Daniel Farke’s mood ‘in-between’ after Leeds’ draw at Sunderland

By Rebecca Johnson, Press Association

Daniel Farke admitted his mood was “in-between” despite Leeds claiming a “good point” in a 1-1 draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats went ahead through Simon Adingra in the 28th minute before the visitors were handed a blow with Joe Rodon forced off through injury.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin continued his fine form, scoring for the sixth game running straight after the restart and although Leeds put in a strong second-half display, the spoils were shared to extend their unbeaten run to five games.

Reflecting on the match, Farke said: “The unbeaten run continues. We showed again a great mentality to come back out of a losing position.

“Then of course another point on the table. A difficult away game, no other team has come away with a better result so far in this Premier League season, so Sunderland are unbeaten here at home.

“It’s definitely a good point. The performance from minute 30 on, because I think we dominated this game, mood-wise I’m a bit in-between. All the positives I mentioned now, but the gut feeling was we could have started the game better.

“I wasn’t really happy with the first 30 minutes. To be honest, even without the injury, I would have changed the base formation and perhaps even substituted during the first half.

“We got so much praise for our win last weekend when we scored four goals out of set-pieces. We waited way too much at the beginning, just for the situations for a throw-in, corner, free-kick.

“I think we forgot to show the second part of our DNA – football. To dominate the ball, be brave on the ball and to be proactive to take the game to the opponents’ half and to create chances to score goals.

“This is more or less what we did from minute 30 on, the goal – an excellent team goal – was a consequence out of this. Have to give lots of credit for this away performance from minute 30 on.

“The gut feeling was also we’ve dominated each statistic, we could have won this game if we would have been a bit more clinical in the opponent’s box.

“We take the point, it’s a good point, especially coming back out of a losing position, but no dancing tonight because three was also possible.”

Regis Le Bris believes Sunderland struggled to adapt to changes made after Rodon’s withdrawal.

Brian Brobbey had two excellent chances to extend their lead before the break, but Calvert-Lewin found the decisive equaliser.

“We started well, we scored, we had the opportunity to score the second goal,” Le Bris said.

“The game shifted after the injury of Rodon, I think they managed a different structure and we struggled to find the best references for the low build-up and for the high press.

“I think it’s normal because of the changes to improve, and to get better in this new culture you need time and experiences. This shift was a bit difficult to manage today.”

Le Bris also revealed that Dan Ballard was absent from the squad due to an ankle issue.

He said: “We’ll see on Monday, we’ll have another scan. It doesn’t seem too serious but is important to explore further and to find the best solution.”