Leeds United boss Daniel Farke believes his side did “more than enough” to beat Bristol City after his side was held to a 0-0 draw at Ashton Gate.
The away side had the better of the chances on Saturday but struggled to put any past City goalkeeper Max O’Leary with Leeds beginning to take control as the game progressed.
Headers from Jayden Bogle, Sam Bryam and Mateo Joseph all missed the target and Willy Gnonto and Daniel James both had strikes saved by O’Leary as Farke’s side amassed 17 shots on goal in BS3.
Their biggest chance came when Gnonto was left open in the box, the Italian striking an effort at goal from a low cross which beat O’Leary, however Robins centre back Zak Vyner was there to clear the ball off the line.
“It’s a difficult place (Ashton Gate),” admitted Leeds’ German manager after the game.
“We’re also respectful because we knew about Bristol’s home record, so far unbeaten, a really decent home record so a really good side. I think we did more than enough to win this difficult away game.”
Whilst the Whites had the more clear-cut chances, they also managed to reduce the Reds’ space in the box, restricting Liam Manning’s side to more speculative efforts through the likes of Luke McNally and Yu Hirakawa early on.
An expected goals tally of just 0.16 was created by the Robins, whereas their opponents managed 1.38 yet were unable to find the net.
“When we have a look at the objective data, I can’t complain about anything,” Farke continued.
“We had 70% possession with 17 shots to Bristol City’s four. I think we had 10 times more expected goals than they did so we didn’t allow them one proper chance. The feeling is that we created more than enough, not just to score one goal. And if you score one goal then they have to open up a bit more so I was pretty sure we would have even a bit more. We were a bit wasteful in front of the opponent’s goal, I have to say, [but] statistic-wise we were, more or less, really dominant.
“We started a bit slow into the game and then, more or less, stepped up and improved then. After 20 minutes we were then pretty dominant.”
Leeds came into the game with the same unbeaten run as City (six games) and extended that to seven with Saturday’s draw.
After a full-on week post-international break, Farke acknowledged his side’s various struggles going into the game at Ashton Gate.
“The circumstances were not the easiest ones for us with our third game in eight days,” the former Norwich boss declared.
“We’re struggling with a few injuries at the moment. We can’t rotate as much as we would like to. [They are a] really good home side as well. The pitch was not the easiest today, so it was all a bit scruffy and obviously the circumstances were not that easy. For that, it was a really solid away performance that should earn you a well-deserved three points.”
With Leeds creating many chance to test O’Leary or break the deadlock, it was frustrating for Farke that his side were so fruitless in front of goal.
“There were situations in the first half with James and Gnonto where the pass from Gnonto to James and the pass from Joel Piroe to Gnonto was all a bit untidy,” Farke stressed.
“We could have created more and in the second half with Willy’s chance, Mateo Joseph’s chance and Sam Byram’s header… we had so many situations where normally you’d need to score a goal.
“But that’s, more or less, the only thing I can complain about and when you don’t score, it happens quite often especially in this league, there is one counterattack and you lose such a game, so for that I’m pleased that we didn’t lose our nerve or panic. A point on the road, especially a clean sheet, is always a solid and good result but I’m still a bit disappointed that out of a solid and good away performance it was not a well-deserved three points, for that we were a bit wasteful.”
Farke briefly touched on the circumstances around the game and Manning’s return to the touchline on Saturday when asked, talking gracefully about not wanting to speak too much about it and put the same amount of weight on the result of the football game as with the tragic circumstances.
“I don’t want to give the same value to such a situation because when you think about what happened for him and everyone involved, this was much, much important than just a game of football,” Farke said understandingly.
“I have to say, credit to how everyone around here handled the situation.
“In the last days and weeks, all our thoughts and all our best wishes and prayers have been there to him and to his family.
“I think such a day can be important for him to feel the love and feel all the commitment and I think everyone in the stadium has shown this. It’s good to have him back on the touchline.”