Worse than Aaronson: Farke May ditch 4/10 Leeds man who lost 80% duels

Leeds United missed out on the chance to move back into the automatic promotion place on Wednesday night as they were beaten 1-0 by Millwall.

The hosts won the match at The Den thanks to a first-half goal from Japhet Tanganga, who prodded the ball into the bottom corner from a header back across from the left flank.

It is only the second defeat of the Championship season for Daniel Farke and his men, but they will be disappointed that they failed to trouble the Lions.

Millwall away is not the fixture you would immediately think of suiting a player like Brenden Aaronson, and that turned out to be the case on Wednesday.

Brenden Aaronson’s performance in numbers

The USA international has lost 60% of his duels in the Championship this season and his slight frame in the number ten role did not seem to be the ideal fit for a clash at The Den.

As expected, the former Union Berlin loanee struggled to get into the game and lost seven of his 11 ground duels and three of his four aerial contests throughout the match.

This shows that the opposition defenders found it far too easy to get the better of him, on the deck and in the air, as he did not have the requisite physicality to compete with them.

When he did have the ball, though, his use of it was solid. Aaronson completed 93% of his attempted passes and created two chances for his teammates, but did not register an assist.

The American was not the worst performer on the night for the West Yorkshire outfit, though, as centre-forward Joel Piroe struggled even more than him.

Why Farke must drop Piroe

Farke must now instantly bin the Dutch striker from the starting XI after he struggled badly against Millwall, in and out of possession, on Wednesday night.

LeedsLive handed him a dismal player rating of 4/10 and wrote that he offered virtually no threat in the final third with his work inside the Lions’ box, despite playing the full 90 minutes.

Piroe has scored five goals in 14 appearances in the Championship so far this season but did not come close to finding the back of the net at The Den.

As you can see in the table above, the former Swansea City marksman was a lightweight out of possession for the Whites, losing 80% of his duels in total.

Aaronson won five times as many duels as the Dutch striker and completed a higher percentage of his passes, whilst winning three fouls for his side, which suggests that the American – despite a poor showing – still offered more than the Leeds number ten.

Quite simply, Piroe let Farke down with his struggles in and out of possession, offering little to no threat in the final third and being dominated off the ball, and that is why the German should swiftly drop him for Mateo Joseph at the weekend.