Farke can drop Aaronson by unleashing Leeds “livewire” in new position

Leeds United dropped all the way down to fourth in the Championship table after the three teams above of them played their matches on Tuesday night.

The Whites were top of the division heading into this round of matches and now know that they need maximum points from their game against Luton Town to move back into first place.

Daniel Farke’s side are preparing to welcome the Hatters to Elland Road this evening and nothing but a victory will put them back to the top of the league, although a draw would still have them in the automatic promotion places in second.

The German head coach will have dissected the dramatic 4-3 win over Swansea in Wales on Sunday last time out and looked at ways his team can improve, after they shipped three goals.

Leeds found themselves 2-1 down at half-time in that match and then conceded in the 90th minute to make it 3-3 after they had turned the game around in the second-half.

Thankfully, substitute Wilfried Gnonto was on hand to score the winning goal in the 91st minute, just after the hosts had equalised, with a close-range finish.

Leeds United’s top performers against Swansea

There were a number of impressive performers on the pitch for the Whites from an attacking perspective in the win over the Welsh outfit last weekend.

Back at his former club, Wales international Dan James was electric down the right flank. The high line from Swansea provided him with plenty of opportunities to open his legs and burst down the wing, which allowed him to assist two goals and provide the cross that Ben Cabango scored an own goal from.

On the other flank, Manor Solomon was selected to start and made the most of his opportunity. The Tottenham Hotspur loanee scored two of the opening three goals with close-range finishes from James and Sam Byram’s crosses.

As you can see in the table above, the two Leeds wide players were fantastic on Sunday as they provided a big threat, as scorers and creators, between them and kept the opposition defence guessing with their movement.

This shows that they both deserve to remain in the starting XI for this clash with Luton, in order to, hopefully, use their confidence to make a significant impact again.

However, there was one player who struggled as part of the attacking set-up and should now be dropped to the bench by Farke, and that is USA international Brenden Aaronson.

Brenden Aaronson’s performance against Swansea in numbers

The former Union Berlin loanee returned to Elland Road in the summer and has worked hard to redeem himself and emerge as a key player for the German boss, with 14 starts out of 16 Championship appearances this season.

However, it could be time to drop him down to the bench after his disappointing showing against Swansea on Sunday, which was his third game in succession without a goal or an assist to show for his effort.

Aaronson played the full 90 minutes against the Swans but failed to register a single shot on goal and did not create a ‘big chance’ for his teammates, with just one key pass in total. He also completed 79% of his attempted passes and lost possession 14 times, whilst failing to make an impact in the final third.

As you can see in the table above, the Leeds number 11 has not enjoyed the best of times of late, with struggles in and out of possession in his last three league appearances for the club.

In those three games, he has won just 17 of his 46 duels and failed to create a single ‘big chance’ for his teammates, with zero goals and assists.

Farke must, now, brutally ditch the American lightweight from the starting XI tonight in favour of unleashing Wilfried Gnonto in a new role this season.

Why Wilfried Gnonto should be unleashed

So far in the 2024/25 campaign, all 16 of the forward’s appearances for the West Yorkshire outfit have come on either the left wing or the right wing.

James and Solomon’s respective performances against Swansea suggest that there is currently not a space for him in his two favoured positions out wide, which is why Farke must consider unleashing the Italy U21 international in a number ten position behind Joel Piroe or Mateo Joseph.

Gnonto has played 63 matches as a second striker or an attacking midfielder in his career, but only three of those have been in the first-team for Leeds.

The former Inter prospect, who was once described as an “absolute livewire” by pundit Micah Richards, has the physicality and close control to play in a central position, winning 46% of his duels and completing 1.4 dribbles per game this season.

As you can see in the table above, Gnonto has produced 11 goals and ‘big chances’ created combined in 16 appearances in the Championship so far this season, which shows that he can make a difference in the final third as both a scorer and a creator.

Of course, those goals and assists came from a starting position out wide but he often finds himself in central areas, as was the case for the winning goal at Swansea, and that suggests that he has the potential to thrive as a number ten.

Therefore, Farke could brutally ditch the underperforming Aaronson from the team and keep Solomon and James out wide by unleashing Gnonto in a new role this evening against Luton.