Leeds must drop star who had fewer touches than Meslier

Leeds United have moved five points clear at the top of the Championship table, for now, after they beat Coventry City away from home on Wednesday night.

The Whites took the lead in the match after just 17 minutes when Manor Solomon provided a deft flick through to Joel Piroe, who buried a clinical finish into the bottom corner with his left foot.

Jayden Bogle provided the second goal for Daniel Farke’s men with a marauding run down the right that eventually led to the goalkeeper spilling the ball right back to the defender, who poked it into an almost-empty net.

It was an impressive team performance from the West Yorkshire outfit, but there were some individuals within that who let themselves down, including Brenden Aaronson.

Brenden Aaronson’s performance against Coventry

The USA international, who Football FanCast suggested should have been dropped, was selected in the number ten position, and struggled to have a positive impact on the match.

Aaronson was described as ‘wasteful’ in the final third by the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Graham Smyth in his player ratings piece, which summed up the attacking midfielder’s performance perfectly.

The former Union Berlin loanee had several big chances to play the right pass to send a teammate through on goal in a two-on-one situation and failed to get it right, ending the match without any ‘big chances’ created.

Aaronson, who also failed to register a shot on target in the game, was not the only poor performer on the night, though, as Dan James’s display also left plenty to be desired.

Why Dan James should be dropped

The Wales international should be ruthlessly dropped by Farke for the FA Cup clash with Millwall on Saturday after an underwhelming showing on Wednesday night.

James played 86 minutes against the Sky Blues and failed to do enough to justify his continued inclusion in the starting line-up with a cup clash, which provides the manager with a chance to rotate his team, on the horizon.

The forward had fewer touches (28) than his goalkeeper Illan Meslier (44), which offers an insight into how little of an impact he had on the match, and was not directly involved in either of the goals.

As you can see in the table above, both James and Aaronson failed to offer much in the way of quality at the top end of the pitch for the Whites against Coventry.

The Welsh speedster missed his ‘big chance’ to find the back of the net and did not create a single opportunity for his teammates, whilst he also completed just 69% of his attempted passes.

These statistics show that James was as bad as Aaronson, who also struggled and was wasteful in possession, and that is why Farke should use the upcoming cup clash to ditch both of them from the XI.

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