Although Leeds United’s Championship campaign hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts, Daniel Farke does know how to get his team promoted.
After a rocky start to the season, Leeds United supporters won’t want to hear the comments that their team is “falling apart again” any more.
Fans had anticipated relegation last season when they avoided it at Burnley’s expense by finishing in 19th place with just 31 points, but they failed to improve and failed to patch a leaky defense, which sealed their fate on the final day, even though it was likely done in the penultimate game week.
They thus began the season in the second division, but uneven performances and transfer sagas caused the club to stop and start, and only now can they fully concentrate on their season. There aren’t many greater experts than Daniel Farke, who is in command of the team and has won two Championship crowns in the last five years. In light of this, Football League World explains how his Norwich teams began before winning the gold.
How have Leeds performed so far in the Championship?
In all honesty, things haven’t gone well for the Whites. The three demoted teams, Leicester City, Southampton, and Leeds, all had rosters that were unquestionably the best in the division when they were promoted, and all were anticipated to be competing for the league title even at this point.
Southampton and Leicester have adhered to this. Following their 5-0 thrashing at Sunderland earlier this month, Southampton currently sits just outside of the play-offs on goal difference, trailing only Ipswich Town and Preston North End with 12 points from five games each.
However, you must scroll all the way down to position 15 in the standings to see Leeds hiding in the shadows with just six points from five games, their only three points coming from the victory over Ipswich. Amazingly, they have failed to win at Elland Road.
Fans were already in disbelief after the Owls’ first point of the year, held to a draw by Sheffield Wednesday, and their elimination from the Carabao Cup on penalties to Salford City was disappointing despite being unjustified.
The issue is not so much with their defense as it is with a dearth of goals. With just three goals against Birmingham, Cardiff, West Brom, and Sheffield Wednesday before their victory against Ipswich, they have scored just four goals overall, which is clearly insufficient for a team of their caliber.
Under Daniel Farke, how did Norwich City’s promotion campaigns begin?
The good news for Leeds supporters is that Farke’s two promotion bids at Carrow Road started out mainly unsuccessfully.
The Canaries only had four points from their first five games of the 2018–19 season, with a goal differential of –3, placing them only 19th in the standings, barely above Rotherham United. They needed seven games to record their second victory of the year, but they were easily energized by a stretch of just two losses from the beginning of October to the end of the campaign.
The situation was similar in 2020–21. After a disastrous Premier League season, they were down, and with seven points from their first five games and a goal differential of zero, they are currently in 12th place. However, a resurgent sequence of just two losses in 23 games saw them rocket up the table, and a nine-game winning streak from late February to early March effectively sealed the championship.
If there is any consolation for Leeds supporters, it would be in Farke’s shaky start to the season before the team gels and takes the league by storm. However, with the club now seven points off the lead, it will be a difficult challenge with other teams vying for promotion.
