Leeds United irony as Farke strengthens grip and Liverpool fall apart - Graham Smyth's Verdict

Football is a funny, funny old game. The past week at Elland Road has not been funny-ha-ha, but at times laughter has been the only possible response to it all. Giving Manchester City a proper game, giving Chelsea a beating, giving Liverpool not one but two headstarts only to reel them back in twice. Giving the manager four points and ammunition to fire back at his critics.

Farke under pressure

It is not in any way dramatic to suggest that Farke was staring down the barrel. The loss to Aston Villa was his fifth in six games, goals were hard to come by at one end and too readily flowing at the other. Given the quality possessed by this week's trio of opponents, it was not inconceivable that newly-promoted Leeds could find themselves on the wrong end of a hat-trick of hammerings. Had that been the case and Farke had emerged from the week pointless, he would almost certainly have lost the majority of the fanbase and 49ers Enterprises would have had a debate on their hands, to say the least.

What happened instead was impossible to predict or script, but by the time the full-time whistle went on the third and final game in seven days Farke had shown he can be tactically flexible, his side can score goals against the best, they can reward performances with points and he can change a game with substitutions. And regardless of how many supporters he won back to his side, no one could dispute that the players were playing for him and fighting for him the whole way through.

Leeds do nothing the easy way and their 3-3 draw with Liverpool was a classic of the Elland Road comeback genre. It was very Leeds that the strike partnership only just formed and starting to blossom had to be broken up almost immediately. Farke was forced into two bits of minor rotation. Lukas Nmecha's hamstring kept him out entirely while Ao Tanaka failed to convince his boss he could start for a third time in a week. Into the side came Noah Okafor to partner Dominic Calvert-Lewin, as he did as a second half substitute against Chelsea, and Ilia Gruev to fill Tanaka's midfield spot. The 3-5-2 that was so successful against Chelsea remained.

Chelsea familiarity ends

It could have all started just like the midweek game and Okafor should have justified his selection inside two minutes. Pascal Struijk headed the ball forward to send the attacker into space for a shot that flew past the far post instead of into the net. Leeds wanted a start similar to the one they had against Chelsea and there was a familiarity to the opening minutes. A free-kick was headed out as far as Gabriel Gudmundsson, the left back volleying over the top. An Ethan Ampadu long throw caused issues and the ball dropped to Okafor, whose shot was deflected wide for a corner.

But unlike Chelsea, Liverpool had a bit more about them when they got the ball. A quick free-kick put Milos Kerkez in space for a shot that sailed over and Lucas Perri had to come off his line to punch a dangerous cross away from Hugo Ekitike. Having weathered the early storm, Liverpool settled into full control. Leeds sat in, tried to be compact and yet the ball still made its way forward into dangerous areas. Curtis Jones curled a beautiful effort against the crossbar and Struijk threw himself in front of another shot to deflect it off target.

By the half hour mark it was clear that this was a very different game to the one that preceded it. Leeds were having to suffer so much more, forced to defend deep and drawn into challenges that left both wing-backs on yellow cards. When the hosts did finally put together a better spell of possession they took the sting out of the game and then needlessly reintroduced it, Jayden Bogle losing the ball in midfield and allowing a counter attack that ended with Cody Gakpo's wayward cross.

Yet without particularly enjoying much time in the Liverpool half, Leeds still held a slight threat albeit failing to force Alisson Becker into action. Ampadu won the ball and found Okafor, who wasn't alert to the presence of Conor Bradley and couldn't find a shot or a pass. Leeds did win a corner from that attack and a lack of communication between Struijk and Gruev saw the former take it off the latter's toes to shoot wide.

Barring a Gakpo shot that was deflected past Perri's post, Liverpool did not turn their dominance into chances in the remainder of the half and the teams went down the tunnel before either goalkeeper made a save.

Perri had still not made a save by the 50th minute, by which time the score was 2-0 to the visitors. What was more disappointing than the timing of the concessions - two minutes apart - was the role Leeds played in their own downfall. Having worked so hard to keep the Reds out in the first half, they undid all their good work with needless errors. Joe Rodon passed the ball straight to Hugo Ekitiké and he ran in to beat Perri for the first. Struijk put Gudmundsson under pressure instead of sending the ball long, the Swede coughed up possession and Conor Bradley's cross was poked home by Ekitiké.

At 2-0 Liverpool should have been home and hosed. They certainly have players capable of protecting a lead and building on it. With Leeds risking more to try and gain a foothold, the counter attack held huge promise for the visitors. Had Perri not got his glove to Gakpo's effort then the game really would have been done as a contest.

Farke changes the game

But then came Farke's intervention. Returning to the 4-3-3 formation, he sent on Willy Gnonto, Brenden Aaronson and Tanaka. And for all Arne Slot's post-game talk of 'long ball, long ball, long ball' it was actually some pretty passing that undid his Liverpool side. Anton Stach linked up with Gnonto, the winger drove into the area and Ibrahima Konaté slid in with the most ill-advised of challenges. VAR had to help Anthony Taylor to spot it but the right decision was reached in the end and Calvert-Lewin's emphatic penalty brought hope back to the table and the noise level back to its best.

It was a completely different game at 2-1, so 2-2 was not such a great shock to anyone but Liverpool and Slot. There was a pleasing level of irony in the way Leeds' second arrived, too. It was Rodon, whose earlier mistake was so costly, who this time was the recipient of a wayward pass. It was Aaronson, whose recent dallying on the ball had brought him so much flak, who showed just the right amount of patience on the ball to play a one-two with Gnonto and feed it smartly inside to Stach. And the German turned, took two touches and thumped in the equaliser. Having conceded two in three minutes, Leeds scored two in three minutes.

When Liverpool cut Leeds apart right down the middle, thanks in part to Tanaka's positional ill-discipline opening the low block, Dominik Szoboszlai added the coolest of finishes for the cruelest of momentum swings. It seemed, once again, that Leeds had undone their hard work again.

This Leeds team, like the one that lifted the Championship trophy last season, does not know when it is beaten. Roared on by an Elland Road that still believed, they went after another equaliser. And in the seventh minute of nine added on, it came. Gnonto won a corner, Stach thought about taking it short and then delivered it to the back post where Tanaka was inexplicably free to stab the ball into the ground and into the net. Amid the cheers and roars was laughter of sheer disbelief.

Three of Farke's substitutes brought a goal or an assist to the party, his changes paying off to the tune of a precious point. Another deserved point.

Liverpool falling apart

What happened not long after the full-time whistle suggested it is not Leeds who are falling apart, but the champions. Mo Salah, an unused substitute, took himself to the mixed zone to deliver a blistering account of his non-existent relationship with Slot and his sadness at being 'thrown under the bus' by his club. Where one manager was finally basking in unity again, celebrating with players and fans alike, another was taking public flak from one of his star men.

Football repeatedly delivers the very thing no one could see coming. Especially at this club, where Farke's wildest dreams would not have conjured the drama this week has delivered. Yet here he now stands, having quelled an open rebellion with a mixture of new tactics, old ones and a group of players fully committed to his cause. Against three of the Premier League’s finest. Against all the odds. The four points have handed him back his precious point-per-game average. The performances have strengthened his grip on his job.