adminDaniel Farke was left with “mixed emotions” after Leeds United’s goalless draw against Crystal Palace, with the Whites boss criticising “slow” periods from his players while ultimately applauding his team for extending their unbeaten start.
Farke’s side returned to Elland Road six days after Monday night’s impressive 4-1 victory over Newcastle United, with Sunday’s clash against Palace offering Leeds the chance to move back into third place and within one point of Arsenal.
Both teams created half chances during a balanced and entertaining first half, but Palace looked particularly dangerous after the interval, with James Trafford making an excellent save to push a Yeremy Pino free-kick narrowly wide.
Palace then appeared to have taken the lead when Tyrick Mitchell converted at the far post from an Anan Khalaili cross, but VAR stepped in to rule out the goal after determining Khalaili was marginally offside.
Leeds were then handed a huge opportunity to break the deadlock moments later when a James Justin delivery found Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but the striker’s close-range effort was straight at Walter Benitez, who made the save as the match eventually finished without a goal.
The result kept Leeds in fifth place and unbeaten after five matches, with Farke largely praising his side’s defensive efforts while acknowledging that their attacking performance was certainly not among their strongest.
The Whites manager admitted his players were “slow in the head” on occasions and were unable to capitalise on their set-piece opportunities.
Farke, however, also praised United for securing another clean sheet, showing resilience when required and extending their unbeaten run, highlighting those as three key positives to take into the extended international break.
“Like always a bit mixed emotions after the game,” said Farke post match.
“Of course we would have preferred to win this game, there’s no doubt about this.
“Sometimes also it’s a scruffy Sunday afternoon, when you have to dig in”
“We play each and every game in order to win it but the reality is it’s not 38 game days of magic nights under the floodlights and champagne football and you overrun the opponent and you score goals for fun.
“Sometimes also it’s a scruffy Sunday afternoon, when you have to dig in, it was one of these games.
“There were many things I liked. I liked that we extended our unbeaten run, I liked our clean sheet and I liked also that if we then can’t win a game that we showed that attitude of ‘okay, at least we don’t lose it’ and we fight for each and every point and that we try to dig in.
I think offensive wise football wise it was definitely not our best game today.
“We were a bit too loose with the ball, we didn’t move the ball quick enough more or less from side to side because credit to Crystal Palace they were well structured and then difficult to open and defended very well.
“A good and valuable point and another point on the table”
“They have shown the signs more or less also in the last games on Premier League level and also in Europe and the cup at least when they didn’t have a red card and in such a game, you have to be really tidy on the ball, and especially in the opponents’ half with crisp passes and quick in the head.
“I think we were a bit too slow in the head also at times and if you don’t have the quality to create more chances then you should open them perhaps with a set piece.
“We had many set pieces today but also there we didn’t have the best quality of the delivery, we rarely won a first touch, we rarely won a second touch so on this topic also not spot on.
“And if you have a day like this you have to use at least one of your rare chances and we had some, Dominic probably the best in the second half and the goalkeeper was there with a good save.
“If you don’t score then out of these rare occasions more or less then it’s difficult to win this game and you have to make sure that you don’t lose it, and this what we did so for that mixed emotions.
“Overall, you have to say it’s also a good and valuable point and another point on the table.
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