--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-07-27T16:42:00.612Z last_updated: 2026-07-26T12:00:00+00:00 data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/leeds-united/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVlZHMtbGl2ZS5jby51ay9zcG9ydC9sZWVkcy11bml0ZWQvZGFuaWVsLWZhcmtlLWxlZWRzLXVuaXRlZC13cmV4aGFtLTM0MzUzNzkx --- # Daniel Farke candidly explains reasons for rugged Leeds United defeat to Wrexham - **Source:** - **Published:** 26 Jul - **Club:** Leeds United - **Original URL:** https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/daniel-farke-leeds-united-wrexham-34353791 Daniel Farke says he has “no complaints” about Leeds United’s 3-2 defeat to Wrexham in the club’s first pre-season friendly of the summer in Tampa, Florida. Leeds faced a Wrexham side that had already played two friendlies, and this showed when Kieffer Moore put the Welsh side with barely 30 seconds gone. The Whites were also playing without a number of senior stars. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has suffered a small setback and is working his way back up the team training while Jaka Bijol has sustained a knee problem and Sebastiaan Bornauw was not risked with a minor issue. Gabriel Gudmundsson and Tarik Muharemovic were not used having returned later to camp after their World Cup exploits while Ilia Gruev is still getting back up to full strength from last season’s meniscus knee injury. As a result, Leeds initially fielded a number of youth players including Alfie Cresswell at centre-back, Jayden Lienou at left-wing-back and Callum Mills in attack, until Farke brought on more senior options at half-time. By that time, Joel Piroe had missed a penalty before scoring a deft back-heel and Sean Longstaff - the standout performer - had found the net from just inside the box to make it 2-2. Wrexham’s Sam Smith would ultimately win the game for Wrexham with five minutes to go. “I am always struggling once there is a loss to be in a good mood afterwards, if I am honest. But today, no complaints,” said Farke afterwards. “I am just a bit sad and feel a bit especially for our young lads, that they couldn’t celebrate their debut and their full debut with a win. “If you have a look at the game, normally we should have won this game. We had more possession, we had more chances, should have scored also more goals than them but they were effective. “You could feel today, lads were tired. We have trained the whole week, more or less two sessions per day. We had even a session this morning and to play without many important players so for that, no complaints.” Commenting on the overarching aims of the summer, when it comes to friendlies, Farke added: “Pre-season you build a foundation for the whole season. It is most important that you do lots of physical work. “You need this endurance, this fitness level during the whole season. We have proven last season how important this is. You have to integrate the new players. And the best way is always like once you are 24/7 together and you have lots of communication. “We need, of course, to work on our game. We had many, many good pre-seasons in the last years and yeah, it was quite often then also the basement for a really good season. Hopefully we can also keep working hard and for that we also have a successful season ahead.”