Nafisa
Daniel Farke said he was always minded to play 3-5-2 against Chelsea after the success of the formation at Manchester City, and he felt the home win it delivered was overdue.
The Whites had lost two of their last three games but more importantly four consecutive matches, ramping up the pressure on manager Farke.
But the performance at Eastlands, where Leeds came from 2-0 down only for Phil Foden on score a stoppage-time winner, gave a blueprint for how to take on Chelsea.
“I didn’t want to give too much away before the game but we had a really good second half at Man City and it would have felt for the players a bit difficult for the players if we’d changed that again after such a good half,” explained Farke after Wednesday’s 3-1 win.
“I had this in my head anyway because Sebastiaan Bornauw was back, (to play) his first time on the pitch for Leeds,” said Farke. “I head this in my head because it fits and suits the style Chelsea play.
“They are so good and so dominant in possession and either you go really brave with high pressing or you sit really deep. I didn’t want to be caught in midfield pressing.
“The feeling was either we needed to go really brave in the high pressing or be compact in a good shape to allow them possession a bit around the cake.
“Willy (Gnonto) was more or less just back after a longer-term injury, DJ (Daniel James) was out, both strikers scored in the last game.”
Jaka Bijol, recalled to the side as the third centre-back, opened the scoring from a sixth-minute corner. Ao Tanaka doubled the lead shortly before half-time.
Chelsea substitute Pedro Neto pulled a goal back five minutes after coming on for half-time but the pressing of Leeds substitute Noah Okafor presented a tap-in for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to score his third Leeds goal, days after his second.
Both managers agreed the home team were worthy winners.
“It felt like it was a long time coming and the players deserved to have a night like this because I can’t really remember one poor home performance in the last 15 months,” said Farke. “We’ve lost two games at home against Tottenham and Aston Villa and in both games we weren’t the worst side.
“There were many performances during this season where we deserved more points but to bring both together (the performance and the points) was excellent.
“To be effective in the moments and to score the goals in the moments we needed to score win this game against definitely one of the best sides in the world, fighting for the Premier League title and winners of the Club World Cup in the summer against the best sides in the world, they have unbelievable quality in their squad.
“Of course in spells they had more possession but I would still say it was a deserved win because we didn’t give one chance away in the first half. In the second half they scored with their first situation but even afterwards we didn’t give any more chances away, it was the other way around.
“It was great for the lads and one of the nights where we wanted to be back in the big time to play in the best sides in the world and have Elland Road rocking.”
Opposite number Enzo Maresca admitted: “They were better than us in all aspects, they deserved to win the game.
“Tonight there was not one (player) at his best level. Pedro second half, Garna (Alejandro Garnacho) second half were our best players.
“On the ball, off the ball, duels, they were much better than us.”
Nafisa
Rabiu Aminu