'Get him here' - Leeds United boss Daniel Farke reality, nagging Brenden Aaronson issue and my predicted top-two: David Prutton

Blackburn themselves have been pretty competent so far the season. But it was a silly penalty that Leeds gave away which led to the only goal of the game. Very cheap. You see the kind of look of disbelief on Ao Tanaka's face but it's a penalty. You can't just barge someone down in the box. Ridiculous.

But as ever with the Championship, give it a couple of days and you've got another game coming along where you can hopefully put it right with Saturday’s lunchtime visit of Derby County.

The thing that Leeds have got to contend with is the form and the pedigree of the teams in and around them. You look at what Sheffield United are, you look at what Chris Wilder is, you look at what Burnley are and you look at what Scott Parker's got with regards to getting teams into the Premier League. There's absolutely no doubt that Leeds are in a proper scrap for a proper promotion fight which looks to be locked in from now until the end.

If there's a question of 'should' Leeds be doing better with the squad that they have then I honestly don't know. Sheffield United's squad is very good and Burnley's squad is very good.

At Sunderland, there's a mixture to them with a new manager that you potentially see. They've not won in six now and there's an element in that where you feel that as a collective, they're finding their feet once again.

Then there's Boro who have been hitting their straps and Watford who are belying what carnage there can be at that club because they are getting on with it really, really well.

I don't believe for one second that Leeds should feel themselves or be able to put themselves into a position where arrogantly they say 'we should be doing this'. As they've seen over the course of the last few seasons, that proof is in the pudding, in results, and Sheffield United would be another two points ahead of them but for the points deduction.

The Blades have won more games than anyone else and it's a phenomenal position that they have put themselves in. Then at Burnley fingers were pointed at Scott Parker and at what they were doing but second place and two points off the top ahead of last night's game at home to Boro is very good work from them with a very good squad.

I still think broadly that you look at it and there's a gut feeling amongst quite a few fans and pundits et cetera that the top two will be Sheffield United and Leeds. I’d go along with that although I don't know which way around you'd go. But you cannot discount Burnley with the form that they have been in and the pedigree that they have got.

There are question marks potentially from Leeds' point of view about what they should be doing but you've got to respect what Sheff United and Burnley are as football clubs and squads.

Derby boss Paul Warne had some nice words to say about Daniel Farke ahead of Saturday’s clash at Elland Road. His take was lovely and magnanimous. He's a man I've got so much time for and a very, very good coach.

You can look at Daniel Farke's position but if you said to at least half of the Championship 'would you have Daniel Farke as boss?' they would go 'hell yeah, where do we sign, get him here with bells on.' That's what you've got to look at. He'll feel the pressure. He'll have pressure on himself. You don't come to Leeds United and you don't get paid what you get for managing Leeds United to be a team that kicks around the Championship.

That's why it's awesomely attractive to players and management and fans and ownership groups because the size and the magnitude of what that is as an entity is phenomenal. I think sometimes it's very easy to kind of sit there and point the finger, because there are emotional frustrations, because that's what being a fan is.

I think what Daniel brings to the football club has still got a lot of value. But more than anything with these managers, I think people can sometimes forget that just because they love a football club, doesn't mean to say that they're more ambitious than the manager. This is his profession. This is vocation and his managerial career lives and dies by success. He wants to be a success at Leeds although clearly the questions come if the results are not there.

Yes, there was a blip of Blackburn. Yes, they're not in the automatic spots. But I think the point that Daniel will make is that it only matters where you end up. Whether you get there by playing glorious football, whether you win the league by 10 points, or whether you're above third position by several points means nothing. The only thing that means anything is being there at the end of the season. There are still so many games to play and there will be so many more twists and turns.

Leeds remain odds-on favourites to win the division and I understand that because of the size and stature of the club and the fact that they find themselves in the second tier. Broadly speaking, I think there is that Sheffield United and Leeds United top two acceptance. But Burnley are absolutely in there at this moment in time with what they are doing, how they are doing it and with the manager that they have got and not discounting obviously Sunderland and Watford. You look at West Brom as well even though they've got to somehow manage to turn draws into wins because they are a drawing machine.

Between those three, you've obviously got teams there that know how to get promoted and that will stand them in good stead but one ultimately will have to miss out. From a Leeds United point of view, what they achieved last year was a double edged sword. Yes, they got 90 points, but it still wasn't enough to go up and the playoffs were a disappointment.

That's hopefully the fuel in there that makes them realise and makes them make sure that come the end of the season it is the top two, because that fragility that we've seen them display in the play-offs feeds into the whole narrative really.

Leeds got a bit of stick on the back of defeat at Blackburn but we are looking at a team that had won three on the bounce beforehand. Yes, those wins were against potentially teams that you would assume them to beat.

It's not been happening for Brenden Aaronson in the no 10 role and I find it a bit a little tough with with Brenden. I'm not saying Leeds fans are holding anything against him but there's that underlying narrative of leaving to come back.

I understand totally as an ex pro that a player wants to maximize themselves. I totally get that. But there's still that sense of 'if you are back here then we want you pulling up trees' and if he's not been doing that then that's where the frustration comes. I don't think it's any lack of effort or endeavour. He doesn't appear to be a kid that's like that.

Obviously you've got the ability of what Willy Gnonto can bring and then the pace and the dynamism of what Dan James can bring with Largie Ramazani and Manor Solomon too. From a fitness point of view, apart from obviously looking at the centre of midfield, everyone's relatively fit.

Ethan Ampadu is also now back in training this week and that's got to be a great boost - even though we've seen some real stellar performances and high standards set by the lads that came in and I won't say 'filled in' because they're very good players in their own right. But the different permutations of what we've seen in midfield has been pleasing.

Looking at the front line, as a collective, with Joel Piroe, Mateo Joseph and Patrick Bamford, there's a centre forward there and there's no condescension in that. That's not me damning them with fake praise. But we've been saying it for a whole that as a combination there are players there that can cause the opposition problems, ably assisted by the two/three that play behind them. Whether it's a permutation and a formational thing that Daniel's got to work on, or a chemistry thing, I don't know. The January transfer window is just around the corner – but there's plenty there as it is to occupy and cause problems.