Leeds United: Daniel Farke expects letters after Sunderland controversy

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke is expecting letters to explain why his side were not given a penalty in the 0-0 draw against Sunderland on April 9.

Leeds missed the chance to climb top of the Championship with a passive stalemate at Elland Road, Farke was furious with the officiating as several contentious calls went against the home side.

Graham Smyth shared that Farke was annoyed with two handball decisions, the most blatant of which saw a Leeds corner hit Sunderland captain Luke O'Nien directly on the forearm whilst he grappled with Joe Rodon in the box.

Post-match, Farke said to the Yorkshire Evening Post: “Clear handball in the first half should have been a penalty, clear handball in the second half should have been a penalty.

"I ask just for the rules, the second half it was obvious, it was not difficult to see. We've had six letters this year saying ‘sorry it was a penalty or red card’, we'll likely get two more letters now."

Leggy Leeds United hit by Championship pressure

The Easter period is traditionally a barren one for Leeds, but Farke's side navigated the 2024 edition superbly, coming back from behind twice to draw at Watford before scoring twice late on to dispatch Hull City 3-1.

Positive results helped to mask two relatively shaky performances from the Whites in those two games, conceding their first open-play goals of 2024 and being outmatched in midfield across spells of both.

While they had the fitness, and crucially, the quality, to rescue each result in the latter stages, that has not been present in the Whites' last two matches, with the Sunderland stalemate preceded by a 2-1 loss at Coventry - their first league defeat of the calendar year.

With just four games to go from here on in against Blackburn, Middlesbrough, QPR and fellow promotion-chasers Southampton, Leeds appear to be tiring at precisely the wrong moment.

Poor refereeing against Sunderland aside, Leeds created next to nothing other than the half-chances which generated penalty shouts, and as the race for the Championship's top two goes right down to the wire, now is the time for Leeds to rediscover the form which saw them close a 17-point gap to the summit last month.

In other Leeds United news, the Whites have been told that a move for Celtic player Matt O’Riley could be possible in the summer.

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