The inside story of how Daniel Farke built Leeds into a force: How fast starts, attack being the best form of defence and a stubborn dressing-room mantra are exorcising promotion demons

The celebrations were only just calming down at a feral Elland Road last Monday when Leeds United's hero Pascal Struijk was told to do his post-game running with the other substitutes.

Struijk had come off the bench to score a brace including a 95th-minute winner against Sunderland, so the Leeds vice-captain and centre half jokingly asked what he had to do in order to be spared.

'Score a f***ing hat-trick,' came the response.

In a nutshell, it summed up both the hunger and camaraderie within this Leeds side, who will go seven points clear of the play-off spots - and five clear at the top - if they win at second-placed Sheffield United on Monday night.

Daniel Farke's men are unbeaten since November in the Championship and on course for 100 points. After the pain of last season, where they put up 90 points then lost in the play-off final to Southampton, to say there is a sense of unfinished business would be an understatement - even if Farke had told his players to forget about the pain, the morning after losing at Wembley.

As one club source tells me of the mantra driving the dressing-room: 'Most of the squad are still hurting from last season. The players want to right the wrongs and do whatever it takes to not have the same feeling this summer.'

Pascal Struijk came off the bench to score two goals as Leeds beat Sunderland last Monday

Despite being the star man, Struijk was ordered to join his fellow subs on a post-match run

It's a mentality that goes to explain Leeds's ruthlessness and relentlessness, particularly in recent weeks where they've emphatically outlined their title credentials, winning six of the last seven league games.

And a wider sharing of responsibility - from the 20 goals they have scored in those seven games, they have had 10 different scorers.

Across the top four divisions, Leeds are the highest goalscorers despite losing two of their most prolific players in Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter to the Premier League last summer.

In a manner similar to Marcelo Bielsa's second season at Leeds when top scorer Kemar Roofe left, Farke's side have improved their output from last season despite losing key players.

On the pitch, Farke believes that their dominance of possession is integral to everything they do with Leeds playing the most passes and attempting the fewest long balls, compared to their Championship opponents.

'The key to clean sheets is being dominant in possession,' Farke said earlier this month.

Their average possession for the season is a league-high 61 per cent, but a common theme Farke looked to address early on was how Elland Road grows impatient at times when the deadlock isn't broken against weaker opposition.

Every team wants to score early, but the German has emphasised the importance of racing out of the blocks to calm the tension inside the ground. And his players have listened.

Former Norwich City manager Daniel Farke has been in charge of Leeds since July 2023

He led Leeds to the play-off final last season but is keen to avoid the play-offs this time around

In their 17 league home games, Leeds have scored 12 goals in the opening 20 minutes - only Sheffield United can match that number this season, and that requires the Blades' away matches to be added in. When Leeds have scored this season, home or away, they have not lost.

At the back, Leeds went over nine hours without conceding in the league until Wilson Isidor's goal last week. That was the first time they trailed in a Championship game since November.

Key to that too has been the redemption arc of goalkeeper Illan Meslier, who has turned up when called upon in recent weeks.

In the aftermath of their 3-3 draw at Hull last month when Meslier made two huge mistakes, calls grew to drop the French keeper, but Farke stuck by the 24-year-old and he has only conceded once since.

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When Struijk scored the winner against Sunderland, Meslier ran towards the away end and cupped his ears to the travelling fans who spent the game taunting him for his infamous howler at the Stadium of Light earlier in the season.

Of course, thanks to the freak occurrences at Burnley this season, they are not the best defensive side in the division, but they have scored 25 goals more than the Clarets and that has led their charge. Only Borja Sainz of Norwich (15 goals) has outscored Joel Piroe this season, and Piroe has played 600 fewer minutes than his rival.

Discipline has been key too - Leeds are one of six Championship sides not to receive a red card this season and only Coventry (52 yellows, 0 reds) can beat Farke's side's 53 yellow cards.

Slowly but surely, the ghosts of last season have been exorcised too during this current 15-game unbeaten run.

Leeds currently sit top of the Championship table after winning 21 of their first 33 fixtures

Good discipline has helped Leeds avoid any red cards, although they have received 52 yellows

The beginning of the end for Leeds's automatic promotion push last term was at Coventry. After losing there, Leeds won just four points in their last five.

When Leeds returned to the CBS Arena a couple of weeks ago against an in-form side managed by Frank Lampard, they outclassed Coventry and were good value for more than the 2-0 scoreline. Lampard hailed Leeds as 'the best side in the league'.

A week later, they put four past Watford at Vicarage Road - another ground where they dropped points in the race for promotion last season.

After both wins, Farke ensured that all of his players and staff went over to the away end to celebrate. He will never be Bielsa but his style is undoubtedly working, with an average of over two points per game.

'Those midweek away trips were tests that traditionally we'd struggle with but the players are passing everything with flying colours and that's largely down to the meticulous preparation and the unity within,' the Leeds source adds.

You only have to go on social media to see how tight-knit this group is with Joshua Guilavogui taking the opportunity to post a picture of Farke on the floor after the win against Sunderland, and others showed how good the camaraderie is.

But those at Thorp Arch insist that the overriding culture is 'serious' because not one player there wants to be playing Championship football next season, and the consequences of missing out on promotion again do not bear thinking about given the ambition of the squad's best players, and also their owners in San Francisco.

The drive of this side is fuelled by Farke's 'direct' nature with a laser-like focus that channels through to the players.

Manager Farke was pictured on his back after Leeds came from behind to beat Sunderland

There is a respect across the board in that he knows what it takes to go up, even if he stresses in public that the task at hand with Leeds is somewhat different to the one at Norwich, where he won the Championship twice.

He will be absent from the dugout tonight as he serves a touchline ban after he was booked for sprinting onto the pitch to celebrate Struijk's winner. It's a ban that even his counterpart Chris Wilder described as 'ridiculous' but Farke will take solace from the fact that right now, his side is doing exactly what he asks of them.

'I wasn't posing around to show my emotions like I'm an actor going for the next Oscar,' he said. 'I know how emotional Leeds United is. This is one of the reasons why it's so difficult to bring success and consistency to this club and why it's been so difficult over the last 25 years. It's important to channel your emotions but it was a crucial game and I was just so happy for my players because I know how much it meant. They were relentless and showed the winning mentality you need to create within a group if you want to achieve something,' he added.

After this week, Leeds won't play any of the current top seven in their remaining 11 games. The visit of play-off contenders West Brom on Saturday is followed by a run of extremely winnable games against midtable teams - the positions of their remaining opponents are 17th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 24th, 13th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 8th, 22nd. The job is by no means complete but if they fail to somehow go up from here, it would be nothing short of a disaster.