Farke has easy Leeds United choice after what Joe Rothwell did v Oxford United
Joe Rothwell has made Daniel Farke’s choice about who to start in his Leeds United starting XI easy after the performance he put in during their Championship win against Oxford on Saturday.
The Whites hammered the U’s 4-0 at Elland Road in what was a rather easy outing for the West Yorkshire outfit, despite key man Pascal Struijk being absent from the team.
Rothwell has been in impressive form this season but now it’s getting to crunch time due to the return of Ethan Ampadu from injury, it feels like Farke has had his decision made on who to drop for the Welshman out of Ao Tanaka and the man on loan from Bournemouth.
Joe Rothwell could have cost himself a starting spot in the Leeds United team
Now that Ampadu is nearly back to full fitness, it’s clear that one of Tanaka or Rothwell will have to be replaced in Farke’s starting XI.
On his day, Ampadu is one of the strongest players in the Whites’ squad and when he’s in the team, things often seem to flow a lot better.
While fans have been debating which of their new dynamic duo will be benched, it seems that the Englishman has made that decision a bit easier for Farke in their upcoming games.
As per Sofascore, in the 83 minutes, Rothwell was on the pitch against Oxford on Saturday, he only generated an xG of 0.02 and an xA of 0.07.
He did have 81 touches of the ball throughout the clash but never made a key pass throughout the game.
In terms of long balls that he attempted, only 60 per cent of them made it to their intended targets while zero per cent of his crosses made it to where they were supposed to go.
Defensively, he wasn’t much better either as he lost possession of the ball six times and made one foul.
While his performances across the rest of the season have been more than decent, with the run of games that Leeds are set to take on over the next few weeks, while it may only be a blip, Farke will no doubt be less likely to start Rothwell if he continues putting on performances like he did against Oxford.
In other Leeds United news, Manchester United want to sign one Whites star after several transfer missions.
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