It’s only been a couple of weeks since Daniel Farke took over as first-team manager at Leeds United, but one player has already been complaining about his methods.
As so often happens when someone new comes in to shake things up a bit, noses are put out of joint, egos are jolted and the dynamic shifts.
From Leeds’ players point of view, they’ll understand that Farke’s methods have worked at previous clubs so, like it or not, until new owners, 49ers Enterprises, say otherwise, they’ll just have to get on with it.
Farke will have known that he was walking into a club with a real challenge on his hands.
Leeds are a massive club and though no one ‘deserves’ to be in the top-flight purely on that basis, the English top-flight is the all whites rightful home.
That’s the pressure facing the new manager as he tries to work out ways in which he can give his team the edge.
It sounds like he does have most players on side already despite their reservations about certain aspects of training.
“Very tough (training), I can say that. But it’s been very good,” Leo Hjelde said to Leeds Live.
“He (Farke) likes to play possession-based. He knows what he’s doing. It’s just been a week, just trying to implement it. We’ve done too much running for my liking, but that’s how it is.”
With it often said that the Championship is one of the hardest leagues to get out of, Farke has to ensure that his players can run harder and for longer than their opponents as a basic requirement.
Hjelde and his colleagues will almost certainly see the benefits in due course.
Great! Fitness is paramount. Players need to buy in to it or leave!