Leeds United proved unable to take advantage of Ipswich Town dropping points in Saturday’s early kick-off, with Daniel Farke’s men themselves forced to settle for a draw at home to Coventry City this afternoon.
While there would still have been a sizeable gulf between the Whites and Ipswich had that solitary point been turned into three, any slim hopes of securing automatic promotion now appear to be rather extinguished – the Yorkshire side left ten points behind the top two at present.
In truth, the Elland Road outfit only have themselves to blame following some errant finishing on the day, having had 21 attempts to Coventry’s seven, albeit with only leading scorer Crysencio Summerville managing to make the breakthrough – prior to Bobby Thomas’ equaliser.
That solitary strike for the hosts came on a day in which the forward simply failed to click into gear, with Joel Piroe, in particular, proving rather underwhelming in his playmaking berth.
Joel Piroe’s performance in numbers vs Coventry
On the whole, Farke’s experiment with the former Swansea City man in the number ten role has paid off, with the summer signing having netted eight league goals so far this season for his new club – picking up where he left off with the Swans.
A tally of 46 goals in just 96 games for his former employers was enough for Leeds to make their move, but the jury is out on whether it is wise to utilise the prolific marksman away from his usual centre-forward berth, particularly following another muted display this afternoon.
As the Yorkshire Post’s Leon Wobschall – who gave him a 5/10 match rating – noted, the 24-year-old was ‘kept very quiet by his standards‘, having been restricted to just 42 touches before making way in the closing stages.
The one-time PSV Eindhoven man did provide two key passes, although was unable to offer much else both in and out of possession, losing the ball on 11 occasions, while also winning just two of his ten total duels, as per Sofascore.
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Not that Piroe was alone in having cost Farke dearly, however, with another former Swansea man, Daniel James, also having been rather off the boil.
Dan James’ game by numbers vs Coventry
For much of his time at both Manchester United and Leeds, the Wales international has often been the subject of criticism for his inconsistent displays, notably being dubbed “headless” by pundit Darren Bent due to his lack of end product.
Having since returned to Yorkshire after a stint on loan at Fulham last season, the 26-year-old has thrived amid the drop into the Championship, however, finding a home for himself in Farke’s side – with seven goals and four assists to show for it.
That recent hot streak did not continue up against Mark Robins’ side though, with James at his frustrating worst, notably having ‘missed a huge late chance’, in the words of Wobschall – who awarded him a 6/10 match rating.
Arguably ‘not as much of a force as he can be’ – as per Wobschall – the wing wizard was notably erratic when in possession after squandering the ball on 18 occasions throughout the contest.
While that may have come amid his desire to create for his side from the flanks, James was only able to provide one key pass while failing to successfully complete any of his eight attempted crosses – rather grim reading for any winger.
The diminutive menace could well have atoned for that limp showing by netting at the death, yet inexplicably fired his effort wide, with that skewed attempt seemingly costing Farke and co what would have been a crucial three points.
