Leeds United’s players were inconsolable at Wembley on Sunday afternoon after losing to Southampton in the Championship play-off final.
Upbeat messages were not wanted by Leeds United’s players as they stared into the abyss of their dressing room floor at Wembley on Sunday. The Whites were beaten 1-0 by Southampton in the Championship play-off final, which ultimately left their efforts across 49 games counting for nothing.
A long season has finally ended, but the next will start in less than 11 weeks. The fixtures for the new campaign will land in a little over four weeks and it’s going to be the second tier yet again for Leeds. While that pain remained raw at the national stadium, it was not the time for Daniel Farke to start banging the drum about bringing three points home from Kassam Stadium.
The German said his players have no reason to dwell on a season which generated 90 points, a tally that would have secured automatic promotion in 15 of the previous 20 years at this level.
“After you lose a final and you are just one day, more or less, away from everyone going into the summer break, it would be too early to be there with upbeat messages because, at the moment, no one wants to hear it,” he said. “Everyone suffers and is disappointed and [there have been] many tears on the pitch and in the dressing room.
“You have to allow them to be down, but, overall, when you, in the next few days, have a look at the bigger picture, at what I mentioned, 90 points, the way we played the play-offs, the way we played the final, there is no reason to dwell under it. It’s more important to take this disappointment, this experience, to take it as extra motivation in order to make sure these supporters, who were today, again, second to none, not just in this league, but even in this country, have a day when they deserve to celebrate and to enjoy such a day.
“For that, we feel the pain today and we are deeply disappointed we are not able to send our supporters home with something to cheer about. We are not back in the Promised Land, where we want to be in the Premier League, but one thing is for sure, these lads have no reason to dwell on it and we’ll take this also as extra motivation to come even back stronger.
“It will be difficult to come back stronger because we were there with 90 points during the season. Overall, [that’s] a great achievement, but to be there with a perfect outcome, to be allowed to call yourself again a Premier League side, this is definitely something we want to celebrate one day.”
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