{"id":302827,"date":"2026-02-17T17:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/302827\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T17:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:11:13","slug":"richard-keys-loves-what-he-saw-in-birmingham-vs-leeds-united-in-new-message-to-daniel-farke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/302827\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Keys loves what he saw in Birmingham vs Leeds United in new message to Daniel Farke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/daniel-farke-richard-keys-1140x641.jpg\" class=\"attachment-single-feature size-single-feature wp-post-image\" alt=\"Daniel Farke and a circular inset of Richard Keys.\" layout=\"fill\"  style=\"object-position: 50% 20%\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: Imago\/Bein Sports<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Head-shot-e1770107426435-150x150.jpg\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" alt=\"Cameron Smith\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p> Tue 17 February 2026 11:40, UK <\/p>\n<p>Leeds secured their FA Cup fifth-round spot with a win against Birmingham City on Sunday. <\/p>\n<p>Patrick Roberts\u2019 deflected strike levelled the scores at a lively St Andrew\u2019s after a Lukas Nmecha goal put <a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/club\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leeds<\/a> ahead, before Sean Longstaff won the tie on penalties in front of the travelling fans.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/tag\/daniel-farke\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Farke\u2019s<\/a> side welcome his old club, Norwich, to <a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/stadium\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elland Road<\/a> in March, giving Leeds a favourable pathway to the quarter-finals, alongside their ongoing relegation battle. <\/p>\n<p>Leeds have lost just two out of eight Premier League matches in 2026 thus far, seeing them sit 15th in the standings. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/tag\/richard-keys\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Richard Keys<\/a> has praised Farke following their cup win, with Leeds not looking to rotate too heavily outside of the league. <\/p>\n<p>Richard Keys piles praise on Daniel Farke after FA Cup win <\/p>\n<p>Securing a fifth-round tie with Norwich, Leeds will face Championship opposition for the third time in this year\u2019s competition. <\/p>\n<p>Despite this, Farke has not looked to rotate too heavily, instead using the cup as a momentum builder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBirmingham\/Leeds looked like a genuine tie,\u201d said Keys in his weekly <a href=\"https:\/\/richardajkeys.com\/index.php\/blog\/485-there-was-no-low-block-going-on-in-my-house\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">blog<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to judge some of the games because of the number of changes teams make, but it looks as though Farke wants to give it a real go with Leeds. Good luck to him.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Winning the tie via a penalty shoot-out, Keys highlighted just how much he loves the format, despite the controversial scrapping of replays ahead of the 2024-25 season. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the shoot-out drama,\u201d he said. \u201cI always have. Do you remember the profits of doom predicting disaster for the competition if we dropped replays? I argued when it happened that we\u2019d see an increase in drama if games had to finish at the first attempt \u2013 and we have.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn no way has the competition suffered as a result. It\u2019s better,\u201d he concluded. <\/p>\n<p>Leeds will welcome Norwich to Elland Road on the weekend of 7 March, as teams go head to head for their respective quarter-final spots. <\/p>\n<p>Leeds are using the FA Cup to build momentum <\/p>\n<p>Heading into the clash against Birmingham, MOT Leeds News <a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/opinion\/daniel-farke-to-learn-from-millwall-lesson-leeds-simply-cant-rest-on-their-laurels\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">outlined<\/a> how the FA Cup could be a perfect path for Leeds to continue building momentum as they battle for Premier League survival. <\/p>\n<p>After facing intense criticism earlier this season, the Whites look like a completely transformed side \u2013 aided by the fortress of Elland Road. <\/p>\n<p>With a six-point gap to the drop zone, Leeds are now one of the favourites to stay up after securing vital points against Nottingham Forest and Chelsea. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/26-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Leeds United Premier League home form 2025-26\" class=\"wp-image-222068\" \/>Credit: Breaking Media<\/p>\n<p>Out of the sides fighting at the bottom end, Leeds are the team in form, and the continued momentum can only be a positive as they look to avoid the same fate as their last Premier League season of 2022-23. <\/p>\n<p>After securing their FA Cup pathway in Birmingham on Sunday, Leeds travel to the Second City once again next time out, as they face Aston Villa, where they will hope to take advantage of their host\u2019s recent inconsistencies. <\/p>\n<p>For more stories about Leeds United, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/tag\/daniel-farke\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Football Insider<\/a> for in-depth analysis and exclusive stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Imago\/Bein Sports Tue 17 February 2026 11:40, UK Leeds secured their FA Cup fifth-round spot with a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[27142,42,43,98620,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-302827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-daniel-farke","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-richard-keys","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}