Farke must let go of Joel Piroe to free up the ‘dynamite’ Leeds star.
Leeds United they return to action at championship for the first time since Christmas when they travel to Stoke City for an away game on Christmas Day.
The Whites are currently second in the division and will be hoping to maintain their place in the automatic promotion places with a win over Narcis Pelach’s side this evening.
Daniel FarkeThe team’s men ran out 4-0 winners against Oxford United at Elland Road last weekend, thanks to goals from Dan James, Jayden Bogle, Brenden Aaronson and Manor Solomon.
The German manager could still make some changes to his starting line-up from this game, however, and one player who could be dropped is Joel Piroe.
Why Joel Piroe could be abandoned
The Dutch striker was selected to start as Leeds’ number nine against Oxford and was directly involved in one of the four goals, setting up Solomon to score in the second half with a pass into the box for the full-back.
Piroe, however, just has it scored a goal in their last seven games in the Championship and their play throughout has still left a lot to be desired.
|
Vs Oxford United |
Joel Piro |
|---|---|
|
shots |
3 |
|
goals |
0 |
|
Passes completed |
10 |
|
The duels won |
0/2 |
|
Completed dribbles |
0/0 |
As you can see from the table above, the former Swansea shot-stopper was a lightweight high up the pitch, completing just ten passes and missing 100% of his duels, while also wasting his shot attempts .
The left winger’s work out of possession has been woeful all season as he has missed one 73% of his duels on the ground and in the air.
With that in mind, and the hectic festive schedule, Farke needs to drop the Leeds lightweight on the bench and give Mateo Joseph another chance to impress from the start.
Why Mateo Joseph should start
The Spanish U21 international, who was once described as “dynamite” in the under-23 scout area Antonio Mango has started ten of his 22 appearances in the Championship so far this season.
Despite his inexperience and age, having turned 21 in October, he has fared better in duels than Piroe, winning 36% of his duels on the ground and 30% of his battles overall, which suggests that he offers a bit more than the Dutchman in physical contests.
Joseph has scored two goalshe created four ‘big chances’, and scored three assists in the division, although he has only started ten games, and this shows that the youngster does have the ability to make an impact in the final third.
However, the graduate has only scored two goals from 3.61 xGand his finished waste could be why Farke has not opted to select him as a week-to-week starter over Piroe.
The Dutchman’s poor display, despite assisting the fourth goal, against Oxford could offer Joseph the chance to step in and prove to the manager that he has what it takes to be the number nine leader for the Leeds progressing this season.
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