'At this stage...' - Leeds United boss Daniel Farke delivers promotion race verdict after Sunderland slip

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has insisted that he is not paying too much attention to the Championship table after his side, Sunderland, Sheffield United, and Burnley all dropped points over the weekend.

The German took his team to Turf Moor on Monday evening, where they played out a drab 0-0 stalemate against Scott Parker’s resolute Clarets. Earlier in the weekend, Sheffield United suffered a shock defeat against relegation-threatened Hull City on Friday night, while a late goal prevented Sunderland from beating Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon.

As a consequence of those results, Leeds remain top of the table on 60 points, with Sheffield United on 58, Burnley on 57, and Sunderland sitting fourth on 55. But despite having missed out on the opportunity to extend his side’s lead at the summit, Farke has emphasised just how pleased he was with a sharing of the spoils in Lancashire.

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Speaking in a post-match press conference, he said: “I wouldn't say the game was the sexiest piece of football, but it’s a good result for us, a good point on the road. It was a game of little mistakes, I think both teams were there more or less without mistakes, or at least without crucial mistakes. I think both teams struggled to create enough chances.

“I'm pretty happy how we controlled their processes against the ball. With the ball, I would have wished that in the final third, in and around the box, we would have been a bit more confident, a bit more committed. If you play such a well-defending side after 29 games who have not even conceded double figures so far, when a chance comes along you have to be a bit more committed.”

When asked if he was surprised by Burnley’s risk-averse approach, Farke replied: “It's not up to me to judge what they have done or what they should have done. We will concentrate on ourselves. When you analyse Burnley's games, they have a bit of a special approach and you have to be ready for this in order to control this. You have to make sure that you are rock solid also in defending this what you were.

“The problem is they take pretty little risk with the ball in terms of losing the ball in dangerous areas. So if they lose the ball it’s only in areas where they can't be hurt on the counter-attack. This is why you never have a counter-attack or really a dangerous transition moment against them and that makes it so complicated. You always have to prepare and to create a chance more or less against a compact block. They are well-structured against the ball.

“Pretty much credit also to Scott for how he does this. It's complicated to create chances against them. Whether they should do it in a different way or be braver or whatever, it's not up to me to judge. I think it's also credit to us and our reputation that another really strong opponent in the home game is perhaps even a bit more cautious against us. This also says a lot about our reputation in the league.”

When quizzed about Sunderland & Sheffield United both dropping points in their respective matches, Farke added: "At this stage you don't look too far into the table. With 17 games to go, if we stopped winning points after today we don't make the play-offs. It was always a big game and we're delighted with a point"