Daniel Farke addresses Leeds United 'curse' after 'complicated' Sheffield United victory
Boss Daniel Farke admitted a sense of relief that Leeds United finally broke their set piece "curse" in their home victory over Sheffield United.
The Whites dominated the Yorkshire derby for long periods and deservedly went ahead in the 69th minute courtesy of Pascal Struijk, who hooked home Joe Rothwell's corner. It was the first time United had scored from a dead ball situation since February. Substitute Mateo Joseph added a second late on to help United return to winning ways.
Farke told Sky Sports that he is a "big believer" in set pieces and and felt a goal from a dead ball situation was "coming". He said: "It's good that this curse is over. We know that we can score out of this situation. We have to add a few more. I'm pretty happy today for our specialists who work on this and it worked exactly the way that we planned it."
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On their performance, Farke said: "It was a complicated game and we had to be switched on. I'm pretty tired, to be honest, because we had to adapt our pressing and our formation against the ball, particularly in the last 10 minutes when we were running out of steam.
"Big compliments to the lads after not the easiest of preparation. We played excellent today. It was a very mature performance. We faced a side today who were unbeaten in the league and had kept six clean sheets in a row. It was important to have a good balance; we wanted to create chances but we wanted to control their counters. The lads executed it in a perfect way and we deserved to win the game. The lads were very flexible and adaptable."
Victory ensured Farke's men leapfrogged Sheffield United into second spot in and extended their unbeaten league run to five matches. He said: "Three points are always priceless - yes if you do it against a really good side, an experienced side and an experienced manager it gives us even more confidence.
"I'm pretty happy with the clean sheet also today again and also how we saw the game out in the last minutes. We are on a good path but we have to keep going."