By Dan Carter

20th Sep, 2023 | 2:10pm

Daniel Farke reveals Norwich City secret that he hopes will help Leeds United

Daniel Farke has revealed the “secret” to his success at Norwich City that he hopes will be useful as he tries to guide Leeds United to promotion.

The German boss won promotion to the Premier League twice during his time at Carrow Road and has been tasked with returning the Whites to the top flight following their relegation to the Championship last season.

After a steady start to their campaign, Leeds kicked into gear with an impressive 3-0 win over Millwall at The Den and currently sit 12th in the Championship. But Farke believes that the Whites will be better off if they ignore their position in the league.

Speaking in a press conference ahead of Leeds’ game against Hull, as quoted by Pink Un (20 September) he said: “The key at Norwich was that we were never obsessed with the table. The table will care for itself, we concentrate on every game.

“The secret behind [my success at Norwich] was that we were just concentrating on the next game. That will be our target, and how I will lead this group. I want to be the best possible coach for this club. I try to make the best for this club. Once I overtake a project, I have to be there 100%. If not, I wouldn’t take on a task.

“I work for such a great club with unbelievable support and size.”

Will care for itself

Farke’s decision to put the league table to one side is a sensible and measured one that will likely make the task ahead of his Leeds squad much more straightforward than it otherwise could have been under a different manager.

The Whites are unable to control what happens in the other 11 Championship matches that are played whenever they take to the pitch, they are only truly capable of impacting the game that they are playing their part in every week.

There is no point obsessing over the league table, if you win enough games and pick up enough points over the course of a season, it won’t matter what everyone else has managed to achieve as you will have likely bettered it.

In the 2020/21 campaign, the second time Farke’s Norwich team won England’s second tier, they finished seven points above second-placed Watford and 10 points ahead of Brentford who sat third. By only focusing on what was controllable they ultimately won the league by a mile.

The same was true in the 2018/19 season, they finished 11 points above the play-off places and five ahead of Sheffield United. Leeds, like Norwich, are more than capable of winning every game they play. As long as they get results more often than they lose, they’ll be right in the mix this season.

In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has been left astounded by the effect Joe Rodon has had on the Whites’ defence