Leeds must abandon star who lost 100% in ground duels

Leeds United finally secured another victory this season in the Premier League on their home turf.

Before Friday evening’s clash against modest West Ham United, the last Merengue success at home in the league dates back to the first day.

Now, however, the Elland Road hoodoo has been lifted, as a quickfire double early in the tense match gave Daniel Farke’s men a well-deserved 2-1 victory to push the Hammers further into their relegation pit.

Several high-profile players on the night ensured all three points were secured, as Leeds thankfully escaped a three-game winless run in the league.

Leeds United’s best players against West Ham

Leeds fans, heading into this Friday night clash under the floodlights at Elland Road, would have bemoaned their side’s recent wastefulness in the Championship, having scored 14 efforts on Burnley’s goal at Turf Moor in a dire 2-0 defeat.

That wastefulness was not on display against Nuno Espirito Santo’s lax visitors, however, as a first-half strike handed Leeds a two-goal cushion after just 15 minutes, with Brenden Aaronson putting the show on the road by converting a rebound after just three minutes.

Aaronson was a bright spark all night, away from just that crucial contribution, with 100% of his dribbles successful making him a notable thorn in the side of a leaky West Ham team.

With 80% of his ground duels won too, it’s fair to say everyone was singing the American’s praises at the full-time whistle, although Farke said at the full-time whistle that he can often be a “polarizing” presence.

Joe Rodon would also be showered with praise at the end of the 2-1 victory as he connected with that sweetly taken corner to double his Premier League goal tally for the season, with Sean Longstaff also increasing his assist tally in the process as the Welshman had plenty of space to get past a busy Alphonse Areola.

Lucas Perri also stood out between the sticks on his return to the Leeds XI, having to calmly push away an acrobatic effort from Jarrod Bowen just after Aaronson’s instinctive opener. He was also so close to a clean sheet, only for Mateus Fernandes to grab a Hammers consolation effort at the death.

Yet despite the relief of a victory, not every player in the Whites’ first team gave their best against the east Londoners, with the rusty individual at risk of losing his place in Farke’s main team as the games roll in in November.

The 6/10 Leeds star who could now be dropped

Of course, there will be concerns in West Yorkshire that Dominic Calvert-Lewin has gone another game without any Leeds strikes, especially against such charitable Hammers defending.

Yet no one can deny the number nine’s determination to work for his team, with eight duels won in total when he launched into the heat of battle.

On the contrary, Ao Tanaka would leave the competition at the 72nd mark without any of his ground duels being successfully won, while Farke is potentially preparing to reshuffle his midfield pack for the Brighton and Hove Albion test early next month, far from reviving the Japanese gem.

Indeed, while Ethan Ampadu and the aforementioned Longstaff made their presence widely known – while Ampadu successfully won three ground duels thanks to his 66 touches of the ball – the number 22 darted in and out of the clash, Tanaka actually racked up fewer touches than Perri at the full-time whistle with 37 touches, alongside the former Lyon keeper’s tally of 51.

Tanaka’s understated performance was picked up on by Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth, with Smyth reserving high ratings of 9/10 for players like Aaronson, but the former Fortuna Dusseldorf man would only receive a mid-level rating of 6/10 after the dust settled on the 2-1 victory.

Smyth simply noted that Tanaka’s performance was “mixed”, as the 27-year-old was a victim of being “over-muscled” on several occasions, as evidenced by his losing 100% of his ground duels.

It will be interesting to see if Farke is tempted to drop Tanaka as tough games at Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester City enter his team’s agenda, with the number 22’s slight day off standing out as a rare negative, during what was a largely very positive performance against the relegation-threatened visitors.