Joël Piroe flops, Dan James 7/10 – Leeds United player ratings v West Brom
Leeds United were held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient West Brom side in the Championship.
Junior Firpo opened the scoring for the Whites inside the opening nine minutes at Elland Road on Saturday (1 March) as the Brazilian got on the end of a delightful Dan James delivery.
However, Darnell Furlong equalised for the visitors half an hour later, heading home from a free kick.
It was not the result that Daniel Farke would have wanted, with Leeds not at their attacking best. However, it still leaves the Whites in a strong position to achieve automatic qualification to the Premier League.
Here, MOT Leeds News rates the players out of 10.
Firpo scores again as Leeds draw with West Brom
Illan Meslier – 5
Came off his line quickly to make an opportunity for Adam Armstrong difficult around the 30th minute. Didn’t have much else to do.
Junior Firpo – 6
On the scoresheet once again but should have had two when he decided to cross in the second half rather than go for goal himself. Got caught out defensively a few times too on a mixed afternoon.
Pascal Struijk – 6
Room for improvement defensively.
Joe Rodon – 7
Showed his quality and rarely put a foot wrong defensively. Made a huge tackle in the closing moments of the match to prevent Tom Fellows from stealing all three points for West Brom.
| Championship | Position | Points |
| Leeds | 1st | 76 |
| Sheffield United | 2nd | 70 |
| Burnley | 3rd | 68 |
Jayden Bogle – 4
Incredibly weak in his defending for West Brom’s first goal. Brushed aside too easily, which allowed Furlong to head home. Looked to get forward where he could, but without much success.
Ao Tanaka – 5
Missed a big chance to double Leeds’ lead midway through the first half. A relatively tidy display in the middle of the park, with little to shout about and room for improvement defensively.
Joe Rothwell – 6
Didn’t set Elland Road alight but also didn’t make many mistakes and defended relatively well.
Leeds’ attacking players fail to perform
Manor Solomon – 5
A quiet afternoon for the in-form Leeds ace who showed a few moments of quality on the ball but wasn’t able to offer any end product in the final third.
Brenden Aaronson – 3
An afternoon to forget for Brenden Aaronson as he made zero impact on the match before being hooked by Farke with around 20 minutes to play.
Daniel James – 7
Picked out Firpo with a brilliant ball for Leeds’ opener. Was popping up all over the pitch in the first 25 minutes but became more quiet as the match wore on. However, he was one of Leeds’ most dangerous attacking players on the day and almost won the match late on.
Joël Piroe – 3
Offered very little in the first half, and completely anonymous in the second. Went close to scoring once, but he was offside anyway. A day to forget for the Spaniard.
Subsitutes
Mateo Joseph (On for Aaronson, 72′) – 6
Looked lively after coming on and went close to scoring straightaway. Made much more of an impact throughout his cameo display than Aaronson did for the whole match.
Wilfried Gnonto (On for Solomon, 79′) – 5
Went close to playing Piroe in behind but didn’t have a lot of time to do much else.