Leeds United will be expected to return to winning ways when they host Plymouth Argyle at Elland Road.
The Whites were held to a 0-0 draw at Bristol City last time out and in order to make that a good point, need to use their upcoming clash with Plymouth as the catalyst for a winning run.
Plymouth sit just outside the bottom three under Wayne Rooney but have some of the worst underlying numbers in the league. They have created the least number of expected goals (xG), while conceding the highest expected goals against (xGA).
Players at both ends of the pitch should be licking their lips for Leeds, but there are some changes Daniel Farke should be making to his starting XI.
Junior Firpo needs to come in at left-back after serving a one-match ban, and Isaac Schmidt should get the nod at right-back ahead of Sam Byram, to replace the suspended Jayden Bogle.
Leeds were comfortable at the back throughout the whole 90 minutes at Bristol City, but the attackers unfortunately let Farke down.
Dan James is still looking to rediscover his full match sharpness again after injury, while Wilfried Gnonto blew a couple of really good chances.
However, it was the man in the centre of Leeds’ attack who was the most anonymous – Joel Piroe. Not for the first time, either.
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Piroe got away with a couple of quiet performances against Sheffield United and Watford because Leeds picked up all three points, but the same cannot be said at Bristol City, where he was really poor.
The £10.5 million man offers no threat in behind, is often too slow in his decision making and struggles to link up play. A prime example of that was when he fluffed a two on one with Gnonto due to a poorly weighted pass.
With that in mind, Farke simply has to bring Mateo Joseph back into the starting XI on Saturday, for the first time in four matches.
Granted, Joseph has been a little wasteful in front of goal, but there is a reason he gets on the end of more chances than Piroe, and that is because of his movement.
Piroe’s best position in this Leeds squad remains coming off the bench to kill off matches when sides are opening up a bit more to try get back into the game, and that is what he should go back to.
The main job of a striker is, of course, to put the ball in the back of the net. However, it is clear Leeds are a better side with Joseph in it.
His movement in behind opens up space for the likes of Gnonto and Brenden Aaronson in behind, and eliminate the problems low blocks cause against Leeds.
As shown by the stats below, Joseph is far superior to Piroe in every statistic when it comes to all-round striker play. Farke just needs to trust that the goals will follow,
Starts(sub) | Assists | Big chances created | Succ. dribbles per 90 | Ground duels won per 90 | Aerial duels won per 90 | |
Joseph | 8(4) | 3 | 4 | 0.7 (53.3% | 2.1 (42.4%) | 0.9 (22.9%) |
Piroe | 5(7) | 2 | 1 | 0.1 (16.7%) | 0.8 (38.5%) | 0.4 (22.7%) |
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