Daniel Farke watched on as his Leeds United team scored three goals against Newcastle United in January and yet still lost the match.
Once three goals went into the NUFC net before the break at Elland Road, not a single person watching the game believed that there could be a repeat of that scenario eight months ago.
A young and inexperienced Newcastle United squad hit by so many injuries, an experienced big and physical Leeds United side proved far too much on the night.
A cruel double deflection NUFC own goal set Daniel Farke and his team on their way on 32 minutes.
Then pretty much straight from the kick-off, 18-year-old Sean Steur (who had to come on when a concussed Nico Gonzalez took the Newcastle United injury count up to seven) played a naive badly executed pass from just outside his own penalty area that was easily cut out, then seconds later the ball in the back of the net and game over.
Calvert-Lewin made it three on the stroke of half-time with the help of more poor Newcastle United defensive play.
The fact that Matthias Jaissle’s team drew the second-half 1-1 brought little or no joy to the travelling fans.
Daniel Farke reflecting on what he witnessed on Monday night: “On rare occasions even for a manager, it is a joy to watch a football game, and especially his team playing. But this was one of those rare occasions and so I also enjoyed my team playing tonight. It was an excellent performance, really, from the first to nearly the last second, and also sadly not a clean sheet in the end. But overall, a top-class performance and I am proud of my boys.”
The Leeds boss going on to explain: “We wanted to press Newcastle and wanted to dominate this game. But on the other hand, you also have to be aware how much pace they have up front. They are so strong on the counter-attack and with their quick attacks, and we need to find a good balance between finding the right triggers to press them but also to be well-structured and not to be caught by surprise sometimes.”
Daniel Farke more than happy with how his tactics worked and were executed by the Leeds players: “We found a good balance today and I think this was key. I thought we defended actually really well from those balls over the top. I thought the pressure that they put on us at times made it difficult for us to pass out. We did the same to them but they just couldn’t live with us. Many topics were top class today but there is always something to improve and we will also try to improve this final bit. The table is at the moment not important but to be already on eight points is important to achieve overall.”