Leeds United's 'electrifying offensive firework' display against Huddersfield Town pleases manager Daniel Farke

Farke was convinced the Whites should have won at Stoke, but there was no doubts their emphatic 4-1 success against their neighbours.

He said: “I think you could see how much it meant to our players to win the local derby and show a reaction to a disappointing result, we did it in a perfect manner.

“It was an electrifying first half, we were all over them.

“It was not perfect, I got the feeling we don't make enough out of our dominance but if you're 4-0 up at half-time you can't complain too much.

"Many, many situations were good, but we allowed them a bit too much to cross into our box and once or twice they were in behind our backs, sometimes we played with a bit too much altruism but I didn't want to stop my lads in the first half.

“The fourth goal felt like 500 passes, we were so calm to exhaust them with our possession and then to find the right moment to speed up the game, with a perfect give and go with Rutter and Byram.

“There were spells when it came pretty close to our ideal picture. We're pretty pleased with this result and performance.”

On the less successful second half Farke explained: "We had dominance in the second half, but did not have the same offensive energy.

“Third game in seven days, one day less to recover, the players were back in the early hours of Thursday morning, it’s always difficult with a Saturday early kick-off.

“We wanted to be smarter in our game management in the second half. We wanted to control the game a bit more. We did this with 80 per cent possession in the second half. Sadly we didn't have this energy to attack the same any more. It was also due to managing the minutes.

"But the electrifying offensive firework was also good for the confidence. The next two days is also important after a busy schedule, especially for our international players, to allow them to enjoy this feeling a little bit.

“The next game (away at Leicester) will be a different game, needing different solutions.”

Farke was full of praise for the performance of in-form striker Georginio Rutter who was at the heart of many of the best moves for the Whites.

He added: "At times he (Rutter) was unplayable. It was a top performance and if he puts such a shift in his teammates can take benefit from it.

"He's excellent in so many ways, his fitness level, his work ethic for the team, in the first half he was unplayable, involved in each and every goal, great amounts of assists already.

“His goal tally could be a bit better, he could perhaps have scored in the first half but he's a young player – if he would be perfect in all areas we'd have to accept Real Madrid would buy him for £150m.

“He has all the potential to do this but thank God it's not the case at the moment. Still space for improvement and could also do with a few more goals and then we'd all be a bit more happy."

Huddersfield looked lively early on and there was little sign of the first half hammering to come.

Striker Delano Burgzorg looked dangerous and left Pascal Struijk on his backside with a twist and turn that ended with a shot that fizzed just wide.

But Leeds gradually got on top as Joel Piroe had an effort disallowed for offside and Crysencio Summerville saw a shot deflected wide.

The opening goal came from a breakaway after Town launched a long throw into the home box. It was easily dealt with and a fine ball out by Rutter sent Summerville running clear. He made 40 yards up the pitch before finding Dan James who beat keeper Lee Nicholls with a low shot from the edge of the box.

Only a great last ditch tackle by Joe Rodon kept Burgzorg out after he got in behind the United defence a minute later, but it was 2-0 as the home team produced another lightning break.

This time it was Summerville the scorer as he mesmerised two defenders before sending a sneaky shot past Nicholls.

It was soon 3-0 when Summerville's through ball sent James through to finish for his second goal.

Another great move saw Rutter race past two defenders and pull the ball back for Summerville whose shot was beaten away by the keeper. James had a great chance with the follow up, but blasted the ball over to deny himself a hat-trick.

Ethan Ampadu sent a curling shot wide, but it was 4-0 in added time when Rutter breezed past struggling right-back Tom Edwards and pulled the ball back to Summerville who took a couple of touches before a perfect finish for his second and sixth goal of the season.

There was still time for another chance with James screwing his shot wide in the area, but at 4-0 it was already game over.

Huddersfield saved a bit of face in the second half as they looked much more solid and scored the only goal, but there was never any danger of a comeback as they settled for defending deeper and frustrating the home side.

Leeds had much of the ball, but did not create so much, although Piroe sent a shot just wide from the edge of the box after being set up by Willy Gnonto – one of five subs brought on in the half as Farke took the chance to rest players in their third game in a week.

Another of the subs Luke Ayling had a shot blocked, but the visitors scored out of the blue as Illan Meslier could not hold a 25-yard shot from Sorba Thomas and Michal Helik was left free to score from the rebound.

There were no more alarms for the home defence and the game petered out with just one more half-chance late on as Patrick Bamford shot wide.

The second half was a bit messy after Town toughened up, but Leeds had clearly done enough with their scintillating first half display to be able to take their foot off the gas.

Leeds United 4

(James 21, 34, Summerville 31, 45+3)

Huddersfield Town 1

(Helik 70)

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Sky Bet Championship

Attendance: 36,813

Leeds: Meslier; Shackleton, Rodon (Cooper 64), Struijk, Byram (Ayling 59); Ampadu, Kamara; Summerville (Gnonto 59), Piroe, James (Anthony 79); Rutter (Bamford 79).

Huddersfield: Nicholls; Edwards (Pearson 45), Helik, Lees, Nakayama; Thomas, Hogg, Wiles, Diarra (Jackson 45); Harratt, Burgzorg.

Referee: James Bell