Daniel Farke’s Leeds rampaged through the winter on their longest unbeaten run since Don Revie was winning titles at Elland Road, but a draw with West Brom and defeat at Portsmouth is bringing back nervous memories of 12 months ago for Nico Franks (@NicoFranks) and Gruev Armada (@timmsy_ks).

How’s the season been for Leeds?

NF: Only tasting the bitter sting of a league loss four times since August means any complaints would be churlish. A degree of monotony has crept in at times but the late wins against promotion rivals Sheff United and Sunderland have helped set pulses racing again, while the defeat against Pompey at the weekend has got nerves jangling.

GA: I think with us sitting top of the league with ten games to go there's a feeling that we've had a very good season. There is also, strangely, a very real sense of foreboding that we are more than capable of throwing this away. Having had a brilliant February there have been some stutters this month with our first defeat in 17 last weekend away at Portsmouth.

Leeds in the league so far…
Leeds 3-3 Portsmouth Struijk pen 10, Gnonto 46, Anderson 90 – Sorensen 23, Lang 41, pen 90
West Brom 0-0 Leeds
Sheff Wed 0-2 Leeds Aaronson 24, James 48
Leeds 2-0 Hull Joseph 63, Piroe 81
Leeds 0-1 Burnley Koleosho 18
Cardiff 0-2 Leeds Ramazani 30, Piroe 87
Leeds 3-0 Coventry Gnonto 16, Bogle 49, Piroe 79
Norwich 1-1 Leeds Sargent pen 15 – Ramazani 60
Sunderland 2-2 Leeds Rigg 9, Firpo og 90 – Piroe 22, Firpo 56
Leeds 2-0 Sheff Utd Struijk 69, Joseph 90
Leeds 2-1 Watford Ramazani 4, Aaronson 7 – Baah 47
Bristol City 0-0 Leeds
Leeds 3-0 Plymouth James 30, Piroe 33, Aaronson 38
Millwall 1-0 Leeds Tanganga 40
Leeds 2-0 QPR Bogle 18, Piroe 90
Swansea 3-4 Leeds Darling 8, Cullen 45, Bianchini 90 – Solomon 20, 73, Cabango og 55, Gnonto 90
Leeds 3-0 Luton Byram 10, Piroe 45, James 81
Blackburn 1-0 Leeds Cantwell pen 22
Leeds 2-0 Derby Rodon 39, Wober 44
Leeds 3-1 Boro Gnonto 14, James 74, Aaronson 90 – Wober og 54
Preston 1-1 Leeds Potts 23 – Whatmough og 90
Leeds 4-0 Oxford James 9, Bogle 57, Aaronson 67, Solomon 73
Stoke 0-2 Leeds Piroe 42, 63
Derby 0-1 Leeds Aaronson 79
Leeds 1-1 Blackburn Struijk pen 88 – Batth 90
Hull 3-3 Leeds Kamara 5, 89, Pedro 81 – Tanaka 46, James 62, Piroe 72
Leeds 3-0 Sheff Wed Solomon 3, Ramazani 88, Tanaka 90
Leeds 2-0 Norwich Solomon 1, James 65
Burnley 0-0 Leeds
Leeds 7-0 Cardiff Aaronson 6, Solomon 13, James 50, Piroe pen 65, 90, Gnonto 67, Joseph 88
Coventry 0-2 Leeds Piroe 17, Bogle 26
Waford 0-4 Leeds James 20, 28, Solomon 35, Piroe 52
Leeds 2-1 Sunderland Struijk 78, 90 – Isidor 32
Sheff Utd 1-3 Leeds Meslier og 14 – Firpo 72, Tanaka 89, Piroe 90
Leeds 1-1 West Brom Firpo 9 – Furlong 39
Portsmouth 1-0 Leeds Bishop 61
Leeds 2-0 Millwall Cooper og 3, Tanaka 85

Any concerns the West Brom/Pompey results are the start of something similar to what happened last season?

NF: Beating Millwall after Sheff United and Burnley both dropped points mid-week has calmed a lot of those nerves and we return to Loftus Road to hopefully banish the demons of last season's late capitulation. We feel stronger mentally this season and crucially are less reliant on one or two specific players for goals.

GA:A very real concern. With Sheffield United and Burnley refusing to go on bad runs the concern is that even a short run of dropped points will be massively costly. Leeds are probably quite unique in that the pressure and expectation is a bigger threat to us than injury, opposition or results, and alarm bells ring at the slightest hint of a loss of form.

Daniel Farke, a Championship promotion specialist, but if/when you go up does he have what it takes to keep you there? We’ve long speculated we’re approaching the point where a promoted team bins off its manager to appoint a survival specialist instead…

NF: He'll get a decent run at it I think and hopefully the buzz of being back in the Premier League gives the team a bit of momentum. I have memories of Farke's Norwich rolling over against Liverpool on the opening day of a season gone by and I don't see Leeds doing that. But I do worry he won't make it to Christmas.

GA: Erm... This is a tough one. A lot depends on what is put in place for the squad if we do go up and the fact that is still an 'if' raises questions about his job. The last time we met I think I was on the fence and although I'm more pro-Farke now, there's doubts creeping back in over his team selections. I think if we go up automatically he deserves a chance but a bad start would likely turn the fans very quickly.

How was January? What was done? What was left undone?

NF: Erm, not much was done at all. The board clearly feel like we have enough to go up and results since then have backed that gamble to keep the chequebook stashed away.

GA: Underwhelming. Farke opted to keep faith with the current squad with no first team incomings or outgoings apart from loaning Joe Gelhardt to Hull City and this decision seemed justified in February but with injuries to Ethan Ampadu and some extremely hit and miss performances by Illan Meslier in goal and backup striker Mateo Joseph, the decision to not strengthen at least one of those positions could look far worse should we fail to win our next run of games.

Summer Ins >>> Joe Rodon, 26, CB, Spurs, £10m >>> Largie Ramazani, 23, LW, Almeria, £7m >>> Jayden Bogle, 23, RB, Sheff Utd, £5m >>> Ao Tanaka, 25, CM, Dusseldorf, £3m >>> Isaac Schmidt, 24, LB, St Gallen, £2m >>> Alex Cairns, 31, GK, Salford, Undisclosed >>> Joe Rothwell, 29, CM, Bournemouth, Loan >>> Manor Solomon, 25, LW, Spurs, Loan >>> Joshua Guilavogui, 34, DM, Unattached, Free

Winter Outs >>> Sonny Perkins, 20, RW, Orient, Undisclosed >>> Joe Gelhardt, 22, CF, Hull, Loan

Player of the season candidates?

NF: While last year had clear standout players, the better balance this season also means that picking one outstanding candidate is trickier. Junior Firpo has been an assist machine, Rodon has been extremely solid and we really miss Ampadu's leadership - the sooner we can get him back from injury the better. But the consensus for player of the year among the fans seems to be Tanaka, who was a snip at just over £3m from the German second tier but looks destined to play for a mid-table Premier League side. Hopefully that’s us next season and not Brighton.

GA: Probably an easy decision but Ao Tanaka for me has been a brilliant signing at £3m and his consistency and ability to control the midfield pushes him ahead of Manor Solomon for player of the year.

The Illan Meslier memorial medal for weakest link in this side?

NF: Yes, you called it. Our spindly Frenchman has really been a soft touch all season and with someone less accident-prone we could be out of sight by now. I would still back him to be decent in a different team and perhaps just needs a change of scene.

GA: It's a shame because I like Meslier but his mistakes this season have been costly in a tight race and our confidnce that he has the mental strength to get through this and repay Farke's faith in him is questionable to say the least.

Head on the block, will you see it through this time?

NF: All the super computers, pundits and rival fans seem to think we're going up and I do believe that even our penchant for self- immolation won't get in the way. At the beginning of the season I said we'd go up as champions with fewer points than last season and a few games spare. It may not be quite so comfortable as that but I do think we'll get there by winning our four remaining home games and nicking a couple of wins on the road. Which means our inevitable 1-0 loss at the weekend to a team on a four-game losing streak (we're terrible in London and early KOs are our kryptonite) is FINE.

GA: I'm going to say yes but I'm not sure whether that's faith in ourselves or that both Sheffield Utd and Burnley have trickier looking run-ins.

How are your Red Bull overlords? Wouldn’t be Leeds without some boardroom shenanigans right?

NF: For the time being they remain relatively benign. Our CEO Angus Kinnear is heading over to Everton and we've got a new executive vice chairman in Peter McCormick, who thankfully doesn't have any fizzy drink experience on his CV. So, the Red Bull coup remains a way off yet, but vigilance is key. Meanwhile, our owners the 49ers are trying to buy Rangers, raising the prospect of us becoming their feeder club, or them becoming ours. If only Kemar Roofe was still there….

GA: Things have been strangely calm and quiet on the boardroom front for possibly the longest period in recent memory which is really strange for all of us. Annoyingly they were a bit too quiet in the January window too though.

Links >>> Leeds United official website >>> Yorkshire Evening Post — Local Paper >>> Yorkshire Post — Local Paper >>> The Square Ball — Fanzine >>> WACCOE — Forum >>> Marching on Together — Forum >>> Not 606 — Forum >>> SB Nation — Blog

Pictures - Reuters Connect

Paddyhoops added 13:16 - Mar 14 Monotony. Christ what Id give for that type of success.
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TacticalR added 22:41 - Mar 14 Thanks to Nico and Gruev. It seems to a bit surreal to be talking about getting rid of a manager who will probably get Leeds promoted, but the current situation of the three promoted teams getting immediately relegated from the Premier League (plus Farke's previous failings in the Premier League) makes this inevitable. Interesting that the fans consider that the team has a better balance this season even though the star players were sold.

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nick_hammersmith added 09:52 - Mar 17 How did Leeds make so much money from player sales in the summer? The Premier League stinks!! When we got relegated last we were paying up our players to get them to leave...
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