Sean Dyche on Leeds United 'noise' and Daniel Farke record ahead of crunch Nottingham Forest clash

Nottingham Forest come to Elland Road for a Friday night clash of real significance. They both sit level on 26 points and a goal difference of minus 11. Leeds are above the Reds only on the merit of goals scored. And the two clubs have a six-point cushion between themselves and West Ham United in the drop zone. A win for either would be enormous.

Neither Dyche nor Farke was ever going to talk it up as a must-win or a six-pointer, because that tends to be the media and supporters' job. 'Another important game,' said Dyche on Thursday, something Farke reiterated while pointing out, as ever, that every game is important.

When the two managers held court for their respective press packs and there wasn't much to be found in terms of fuel for the other's fire, no jibes to be stuck on changing room walls. But Dyche did take it upon himself to discuss the narrative earlier in the season around Farke and Leeds' ability to stay in the Premier League. It was after the initial meeting of the sides that grumbles started to really grow around Elland Road. A defeat by Aston Villa followed the disappointing performance and loss at the City Ground and with Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool up next it was very possible that they could go winless or even pointless in seven and conceivable that Farke would be staring down the barrel. What followed was a half-time intervention at the Etihad that gave City a torrid second half, albeit still in defeat, a battering of Chelsea, a draw with Liverpool and in total a seven-game unbeaten run. Farke changed formation, showed a greater, more efficient tactical flexibility and the noise around him died down.

"Always tough going up there," said Dyche. "They've steadied the ship, somewhat, because earlier in the season [there was] a lot of noise about the manager and noise about the team, can they, can't they and all that kind of thing. They've steadied that down. Had a lot of draws, but a lot of good performances I think. I said when we beat them here I didn't think anything other than they're a good side, good outfit and we've got to be ready. We've shown signs recently after a little tough spell where we are ready and we'll be ready on Friday night."

Nothing in what Dyche said was untrue though if you were to take a microscope to it then even without the reference to the pressure Farke was under, the use of the word 'somewhat' and the noting of lots of draws would almost bring the phase 'damning with faint praise,' to mind. Complimentary, somewhat.

That continued when Dyche was asked to assess the job Farke has done in quelling the discontent and ultimately turning things around at Elland Road since that pressure-cooker spell earlier in the season. "He knows from his years of doing it, he's had a couple of promotions and it hasn't gone quite as well in those periods but then this one, maybe he's learned," said Dyche. "I don't know him that well but I know his record. I think he's stayed calm, I think that's the biggest thing. I always think it's a very tough job this to stay calm in but it seems to me he stayed calm throughout the noise. Made some changes. Changed personnel. Helpful with the form of Dom, of course, Dom Calvert-Lewin I had at Everton, helpful with his form I'm sure.

"Every manager knows it's very helpful when they've got a striker scoring and they've used that wisely, and I think they've used the feel of it wisely. So, you know, like I say, we know we've got to go up there, and they always make it a game at home anyway, in my experience, Leeds, and you've got to go up there with the right sort of mental framework, not just your ability. And I think we're showing strong signs of that, particularly going down to West Ham and turning around a 1-0 deficit there, winning 2-1, going down to Brentford, who we all know are flying at home, particularly this season. Only the second side, I think, to beat him down there. So our mental framework has been very strong, and it's gonna have to be strong again when we go to Leeds. "

Farke might not thank his opposite number for pointing out how it went for him at Norwich City when he won promotion to the Premier League and was unable to keep what was essentially a Championship squad in the top flight, but Dyche did correctly hit on one of Farke's strengths in that summary - the calmness he brings to the job. It would be impossible to imagine Farke recalling a peer's past failures in public, but the two men share a common ability to use press conferences as a vehicle for getting messages across without losing their cool.

And both have faced difficult questions this season because Dyche, like Farke, has had some noise around him. Matt Davies of Forest Focus podcast says there were fans calling for his head during a difficult spell of his own that included one win in eight games, an FA Cup exit and a painful European experience.

"Since we played Leeds last time we were playing quite well and getting results," he told the YEP. "And then the reputational mask slipped. The football was terrible for a while. Results were really poor. We had an absolutely stinking defeat at Braga in the Europa League, where the performance was pretty disgraceful. We lost to a team that didn't have a shot on target, we scored an own goal. We lost to Wrexham in the FA Cup as well. More recently, in the last four games, we've played well. We beat West Ham without playing well. Then we drew with Arsenal, beat Brentford, beat Ferencvaros, and played really well with 10 men against Palace. So I think that everything's quite calmed down a bit, and it feels like we go to Leeds in a better place, and feeling like with West Ham losing that, just keep them at arm's length, and everything will be all right. But I think the consensus would be, Dyche has done a good steady job, and he steadied the ship. But there's lots of question marks about whether fans would want him here next season."

Where Farke came into the Premier League with big question marks over his ability to do it at the top level, Dyche arrived at Forest under a general expectation that he would get the improvement and the results they needed to avoid the drop because that is what he has done before. As it stands, both have their teams outside the drop zone and yet question marks will hang over them until such a time as safety is secured and potentially even beyond that.

Yet just as Leeds fans have largely accepted the football offered up by Farke, especially in that recent run of positive results and performances, Forest fans have been more content of late than they had been with Dycheball.

"I think initially it was quite good," said Davies. "I don't think Forest fans want tiki-taka or anything like that, they just want exciting counter-attacking football that we saw under Nuno, even Cooper, when we're not used to particularly good football last few years, but we've been used to quite effective football. Initially we had that - we played well against Leeds and that goal where Murillo hit it to Hutchinson, he took on his full-back, that was kind of what we were seeing. And then for a while it was just dreadful. It was just like Igor Jesus up front on his own, no one within 20 or 30 yards of him. We went to Villa, and there was this embarrassing stat where we touched the ball less than one of Villa's players in the first half, or something like that. The Forest fans were absolutely hating how defensive it was, how direct it was. Then I think the last few games, we played better football. We got back to playing that almost 4-4-2 where Gibbs White is closer to Igor Jesus."

The return to fitness of Ola Aina after three months out and Ibrahim Sangare's return from AFCON have made a difference for Dyche and Davies says the fans are more on board with what they have seen from Forest most recently. Their expectation when they come to Elland Road is not to dominate and batter the Whites - nor could it be when Arsenal are the only team to have done that this season - but simply to nick it.

"I think we'll go quite defensive," he said. "We've been playing [central midfielder] Nicolás Dominguez as a winger, so we've only been playing one winger in Callum Hudson-Odoi who's probably going to miss this game injured. It'll most likely be Dan Ndoye or [Omari] Hutchinson that comes into the team. We won't be expansive. I think we will probably play Dominguez, he's a bit physically better than the alternatives against Leeds, who are quite powerful. It all always comes back to Gibbs-White. I think if Gibbs-White plays well for us, we tend to play well and if they can get him on the ball, close to Igor Jesus, that's probably how it'll be.

"But I think [Dyche is] going to go there - and I think it's the right thing to do - and try to not concede the first goal, try and nick one. If Forest get a result, then it's going to be a 1-0, a 1-1 and I'd count a draw as a result as well."

Neither manager will be able to start talking about safety should they come out with a victory on Friday night, but winning this game will dial up the pressure on a relegation rival, bring out their opposite number's critics in force and once again bring the noise.