Farke must finally drop 15-pass Leeds star

Leeds United moved back to the top of the Championship table on Saturday, potentially temporarily, with a 2-0 win over Derby County at Elland Road.

The Whites are above Sheffield United, who face West Bromwich on Sunday afternoon, on goal difference and will drop down to second if the Blades pick up any points from that clash.

Daniel Farke’s side have overtaken Burnley, who were held to a draw by Middlesbrough on Friday night, to secure a place in the automatic promotion spots for the time being, though.

First-half goals from Joe Rodon and Max Wober were enough to land all three points for the West Yorkshire outfit against Derby, who essentially played with a back six, with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing often dropping in as a sixth defender alongside the back five.

The Whites had to be patient to break down the Derby defence and found their first goal through a set-piece, with Rodon evading his marker to plant a header into the back of the net.

There was then a touch of fortune about the second goal for Leeds, as Brenden Aaronson’s cross deflected across to Wober to fire in from close range with his weaker right foot.

Leeds United’s top performers against Derby

Rodon, who scored the opening goal for the Whites, was one of the top performers against the Rams with his dominant display at centre-back alongside Pascal Struijk.

The Wales international, who joined on a permanent deal from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer transfer window, won five of his seven duels in the match and was not dribbled past a single time, which shows that he got the better of the Derby attackers more often than not.

Central midfielder Joe Rothwell also caught the eye with his display in the middle of the park. It was his well-placed corner that allowed Rodon to score the opener, and the Bournemouth loanee completed 66 of his 70 attempted passes in the match.

Wober also had an interesting outing at left-back after he came on to replace the injured Junior Firpo during the first-half, as the central defender operated down the left flank and provided an attacking threat.

The Austria international, staggeringly, scored and registered four shots on goal and two key passes from left-back, whilst no Leeds attacker managed more than three shots against Derby, which shows that he was constantly getting in good positions to make things happen.

However, there were also some players who found it difficult to perform against a stubborn Rams side at Elland Road on Saturday, and Joel Piroe was one of those.

Joel Piroe’s struggles against Derby

The former Swansea star was selected to lead the line against Derby as the centre-forward but struggled to make an impact at the top end of the pitch for Farke.

Piroe, who was picked ahead of Patrick Bamford and Mateo Joseph, fairly quickly looked out of place against the back five for the Rams as it required him to be reliable under pressure from multiple defenders, which is not one of his strengths.

The Dutch attacker ended the game with a pass success rate of just 65%, with 15 of his 23 passes finding a teammate, and even that does not do it justice, as some of his completed passes were too heavy and forced the receiver to go and recover the ball before playing another pass, which gave the away team time to reset again.

As it is not his natural game to drop deep and constantly fight off defenders to make things happen with the ball, Piroe had fewer touches (32) than Illan Meslier (40), despite the Leeds goalkeeper only having to make one save all match.

As you can see in the table above, the left-footed marksman failed to score from the two chances that were created for him and did not create any ‘big chances’ for his teammates in the game.

He lost possession a whopping 12 times from just 32 touches, with his loose passing contributing to that, and Farke must finally ditch the lightweight from the starting XI.

Why Daniel Farke should drop Joel Piroe

The Dutchman should be dropped back down to the bench for the Whites after a return of one goal and zero ‘big chances’ created in his last four league starts for the club.

Farke has faced a conundrum this season because Piroe is the team’s top scorer with seven goals in 19 appearances in the Championship so far, but his all-round play often leaves a lot to be desired.

He has only completed 73% of his attempted passes and averaged 0.7 key passes per game, which shows that the attacker does little to help his teammates in the build-up phase.

The former Swansea man has also, staggeringly, lost 73% of his duels on the ground and 72% of his aerial battles in the Championship this season, as opposition defenders have dominated him in physical contests.

Due to his poor all-round play, Farke could go back to using the striker as a substitute. Piroe set a club-record for goals as a substitute in a calendar year with his sixth off the bench for Leeds in 2024 against QPR.

As you can see in the table above, Joseph offers more to the team as a creative threat and in his work on and off the ball to make himself a presence in the centre-forward position, with almost twice as many duels won per game.

The Spain U21 international does not provide as many goals as Piroe but the Dutchman’s fantastic ability to find the back of the net as a substitute suggests that the one-two punch of starting Joseph and bringing on the left-footed ace off the bench could be effective.

That is why Farke must, now, ditch the Leeds lightweight and unleash the Spanish academy graduate from the start next time out against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.