Daniel Farke saw his Leeds United side taken all the way to penalties before sealing FA Cup progression at Birmingham City.
Leeds United boss Daniel Farke was delighted with Lucas Perri’s role in an FA Cup win at Birmingham City but says the keeper still has some recovering to do after recent difficulties.
Perri pulled off a superb first half save to keep the score 0-0 as Championship Birmingham put their Premier League visitors under the cosh.
Lukas Nmecha’s opener was cancelled out by a deflected Patrick Roberts strike in the 89th minute and after extra-time failed to separate the sides, Perri came up big in the shootout.
The Brazilian, who according to team-mate Lukas Nmecha had difficulty reading the opposition shirt numbers as he prepared to face the opening two spot-kicks, was twice sent the wrong way. But he guessed right to palm away Tommy Doyle’s effort and then Patrick Roberts missed entirely, leaving Sean Longstaff to put Leeds in the fifth round.
Farke was full of praise for Leeds’ hosts for making it an even tougher afternoon than he anticipated.
“First of all I have to say really well done to Birmingham, they made this a really difficult game for us, like expected,” he said.
“Fantastic home performance, you could feel they’re in red hot form. Stadium was buzzing, everyone on it. We have rotated a bit more than we would perhaps do for a league game.
“No question they were better in the first half, they would have deserved to be in the lead. We brought many offensive players on, it could be the case if you don’t dominate you’re a bit outmuscled. Not too many positives in the first half although we were suffering we still found a way to keep a clean sheet. Perri with good saves, last row with many blocks.
“We changed our set-up and brought our captain Ethan Ampadu in, a bit more physicality, changed the base formation and won step by step more control. Better in pressing, well taken goal but they stayed in the game, was very tight, very competitive. It’s football. They had too many corners and out of one we cleared it but a strike from 25 yards, deflected, goes in, 90th minute. I’m happy we showed resilience. We used penalties, well taken and Perri was again excellent.”
Perri was brought back in between the sticks after losing his place in the team to Karl Darlow. Farke was critical of Perri after high profile errors in consecutive games against Manchester United and Newcastle United, and has sat out since.
His performance against Birmingham was exactly what he needed, even if he’s not back to full confidence in Farke’s estimation.
“I’m very happy and delighted with him, he fully deserves to be in the spotlight today,” said Farke. “He’s such a smart and thoughtful guy.
“When you have a difficult period it’s a bit more helpful when you’re not that thoughtful and overthinking. It’s great that he’s such an intelligent guy but it was not easy for him in recent weeks. He’s still on the way to recover from this and to win his momentum back but days like this are best for that. He deserves all his praise.”
And Farke tried to see the positives with Facundo Buonanotte, too, despite the loanee struggling badly on a full debut that ended at half-time. Farke took off the Argentinian and replaced him with Ampadu in an attempt to combat Birmingham’s physicality.
“It’s what I spoke about – he’s a very young player, so young he doesn’t take a spot on our Premier League list,” said Farke.
“He’s not played much football in the last years. It’s not like you come here and can deliver, step-by-step you have to fight and get your rhythm back.
“He knows he’s a bit away from his very best and has to work hard in training and when he gets a chance use every minute to bring himself to a level where he can shine in every game, even on Premier League level. Important 45 minutes nonetheless. I don’t want to be overly critical, it’s difficult to shine when you haven’t played much.”
Leeds have not progressed beyond the fifth round of the FA Cup since 2003 and await Monday night’s draw to find out who they will need to overcome next to end that rotten run. Farke’s big hope is to be pulled out of the hat before their fifth round opponents.
“The first thing I dream about would be a home draw,” he said.
“It’s great if you win it [away] but I would also like to have a proper packed Elland Road in the next round. We know the recent history of the club is not great in the FA Cup.
“Step by step it’s not perhaps realistic to dream of a win at Wembley but I like a proper cup run. A cup run is always excitement for the supporters and players. Just one game per week we don’t rotate too much, but with cup games we can share minutes even more.
“Everyone knows they have to stay on it and focused and they’re needed. For the whole group it’s beneficial. It’s the cup with the biggest history in Europe and it’s a chance to write a special chapter in the club’s history.”