Leeds United news: Daniel Farke struggling to rebuild home form at Elland Road
Leeds United were many pundits’ pre-season favourites to achieve automatic promotion from the Championship - but they are ninth in the table after five games.
West Brom are setting the pace having won four of their first five league games, whereas Leeds have only banked two wins.
Here, Sports News Blitz’s Harry Whitfield takes a look at what’s going wrong at Elland Road.
Leeds United went on a remarkable run at home last season as they were unbeaten from August until April in all competitions.
Crysencio Summerville’s late equaliser in a 2-2 opening game draw against Cardiff sent the Whites on a 23-game unbeaten run at home.
Their best run at home started with a 4-0 thrashing of Ipswich Town, who pipped Leeds to promotion last season, and ended with a 3-1 victory over Hull City as Daniel Farke’s side won nine games in a row.
However, Leeds lost four of their final six games in the league campaign which included their first home defeat of the season in a 1-0 loss to Blackburn Rovers.
They ended the season with back-to-back defeats at home, losing 2-1 to Southampton as they would go on to lose again to the Saints in the play-off final.
Starting with the Blackburn game, Leeds have lost four out of their last seven games at home, including their dreadful performance against Middlesbrough in the League Cup.
Farke knows how important home games are for the club - the atmosphere at Elland Road on a matchday is electric.
So to have already lost twice at home will be a concern and he is missing the stars of the last campaign with Summerville, Georginio Rutter and Archie Gray all gone.
New signings have arrived in Manor Solomon, Largie Ramazani and Ao Tanaka to fill the hole left by the summer departures.
Yet there are still doubts over whether Farke can repeat the run of last season, which pushed his side into one of the best promotion fights the Championship has ever seen.
After five games Leeds Utd sit in ninth place in the table, six places higher than they were last year, but it feels like they haven’t kicked into gear yet.
It will need to happen soon for the German boss or Leeds could be facing another spell in England’s second tier.
The same problems from last season are haunting this club. Farke’s side are not clinical enough as they dominated their last game against Burnley with 70% possession and 19 shots on goal.
Luca Koleosho’s first-half goal saw the game finish 1-0, the third game of the season Leeds failed to score.
It’s hard to see how this season is going to be any different at the moment, but as they say, anything can happen in this league - and it’s the hope that kills you.
