run continues for Leeds you would fear for the manager, just because we know in the summer there was talk about his job then, even off the back of a successful campaign in the Championship.
“It’s the first time they’ve found themselves in the bottom three so it hasn’t been the worst start in the world, but it will need to change very quickly.”
Ao Tanaka situation gives ammunition to Farke critics
Farke may have been a dead man walking ever since the summer speculation, with Paraag Marathe‘s public backing after the second-tier title win always likely to only be good enough until a run of poor form.
For a promoted side that is always likely to arrive sooner or later, Sunderland’s shock run notwithstanding, so perhaps there is an overreaction to a difficult set of outings through this month.
Yet Farke’s critics can point to his record in the Championship being streets ahead of what he ever managed in the Premier League with Norwich, and they are often unhappy with his ability to affect games for the better when needed.
The Whites boss surely deserves credit for getting his side up for the challenge against Aston Villa ahead of the first whistle, but whatever he said at half time didn’t have the desired effect and his second-half changes didn’t really either.
Removing Ao Tanaka despite the Japanese midfielder only coming on as a first-half concussion substitute for Stach seemed particularly odd given how well he had performed following his introduction.
Leeds are still only two wins from mid-table, but given the context of Farke’s situation 49ers Enterprises may be making moves behind the scenes already.
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