4/10 star just dropped his worst game for Leeds

Leeds United lost in the Championship for the first time since November as they were beaten 1-0 by Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Whites were hit with a hammer blow in the second half as Colby Bishop raced through to dink the ball over Illan Meslier and into the back of the net to put the hosts in front.

Daniel Farke’s side created three ‘big chances’ and racked up 2.27 xG but could not take their opportunities in front of goal, and were made to pay for it.

There were numerous disappointing performances by Leeds players across the pitch in Hampshire, including from attacking midfielder Brenden Aaronson and a certain Joel Piroe who missed a couple of sitters…

Brenden Aaronson’s performance against Portsmouth

The USA international was once again selected to start in the number ten position for the Whites, tasked with knitting the midfield and the attack together.

Unfortunately, the former RB Salzburg man made it six games without a goal or an assist to show for his efforts, and just one goal and zero assists in his last 12 outings in the Championship.

Aaronson ended the defeat to Portsmouth with zero shots on goal and zero key passes, whilst he also lost all seven of his duels throughout the game. This shows that he was kept out of the match in and out of possession by the Pompey defenders.

He did, however, only have 20 touches of the ball, completing 73% of his attempted passes, and the midfielder could point to a lack of service into him as the reason why he struggled.

There was, though, a Leeds player who was even worse than Aaronson in the middle of the park for Farke, as Ao Tanaka put in his worst performance of the season to date.

Ao Tanaka’s worst performance for Leeds

The Japan international, who was once described as a “tiger” and an “unbelievable” signing by his manager, started alongside Ilia Gruev in midfield, but struggled to impact the game on or off the ball.

Tanaka, who was handed a 4/10 player rating by LeedsLive, was even worse than Aaronson as he completed a lower percentage (71%) of his passes, despite playing in a holding midfield role, and made an error that directly led to a shot for the opposition.

The American, at least, did not do anything to create a chance for Portsmouth, as Tanaka did, whilst they both lost 100% of their ground duels.

As you can see in the table above, the Japanese midfielder’s performance – which lasted just 68 minutes – was significantly worse than his average level in and out of possession in the Championship this season.

It was his worst Sofascore rating (6.1), his lowest pass completion rate (71%), his joint-lowest ground duel success rate (0%), and his joint-lowest ground duels won (zero) of the season as a starter so far.

This illustrates how far off his best the central midfielder was, as he put in his worst display in a Leeds shirt this season. Farke will now be hoping that Tanaka, and Aaronson, can get back to their best against Millwall at Elland Road on Wednesday night.

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The Japanese maestro must improve his use of the ball by getting back to his usual levels of efficiency, to ensure that Leeds can dicate the tempo of the game and create more chances in the final third.