Southampton’s Martin vs Leeds’ Farke: a duel that rests on a tactical cut

Just over two weeks ago, Southampton and Leeds United played out what turned out to be a dress rehearsal for this season’s Championship play-off final. Visitors Southampton came out on top that night, winning 2-1.

And last September, before either club went on manic unbeaten runs in a bid to keep pace in the race for the two second-tier automatic promotion places, Russell Martin also beat Leeds counterpart Daniel Farke, 3-1, in the opposite direction. fixing.

In reality, however, these results will count for little when the teams step out at Wembley on Sunday to decide who will go up to the Premier League with Leicester City and Ipswich Town.

This was demonstrated by Oxford United and Crawley Town in the other two EFL play-off finals last weekend, who won promotion despite not winning any of their league games against opponents Bolton Wanderers and , Crewe Alexandra.

Indeed, Oxford’s 5-0 defeat away to Bolton in March was so bad that it was 1) their heaviest of the season and 2) a game their manager Des Buckingham said he could not and that now he will never follow again. They were comfortably the better side in Saturday’s final and so the footage can be safely consigned to the dustbin of history.

Things are a bit tighter in the Championship, particularly between Leeds and Southampton.

Perhaps there is a mental benefit to Martin’s side knowing that they have gone to Elland Road and turned Leeds around so recently. Or maybe it’s the fuel Farke can use.

The additional fun subplot to all of this, beyond the tactical intrigue and the atmosphere the fans will generate on the day, is that Farke and Martin have a history dating back to their time together as manager and player at Norwich City seven years ago.

As a double Championship-winning manager in his four years at Carrow Road, it was no surprise that Farke often referred to his time there in press conferences this season, trying to navigate the difficult waters of fans’ emotions in promotion. load. That Leeds knocked Norwich out of these play-offs 4-0 The aggregate score continues to add layers to the complexity of emotion that ran through this campaign.

That second-leg win over Norwich at Elland Road, which even the most optimistic Leeds fans could not have predicted after the first-leg stalemate, showed Farke’s tactical nous.

In the first leg, with Patrick Bamford sidelined by a knee injury, he started with Georginio Rutter in 9th and Archie Gray playing in 10th. At home, Gray kept his place but Joel Piroe started ahead of him, reflecting a more ambitious approach after troubling the Norwich defense off the bench in that goalless game at Carrow Road. The tactical change worked perfectly.

And therein lies the challenge in this tactical match between the two managers.

Where Farke has at times been criticized for taking too long to make substitutions as Leeds slipped out of the automatic promotion slots, he is more fluid about his team’s style of play than Martin, whose absolute commitment against Southampton’s formation and heavy possession mark. Football worked well for them, but it can be undone if you got it right.

Leeds’ goal against Southampton in that game this month showed exactly how this can be done: press up top and Southampton’s commitment to play from the back can lead to mistakes that are easily punished. Piroe scored the equalizer that evening after a change of possession in Southampton territory.

But then comes the flip side.

When Southampton succeed with a high press, the players employed could leave Leeds exposed and easy to cut open.

Southampton caused Farke’s men problems with the attacking threat of Kyle Walker-Peters at right-back, as Junior Firpo knows all too well from that game at Elland Road and playing the likes of Adam Armstrong (three goals in the two games this). season against Leeds) behind. Also, Will Smallbone’s late runs made him particularly difficult to pick up.

Both managers are smart enough not to let their history – personal or tactical – cloud their emotions on Sunday. But Martin, who played more than 300 games for Norwich over nine years, has spoken publicly about how he wishes his exit had gone differently.

Farke froze Martin out of the first team at the start of his debut season in 2017-18, before the Scotland international defender joined Rangers on loan and then had his Norwich contract terminated by mutual consent ahead of the following season.

Martin described that time at Norwich as the toughest of his career. In his version of events, there was early friction with new manager Farke when – on behalf of his team-mates and in his role as captain – he raised questions about scheduling and travel time in pre-season. This was followed by a test match in August against Millwall, where Farke replaced Martin 14 minutes into the second half after the team had conceded three goals in the first half. The fans booed him off the field.

It would be his last senior game for Norwich.

“I wanted to maintain my integrity and professionalism throughout the whole thing,” Martin said The Athletic in 2019 while playing for MK Dons, who he later managed as player-manager and then manager. “There is this myth, Daniel and I had a big fallout. I still shook his hand every day. We had another conversation about football from time to time. I didn’t agree with everything he did but I didn’t express it to the boys because that would have a detrimental effect. I just stayed out of it.”

Farke, for his part, said before the two teams met last September: “On a personal level, it’s always great. He was a great player and a great human being.”

After Norwich won promotion at the end of the 2018-19 season, Martin is said to have sought out Farke and shook his hand without bitterness between them.

On Sunday they are likely to do the same again, for the third time this season, but only one will leave Wembley with the satisfaction of their biggest win yet.

(Top photos: Getty Images)