Daniel Farke insists that he is ‘totally calm and relaxed’ as his ‘underdog’ Leeds side welcome West Ham to Elland Road on Friday night.
With eight points from eight games, Leeds are outside the relegation zone in 16th and ahead of Nuno Espirito Santo‘s West Ham, who are rooted in 19th with just four points. But after an encouraging start to life back in the top-flight, Leeds have won just one point in their last three.
‘We’re fully calm,’ said Farke. ‘I would be more concerned if we were getting played out of the park or the opponent had tap-ins to score. For Leeds, it’s always a must-win. But at this level as a newly promoted side, we’re always the underdog – especially against established Premier League sides.
‘We want to win every game but if we can’t win we must make sure that we don’t lose.’
And Farke reiterated that as long as his side average one point a game, they will stay up.
‘We have spoken about how we need one point on average per game to survive,’ he said. ‘We’re at this one point per game and we have never been under the line, so it’s a positive that we’re already on two wins.
Daniel Farke insists Leeds are ‘fully calm’ despite winning one point from their last three games
Farke’s side were soundly beaten at Burnley last time out and face West Ham on Friday
‘And we’ve shown, apart from the Arsenal game – although it wasn’t a game how the scoreline (5-0) would make you think it was – we have delivered many really good performances.
‘We’ve shown that we belong in the Premier League and that we can win points against every team. In the end, after 38 games, we need to be there with at least eight or nine wins to stay in the Premier League so this is our only approach, to be focused on this game and to win as many points as possible.’
Asked about intense scrutiny in the Premier League with the likes of Graham Potter, Nuno and Ange Postecoglou all sacked this season, Farke stressed that he wouldn’t be at Leeds if he couldn’t deal with the pressure.
‘How can you be a Leeds United manager if you’re not calm and relaxed – I’ve been here for two-and-a-half years but normally as a Leeds manager you last on average for two-and-a-half months,’ he said.
‘It’s such an emotional club but if you can’t handle the heat then don’t go into the kitchen. That’s how it works at this level. I’m totally relaxed and confident because I know what we are doing.
‘In the Premier League, there’ll always be pressure and even more so at a club like Leeds. In the past two seasons, more or less after every draw there were rumours about the manager being sacked.
‘Last season we achieved the best performance in the history of this club – 100 points and a plus 65 goal difference and broke all records. But after every draw I was in danger of losing my job and even after winning the title, there were some rumours.
‘That’s how it works and now in the Premier League, it’s like that after every loss. I can guarantee you that as long as I stay as Leeds manager, after every defeat there will be rumours. But I know the truth – and we know the truth internally – so we are heading 100% in the right direction. We are doing many things right and I can deal with this pressure.’
Leeds have a range of fitness concerns with Ethan Ampadu and Pascal Struijk missing training on Wednesday and Noah Okafor and Willy Gnonto still not at full fitness. Farke also revealed that Anton Stach has been playing with a broken finger and a rib injury.
