Beren Cross notes ‘red flags’ for Joel Piroe after disappointing showing in Leeds United v Coventry City
LeedsLive journalist Beren Cross believes the “red flags” have been raised for Joel Piroe’s position at Leeds United amid a third straight game without a goal.
Daniel Farke has been at pains to explain his reasonings for why Piroe is playing as a deeper-lying forward and Georginio Rutter as the central striker this term, despite many thinking the two should be switched.
A 1-1 draw with Coventry City on Saturday (16 December) means it is only one point from the last two games and Cross says it has re-opened the conversation about where Piroe is being utilised.
“Joel Piroe remains a goal scorer struggling to get involved as an attacking midfielder and Georginio Rutter dominates as a creative force struggling to find the net as a striker. The switch needed seems glaringly obvious, but whether you agree with him or not, Farke went to great lengths in his explanation of why he plays them in this combination earlier this season,” Cross wrote for LeedsLive (17 December).
“Sadly for Piroe, three straight blanks without any meaningful secondary impact on the attack have raised the red flags again. The work rate is there, Farke said he was covering 12km to 13km recently, but he simply is not involved enough in the team’s attacking play.
“Even when you take into account Piroe’s 85th-minute withdrawal, his 42 touches are dwarfed by Crysencio Summerville’s 90 or Rutter’s 69. The former Swansea City striker needs to be scoring or assisting more regularly from that position on the pitch and he’s doing neither on a consistent basis.”
Farke won’t relent
On the face of it, a return of eight goals from 19 Championship outings is a pretty decent return and would mean Piroe is on a trajectory towards a 20-goal campaign – the fabled number for any striker at any level.
The issue is, there are these runs of games where Piroe can be quite ineffective and when that happens the conversation is always going to re-emerge as to why he is not playing as the central striker, where you feel like he would be more comfortable.
While Cross is right to be raising the point, it is an entirely fair one after all, it will do little to change Daniel Farke’s mind. The boss clearly has a vision in his head for how he and Rutter should line up, and when Leeds were on that fabulous run the conversation died down.
But on Saturday, Leeds underwhelmed at a time when Ipswich Town dropped points and the opportunity to close the gap to second was missed. It means these talking points are bound to pop up. Just don’t expect Farke to change it anytime soon.
In other Leeds United news, one journalist has shared a “hunch” on Crysencio Summerville ahead of the January transfer window.