Give the man his due

Daniel Farke is doing what Daniel Farke does and his Leeds United players are buying in.

There is already an air of helplessness about the rest of the Championship, which is most evident underneath the West Stand in the Elland Road media suite. A succession of away managers have been ushered into the room by their press officers, sat down in front of the microphones and explained that Leeds are simply very good at football.

Leeds are really good, what could we do? There's a catch 22 for opposition managers because coming away from Elland Road without having a go is not a great look for your travelling supporters. But coming and having a go is asking for a black eye and a bloody nose.

Chris Wilder's tactical and selection changes said it all about the concerns opposition sides bring to Elland Road with them. Going toe-to-toe with Leeds is likely to get you picked off because while Farke sets them up to dominate possession he also equips them to be deadly on the counter.

The kind of flowing one-touch moves that brought that lovely team goal at Sheffield Wednesday or the winner at Swansea City look so instinctual to this team that you would be forgiven for thinking they were built to be a counter attacking side and not a protagonistic ball-hogging team.

Luton came to protect themselves from the kind of damage sustained by Swansea in a basketball-style affair. They came to sit deep. It didn't work. And when that didn't work, with goals still going in, maybe nothing was going to work.

So you can understand why Farke's players will be giving themselves totally to the plan. It works. It's working. They're top of the table, scoring more goals than anyone else and they have the tools with which to batter teams at Elland Road.

It is no coincidence that Manor Solomon's improved performances have come at the same time as his apparent arrival on the same page as his team-mates. Releasing the ball more quickly than he had been doing in previous outings allowed him to deliver cut-backs to Willy Gnonto created real danger against Luton. No matter how much individual quality the Spurs loanee might have or how convinced he is of his technical superiority in this division, the benefits of buying into the plan are becoming obvious.

There are still some supporters not buying in and that is always going to be the case. Sometimes the keep-ball tactic that Farke uses to tire out the opposition mentally and physically can lead to quiet, almost boring spells in games. When his substitutions do not yield goals, they do take on a formulaic appearance. But the wins over the Swans and Luton were far from tedious and both his team selection and substitutions worked a treat.

Perhaps, if the current trend continues, he will win some of his critics over to his side. Regardless, he will do what he does and on the evidence before us, he will win plenty of games.

Joffy needs an out

Sometimes it seems like Leeds United don't quite know what to do with a young player and Joe Gelhardt is the latest of those.

Why a loan move failed to materialise in the summer is beyond me, because there were so many takers and good opportunities. An Old Firm club would have been an incredible opportunity. A Championship play-off hopeful or even a team seeking midtable consolidation in the second tier would have done, though.

Joe Gelhardt needs game time (Pic: Getty)

In fact, if Max Dean has taught us anything then a decent League One loan is not to be sniffed at because that route has taken one goalscoring Scouser all the way to European football.

Perhaps Leeds' inability to get a number 10 in the transfer window played into the decision to keep Gelhardt around. That or the uncertainty around Patrick Bamford's fitness or Brenden Aaronson's reintegration in English football, maybe. Whatever the reason it has not worked out for either Gelhardt or Leeds because yet again a young, promising player is kicking his heels and playing little to no part in proceedings.

It calls to mind the Cody Drameh situation. Or the Charlie Cresswell saga.

Not every young hopeful is going to make it at Elland Road, even some of those who show such potential or make partial breakthroughs. But Gelhardt is still only 22 and time is on his side to rediscover the spark that made him an option for Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch in the Premier League.

January will be an important month in his career because the time to get out of Leeds and play some football is now. The time was the summer, really, but January is a second chance for both the club and the player to make the right decision.

It is understandable that he is keen and it is understood that there will be willingness on the club side. The fact that clubs are already making calls and putting together proposals to his camp suggests that Leeds are making their position known.

Soft-hearted centre

The depth of feeling that Leeds fans have for one another and their club is never more obvious than when they pay tribute so beautifully at Elland Road.

Whether it's Gary Speed, as it was during the Luton game, or Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, it does not seem to matter how many years pass, the strength of the emotions as Leeds stand as one to remember is always so tangible and so moving. 

There is a hardness to the Leeds fanbase, a non-negotiable level of expectation and an unwillingness to suffer fools. They can be pugnacious, hostile and unforgiving. But there is a soft-heartedness that makes itself known when any of their number is in a time of need, or when the time comes to show what someone means to them.

Blue Skies ahead

There's a place I like to go to tap into the thoughts of Leeds fans. It's a new place, called Blue Sky and it's a lot like an old place I liked to go before that place became a bot-filled, anger-fuelling rage pit.

In an ideal world, starting anew on a different social media platform would be a simple decision. That decision is simple enough if social media is not a vital source of audience and revenue in your line of work. The decision is not so easy then, because like it or not, the place formerly known as Twitter is still a major referrer. It brings and sends a lot of people to the YEP website. And there are still lots of people worth following and interacting with, in the old place. 

Until such a time as the numbers make sense and the audience on Blue Sky grows to rival the audience in the old place, ditching it simply will not be an option for many in the media. But the more interaction and engagement in local journalism that can be mustered in the new place, the more the chances are that it will become as important as the old one. Keep following, keep interacting and keep reading.