by Daniel Farke will have been absolutely delighted to see his Leeds United side beat promotion rivals Sheffield United 2-0 at Elland Road on Friday evening.
Leeds, a clash between two clubs expected to be fighting for a place in the top two at the end of the season, finally ended Sheffield United’s unbeaten start to the Championship season with a 2-0 win.
Sheffield United have kept a clean sheet since August and have won five of their last six league games. Leeds, on the other hand, failed to beat Sunderland last time out due to an error from Illan Meslier.
An injury crisis has emerged in the midfield and some Leeds players, notably Brenden Aaronson, only returned to Leeds on Thursday after representing their countries during the October international break.
Mateo Joseph is “dejected” after the final whistle as Leeds win
Leeds had to weather the storm in the first ten minutes, but after that Daniel Farke’s men were the better team. Largie Ramazani hit the crossbar in the first half before Pascal Struijk finally scored the opening goal.
He broke Michael Cooper’s impressive record between the posts and took advantage of Joe Rothwell’s corner to convert superbly. Then substitute Mateo Joseph scored after a great through ball from Joel Piroe.
Joseph thanked Piroe for his support, but after giving Struijk an interview for Sky Sports, it looked like he was ready to accept the Man of the Match award from Struijk. Instead, the award was given to Ao Tanaka.
David Prutton said on Sky Sports: “Mateo Joseph looks completely devastated that he didn’t get the man of the match trophy, it was awarded to Ao Tanaka. Leeds’ midfield was absolutely everywhere tonight.”
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Ao Tanaka is named man of the match as Leeds’ midfield shines
Tanaka and Rothwell could be forgiven for struggling. Not only was Friday their third game as a pair and only the second time they had started together, but it was also against Norwich, Sunderland and Sheffield United.
Ao Tanaka’s stats against Sheffield United:
- 88 touches (third highest)
- 1 key pass
- 1 tackle, 1 block
- 1 interception, 1 release
- 66 successful passes, 74 attempts
- 4 successful long balls, 6 attempted
Three incredibly tough games. Considering that both midfielders are very attack-minded and that Tanaka is being asked to take on a new, deeper role as a playmaker, these are entirely new skillsets.
But Rothwell once again dictated the tempo of this midfield against stars like Gus Hamer and Vini Souza. Tanaka was everywhere and his fitness was not an issue despite playing the full 95 minutes for Japan on Tuesday.
It is likely that the duo will be joined by a free agent in due course, but if they continue as they are then Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev could have a job to get back into the Leeds starting XI.
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