Leeds United ended their run of five Premier League games without a win today.
Despite there being doubts over his fitness prior to kick-off against Tottenham, Noah Okafor was fit enough to be on the bench today. The Swiss winger ended up being the hero after scoring the only goal of the game in the 79th minute. This came less than two minutes after he was subbed on.
Jamie O’Hara was left furious when watching the game on talkSPORT. He felt Jayden Bogle should’ve been sent off for his challenge on Mathys Tel in the first half.
Now, Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi has had his say on the game, as United managed to snap Tottenham’s run of three consecutive wins.
Roberto De Zerbi admits Tottenham deserved to lose against Leeds
Whilst there was little in terms of clear-cut chances for both sides in the first half, it’s fair to say that Tottenham edged it.
However, in the second half, it looked as though United were by far the more likely of the two teams to break the deadlock, and that is what ultimately came to fruition.
When giving his assessment of the proceedings to TNT Sports post-game, De Zerbi had this to say.
“In the first half, we played well; in the second half, we deserved to lose the game.
“In the second half, we lost all the duels. We didn’t play as well as we could… I’m sorry for the performance in the second half; we didn’t play like a top team.
“We lacked the right spirit. The right character, the right physicality in the duels.”
De Zerbi was also asked whether he felt Bogle should’ve been sent off or not. The Italian manager said that he did not see the incident and refused to blame the referee.
Daniel Farke won the game for Leeds today
Daniel Farke proved he is capable of being an extremely flexible manager when he wants to be.
Most supporters, including myself, were shocked to see Lukas Nmecha in the starting XI as we lined up with two strikers.
At half-time, Melvin Bard replaced Gabriel Gudmundsson, and the Frenchman had a major impact down that left-hand side.
However, the biggest change came with just over fifteen minutes to go as we swapped from a 3-5-2 to a 3-4-3. This allowed Okafor and Harry Wilson to line up either side of Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Bard, Wilson and, of course, Okafor all played a role in the only goal of the game. Naturally, Farke deserves immense credit for tinkering with the system.
It’s not the first time the German has done this this season. Our game against Brentford is another prime example of us switching formations midway through a game and getting a positive result.
After a couple of flat games, sending Elland Road barmy is the perfect way for us to get back on track just before the next international break.
What a result! Well done, Mr Farke!
