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Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has issued a brilliant response to Pep Guardiola after the Catalan boss invited his players to drink cocktails during time off this week.
The Blues have won five games on the spin and are still in the running for an unprecedented quadruple of trophies this season, having set up a Carabao Cup final meeting with Arsenal and progressed to the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup.
Guardiola gave his players three days off after last week’s 2-1 win over Newcastle United and encouraged them to unwind over cocktails and not worry as such about the title race – as they go head to head with Arsenal for the Premier League title.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s visit to Elland Road, Leeds United boss Daniel Farke was quizzed for his thoughts on Guardiola jokingly inviting players to drink cocktails in midweek.
“That’s the difference between the clubs – they drink daiquiris and caipirinhas, here you drink proper pints of beer. It’s proper a Elland Road atmosphere,” Farke said in a press conference on Friday.
“Looking forward to this game, facing the most successful and best side over the last decade in the UK and world football, winning everything; Premier League titles, League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League. They have some of the best players in the world, the best manager in the world. It’s a big challenge for us.”
On the difficulty of facing an ever-changing and adapting Guardiola, Farke added: “He always evolves and develops, he’s always ahead of the wave. He played with a false-nine when no one even knew what a false-nine was.
“He’s played with inverted full-backs but no one even knew about this. He’s rotated teams when everyone thought it’s more about automation and consistency.
“And once everyone adapts and tries to copy, he’s again ahead of the wave and changes his set-up. He’s probably the manager who has influenced and inspired the game and so many managers most in the history of football. He’s simply the best.”
And then there is the small matter of Erling Haaland and just how the Leeds United team will contend with closing out the in-form Norwegian strike, who returns to his place of birth this weekend.
“Erling Haaland is probably the best striker in the world. He [Pep Guardiola] also knows how to use him,” Farke admitted, before cheekily pointing out, “The only one who comes close to him is Dominic Calvert-Lewin, of course.”
City and Guardiola will be keen to keep Arsenal on their toes as they look to hunt the Gunners down in the business stage of the title race once again, having significantly cut the back to the top of the table this month.