REPORT :BBC pundit left baffled by something ‘strange’ Daniel Farke did in Leeds United draw at Norwich

BBC pundit Jon Newsome shared his surprise at Daniel Farke’s decision during Leeds United’s 1-1 draw with Norwich City.

   Leeds will be pleased to have come away from Carrow Road with a hard-earned point, given that Norwich have not been beaten at home in the league since November 2023.

   At the same time, it could just as easily have been more for Leeds on the second night, who were arguably the better side for a good 70 minutes.

   After Josh Sargent gave the home side an early lead from the penalty spot, Leeds finally equalized through Largie Ramazani on the hour mark.

   Ramazani and Wilfried Gnonto caused Norwich all sorts of problems, but they bought time before the end, meaning Leeds had to hold on late to get a point.

   Jon Newsome surprises Farke in Leeds draw

   Leeds have had a tough hand with their fixture schedule this week, with a trip to Sunderland in preparation as early as Friday night.

   Farke’s side are already at the bottom anyway, and the loss of Ilia Gruev after 20 minutes in Norfolk did not ease those fears.

   As such, it may come as no surprise that Farke decided to use his bench heavily, but it came at a price.    Leeds fans felt his subs completely destroyed any momentum they had built.

   On BBC Radio Leeds, Newsome admitted he was very surprised by the decision to leave out Ramazani and Gnont, who he believed were the two best players on the pitch.

   He said: “As I said in the comments, I thought the substitutions were a bit strange for me because I thought the best players on the pitch at the time were Ramazani and Gnonto.

   “They were sitting on the touchline for 15, 20 minutes before the end, which was a bit unusual for me. But listen, the manager will have his reasons. He’s paid to lead the team and that’s what he does.”

   Farke explains why he removed Largie Ramazani

   Ramazani’s withdrawal was the subject of Farke’s post-match press conference and in fairness to the Leeds boss he gave a fairly understandable rationale.

   Not only did he have Sunderland on his mind, but Farke says Ramazani’s workload is still under control due to injuries to both Manor Solomon and Dan James, as well as the fact that he is almost overworked.

   He said: “It was more or less his third start and when it was such an intense game he struggled a bit. If you look at the workload, you won’t find many wingers getting less than that distance in the league at the moment.

   “I don’t mean that as a criticism, we have to work on his physical points. We have wings that are out, we can’t afford another injury. That was the plan, especially against Norwich, they always provide games that are the most distance covered and intensity  distances in the entire league.

   “You need wings to help you work. We wanted to use his creativity and drive to keep him on the pitch for as long as possible. I’m glad he got through the 70 minutes.”