Daniel Farke stays humble and makes Coventry City admission despite statistical edge

CoventryLive’s match commentary from Coventry City as Leeds United’s manager discusses his team’s loss to the Sky Blues

During Saturday’s pivotal Championship match at the CBS Arena, Daniel Farke honoured Coventry City and identified just where they had the advantage over his Leeds United team.

The Sky Blues were anxious for the win to maintain their play-off ambitions by keeping in touch with sixth-place Norwich, while the visitors knew that three points would have sent them back to the top of the table.

Ellis Simms and Haji Wright goals put an end to Mark Robins’ team’s incredible 15-game winning streak for the Whites, but Joel Piroe’s goal 14 minutes from time made for a suspenseful finish.

“Let me start by congratulating Coventry,” Farke remarked. They have an excellent home record and are a pretty good team. The game was always going to be difficult. We got off to a great start in this game, controlling possession and creating a lot of interesting moments and circumstances in their box.

“But sometimes, especially in the first half, you lose a little bit of aggressiveness and greediness when you have such a comfortable start,” the player said.

Despite being statistically superior on the day, the 47-year-old claimed that his team lacked Coventry’s aggressiveness and competitive spirit.

“With 70% possession, we dominated against a typically strong possession side and had more chances and shots on target,” he remarked. “According to the stats, we played a really strong away game, but we lost the key duels, which was important today.

“To be honest, Simms and the guys who made the first and second contact before he scored showed more aggression to hold the ball in the six-yard box. We gave up our first goal on a counterattack off a corner kick. It was literally the first time they were in our half.

It was their first corner kick from which they had scored. We should have played a little bit wiser, and it is never easy to lose to a really strong home team when you give up two goals rather cheaply.

“We scored the first goal, had a good response, and had Piroe taken his big chance a little later, we would have been happy,” he continued. I have to exercise caution because it is hard to become very critical after such an incredible run if you lose the first game of the year in April.

However, I still think we could have done better, particularly in the first half, and I want them to feel a little let down as a result. After a defeat, you ought to maintain your humility and self-criticism. Even with the first loss of the year, it’s the correct response to hold off on becoming overly optimistic right away.

“We’ll give ourselves a day or two to be hard on ourselves and suffer a little, and then we’ll make sure we go again on Tuesday.”

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