What pundits have said about Leeds United's promotion bid and Daniel Farke as FFP warning issued

-Credit: (Image: Anna Gowthorpe/REX/Shutterstock)
-Credit: (Image: Anna Gowthorpe/REX/Shutterstock)


Leeds United have made a solid start to the Championship campaign and are unbeaten in their first four games. Two wins and two draws has given the Whites a good platform to kick on when they return from the international break.

Despite being four points off Sunderland at the top of the table, there are plenty of positives around Elland Road with pundits heaping praise on Daniel Farke. The likes of Clinton Morrison, Don Goodman, Darren Bent and Carlton Palmer have all had their say on Leeds' start to the season.

LeedsLive has compiled every word from the EFL pundits on transfers, pressure and their promotion hopes for this season.

READ MORE:Tottenham lead Liverpool in transfer pursuit of Leeds United's brightest talent

READ MORE:49ers Enterprises radio silence, Wober's future and Leeds United injury news on Farke's agenda

Clinton Morrison

"It’s definitely promotion or bust for Daniel Farke at Leeds United this season. One hundred per cent," Morrison told 10bet.

"He’s been appointed to get the club back in the Premier League. That’s what he needs to do this season, especially after the way Leeds lost the play-off final last season. Leeds didn’t turn up in that final, and I think having that as their route into the league was a massive blow for them because they would have been expecting to finish first or second.

"Farke has the experience of taking clubs up, he did it with Norwich. I do expect things to be different for them this season, but if he can’t take them up then it’s curtains. They have sold players, but they still have spent money. I think they’ll go up because it’s a big club with great fans and some very good players. From a financial perspective, there is pressure on getting back to the Premier League this season, they’ll know that.

"I think Farke can handle that pressure. I think he can handle the expectation of Leeds United fans, and that is why I think they will win the title this season."

Don Goodman

Daniel Farke's outfit are "100 per cent favourites" to win the Championship title, according to Goodman. He told Betway: “Another reason I still have them as favourites is, despite losing Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter, I think they had a decent window. Through those sales, they've recouped so much cash and resolved every FFP problem while also bringing in the likes of Joe Rothwell, Manor Solomon, Largie Ramazani and Ao Tanaka. These are good players. Solomon has already shown the impact he can have, by assisting Mateo Joseph's goal at the weekend.

“Looking at the bigger picture, it could have been a lot worse for Leeds United, I'm really optimistic for them. If there's one team that I can see having the ability to establish a comfortable lead at the top of the table, it is Leeds.”

"I think that conceding three goals against Portsmouth and against Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup made them reset defensively," added Goodman. "That's the reason they went to West Bromwich Albion with the intention of not losing and it's helped them re-establish themselves as that solid unit which was one of the best defences in the Championship last season.

“They went to the Hawthorns and kept a clean sheet, as opposed to throwing caution to the wind, and nobody has scored against them since. You can't expect to concede so many goals and be successful.

“They're unbeaten this season with eight points on the board, whereas this time last year they only had five points. Daniel Farke's teams have been notoriously slow starters, too."

Darren Bent

“Yeah of course they are [good enough to go up],” Bent told talkSPORT. “But I think a lot of [what’s going wrong] is pressure.

"You’ve got to think, Leeds are by some distance the biggest club in the Championship. With that comes pressure, and when you look at the players in the squad, people will think every time they play against Leeds, they want to beat them because they’re expected to go back up, and rightly so.

“When you look at the squad, they’ve got Meslier, he was there under Bielsa. They’ve got Ethan Ampadu, good player. Jayden Bogle, who they brought in. Joe Rodon from Spurs, Dan James, international, [Brenden] Aaronson, who missed that chance. They’ve still got [Patrick] Bamford who can score goals, and they’ve got [Wilfried] Gnonto. I know Georginio looks like he’s going, but they’ve got players in the squad where you go, you should be able to go up.”

Carlton Palmer

“Looking at the table, I don’t really think it takes shape until after 10 games”, Palmer told the Football League World. “I think you certainly can look at it after ten games and get a guide to how the season may go.

“I fancied Leeds United and Luton Town to get automatic promotion, but Luton are sat second from bottom in the table right now. I certainly didn’t see that happening, three defeats in their first four games, but there is still a long way to go in the season.

“Leeds [have had] so many upheavals and especially late on in the transfer window, and they’re in a play-off position so I’m not going to change my view on that. I said Sheffield United (to be promoted) and it depended on how they were able to deal in the transfer window, and Chris Wilder dealt very well late on. They’re still unbeaten and would be sat only four points off the top of the table if not for their two-point deduction.

“As for Burnley, I predicted that they would be there or thereabouts at the top, so nothing has really changed for me, it's still early days and the four clubs that I predicted should be up there. I didn’t envisage that Sunderland would be top of the league unbeaten, and I didn’t envisage West Brom being second.

“I thought West Brom would be around the play-offs, but Sunderland, I didn’t expect their transformation to take place as quickly as it has done in such a short period of time. Twelve points on the board after four games, and the way they’re playing makes them serious candidates for the play-offs.

“I think Leeds are going to grow stronger, Burnley will be strong and so will Sheffield United, because all of those clubs have the power, come January, to go and reinvest in their squad.”