Leeds United boss Daniel Farke reveals talks with Joe Rodon after ‘unnecessary’ incident
Leeds United boss Daniel Farke held talks with Joe Rodon due to being unhappy with the defender’s recent red card and his general performance levels in training.
The Wales international has started six of Leeds’ 10 Championship matches since joining on loan from Tottenham on 10 August.
Rodon was sent off against Hull City two weeks ago and then left among the substitutes for the 3-1 defeat at Southampton on Saturday [30 September].
He impressed on his return to the side in the 1-0 win over QPR on Wednesday [4 October], but Farke still wants to see more from the defender at Thorp Arch.
“I was, overall, pleased with him because he was involved in many good results and many clean sheets,” Farke said, as per Leeds Live [5 October].
“Not each and every game before was spot on in every detail. For example, the red card was unnecessary.
“I also had a chat with him because he can improve more on the training pitch. We spoke about this topic and he has delivered in the last days.
“For that, it was the time to give him the next chance and, yes, he played with a really good performance.”
Six in a row
Rodon’s two yellow cards and subsequent red against Hull left Leeds down to 10 men for 30 minutes in a game that finished goalless.
The 25-year-old paid the price by being left out against Southampton, with Farke opting for Liam Cooper and Pascal Struijk at the back.
A heavy loss for Leeds at St Mary’s worked in Rodon’s favour, though, as he was recalled against QPR in place of the benched Cooper.
Rather incredibly, Rodon has now been involved in six successive clean sheets for club and country stretching back to the beginning of September.
Farke may not feel Rodon has been giving his all in training but, his moment of madness at Hull aside, he has been putting in a shift when it counts.
United manager Farke is clearly hard to please, and that approach appears to be working judging by results up to this point.
In other Leeds United news, a positive update has been provided on a first-team player.