Pre-season assessed?
It was a shorter summer break due to the play-offs. Heartbreaking outcome. Pre-season we were full recharged and revoered and on it again. Never tempted to over interpret pre-season too much, but good group, good training camp, training sessions really good level. Friendlies, five wins, five games.
Better equipped now than 12 months ago?
We have done business. Really good business. To bring Rodon in permanently, good business. Bogle good signing. Rothwell. Aaronson and Wober back from their loans. Hard to compare after losing the best player in the league and highest talent in the league and good midfielder. Difficult to say better equipped, but the situation is much better. Last summer lots of uncertainty about many players and loan clauses, exit clauses.
Advantage now is the players and staff know our values, ow we want to play, our processes. Good basement to build on. Much better with the uncertainty of last season. The group is better. Just speak about this at the end of the season. Will be difficult to improve on 90 points. Far from celebrating this group too much.
Good path, good pre-season, but we have to prove it. Some positions where we have to stay awake in the window for strengthening
Assess Gray and Summerville contributions?
No secret that Crysencio was named the best player in the league. Can't replace such a player one on one. Don't have enough money to do this in the Championship. Want to add another player in this position but not a one-on-one replacement. Too much pressure on the potential incoming.
There's a reason every top club in Europe went after Archie. Glen was big for us too. Out of favour at Rangers, we made money on him. Cooper leadership and experience important for the group.
Losing Jaidon Anthony is hard too. Difficult to integrate new players. Losing these players was one of the biggest reasons we were upset about losing the play-off final. We are confident and bullish we try to find some good solutions.
Team news
Everyone is available. Good news. Rarely had this situation.
A dead leg in the last game for Bogle, but he's ready to go. Everyone ready to go
What difficulty is there in bringing players in?
I would not label it as a problem, but we are picky with players. I stand for values and I want players here desperate to defend this white shirt and yellow shirt by the way. I want to have great characters. This is a hurdle because I want players who are desperate to be here. They need to have the quality to improve this squad, which is not easy with the group we have.
Players with big futures cost money. I am in a good position where we have ambitious owners and they think about the future. We all know where we want to end up. What is clear is the values we stand for. We pay for sins of the past. Financial rules need following. Some difficult decisions of the past. To be in line, we have to earn more money than we spend from transfers.
We do not make contracts out of panic. I want players with contracts here where we are in the driving seat. Jayden a great signing for us. Some prospects from our academy. We need to add some quality in a few positions, that's right.
Let down by any targets?
No, because we were not under pressure like last season when it was difficult to build a group. We have a good basement and we are not forced to do anything. We have players here who are fully convinced. We need to get this feeling in talks with players.s Leeds is an unbelievably big name in English football. Many players are tempted to come here. but they need the personality and behaviour that suits. We do work on the background to fit to this model. We have a great group with a strong bond and mentality. Never felt let down by targets.
Expect a system that shares the goals next season?
The gut feeling was we shared the goals next season. Piroe, Bamford, Gnonto, James all shared goals. We shared these. We spoke about lacking goals in midfield. Second half of season from set-pieces and our defensive players. Worked on this topic. Looking for more goals from midfield.
Want to be more effective. We were top of xG in the league. Our conversion rate was not top. Missed chances. Many young players. We want to develop them. If we want to be there with the highest xG. Marsch would have been slaughtered for this xG stuff it's nonsense apparently
Can you see an Ipswich-like shock?
Difficult to predict before the season starts how the Championship is. Competitive league. Could not predict Ipswich promotion happens again because it was outstanding success for them. Cannot see it every season. Full of respect for our new opponents. Teams relegated will have a strong squad.
Do you have the budget to get what you need?
Every manager wants more. I would have loved to keep Archie or Cree, but that's not the point. We are in great talks. Why I signed a long contract. Our owners want to back us, but we have to stick to the rules. In life, like football, you pay for sins of the past. I feel backed. I don't have the feeling the club and the board and the owners are there to make my life easy or please me or suit me. I understand my job the other way. I am there to please the club. I don't complain. My aim was to bring stability in terms of the group we have. A great identification with the club. It was tough last season.
Never made a secret, once I give the job over to someone, we are in the PL. It does not work in this way of talking our way to promotion or I am a magician that prays to make ti happen with hope. Only thing that works is hard work on my side. Try to give this to the club. We had a 17yo last year is a multi-million pound now, who had not played before. Raised Glen's value, Cree's too.
Of course, I would have liked promotion and improving the squad, but we have to accept the rules and the fact the player may outgrow the club.
If you want to win the league you cannot do it with kids. You need experience, proven quality on this level. This is what we need to do. Brilliant leadership group, youngest in the league.
I don't want us to overpay for players who are not worth it. I make sure we do not overspend on players. We need to be realistic and smart with our business. I have total trust in our leadership and their backing.
Farke on Wober future
DF: He was a bit longer involved in the tournament [Euros], it was more difficult and we had a good chat on the telephone when he was playing for Austria. Then I allowed him 2.5 weeks of holiday to clear his head and come back. The chat was I want to be there and prove my worth. It’s always the same, a player comes in and their last experience was relegation and their reputation is maybe not on the top level, like Georgi or Illan last year. Now everyone is fully convinced and singing their names. Max was a bit careful to be too loud within the group, wants to adapt, especially in the German training camp. We sit together after the first three weeks of training and he said straight away, knocked on my office, he said ‘boss sorry am I allowed to come in, I’m 100 per cent convinced, I want to be here.’ The same with Brenden, one good training session or game is not everything to win back supporters but he has my backing, he has been good in training, they will need a few weeks until they are back to 100 per cent. I get the feeling they can play a really important part. He is really desperate to prove his worth. Let’s not celebrate it too much, the actions are more important than the word
Farke on whether any players are wantaways within the squad
DF: No, not one player was in my office to rule themselves out. Not at all. I’m not naive, we have good players and there are probably talks in the background, perhaps as a player it’s allowed to think about it [transfers to the Premier League] but not one player was in my office.
Farke on centre-back cover
DF: I was not sure before pre-season started because as I mentioned earlier with Max Wober, it was doubtful how he would present himself after he came back. We have allowed a few academy products to impress in pre-season. James Debayo has, I’m quite relaxed in the centre-back position. If Virgil van Dijk calls me tomorrow and says ‘Boss, I want to join you’, I would think about it. There could be a big injury, you never know. Keeping in mind, Ethan Ampadu can also play centre-back. It’s also important when a player like James uses a chance, he has caught my eye in pre-season. To tell you a secret, he’s probably the player I’m most strict with, I’m trying to correct him but it’s always a good sign when I moan at a player. He has earned a spot and rightly so.
