Leeds United saw their unbeaten start to the Premier League season end at Arsenal, yet manager Daniel Farke still felt the 2-1 loss could help continue his side’s positive start to the campaign.
His team were defeated, but only after taking the lead through James Justin.
Although it was against the flow of possession, it was totally deserved, Leeds keeping Arsenal at arm’s length when the champions had the ball, and creating much the better chances when they did not.
Ultimately, the Gunners had too much for them, equalising through Riccardo Calafiori, then making a triple substitution to force a Bruno Guimaraes winner.
But Farke felt the good of the first hour outweighed that.
Asked what he thought the performance would do for his side, beaten 9-0 on aggregate in last season’s league matches against Mikel Arteta’s side, he replied: “Confidence in the performance and our processes.
“Many players were just back (from international duty) two days ago and we just had more or less one day on the training pitch to prepare. So to show such a level of performance against one of the best teams in the world gives lots of confidence.”
Now Farke wants to see them follow it up in their next game, at home to bitter rivals Manchester United on October 18.
“We have to make sure that we earn the right for further momentum in the next game,” said Farke. “Just having had many good months won’t help us to win the points against Man United.
“We have to make sure we do the basics again, that we stay humble, we prepare this game also very carefully on the training pitch and are on it again.
“You have to earn the right for momentum in this league every gameday.
“There were lots of positives to take but also serious work to do.”
Be the first to comment