Daniel Farke admission to shift Leeds’ transfer priority after what happened vs Newcastle
Daniel Farke’s frustrations could lead to Leeds changing their transfer focus in January.
Leeds were on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller against Newcastle on Wednesday, with the North-East outfit securing three points in a 4-3 win.
The Whites were 3-2 up in added time, but a penalty from Bruno Guimaraes and a side-volley from Harvey Barnes sent St James’ Park into delirium.
There were positives to take from the defeat, but there was one overwhelming negative, and it shows exactly what Leeds need to do this month.
Lucas Perri is going to do what Illan Meslier did last season
Leeds got promoted in the end last season, but Illan Meslier’s frailties made the task signficantly harder than it should have been.
This season, Leeds are looking likely to avoid relegation, but yet again, that task is going to be made harder, this time by Lucas Perri.
The former Lyon goalkeeper has shown very little quality since his move to Elland Road and was again at fault for the fourth goal against Newcastle.
Barnes’ strike had just 0.19 xGOT, meaning Perri would have been expected to save that effort 81 per cent of the time.
The error didn’t go unnoticed, with Daniel Farke admitting after the game that Perri should have saved it, but this time, he wasn’t immune from criticism like Meslier was on so many occasions last season.
“In this moment, I can’t protect him from the criticism,” Farke said after the game. “He should have saved it.”
That statement will be repeated again if Leeds fail to sign yet another new goalkeeper in the January transfer window.
Lucas Perri’s stats this season are cause for major concern
Perri‘s performance against Newcastle wasn’t just a one-off.
In fact, it was a near identical performance to the ones that have cost Leeds goals in several games already this season.
Via FotMob, the Brazilian has a woeful 56.7 per cent save percentage, having conceded 2.18 goals more than he would be expected to based on the quality of shots faced.
You’d think his distribution would perhaps make up for the lack of security he provides from a shot-stopping perspective, though that is also not the case.
Perri has a 53.6 per cent pass success rate, which places him in the bottom 3.3 per cent of goalkeepers in the Premier League.
Major improvement is needed, once again.