{"id":31380,"date":"2025-12-07T04:23:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T09:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/07\/leeds-flop-must-drop-now\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T04:23:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T09:23:21","slug":"leeds-flop-must-drop-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/07\/leeds-flop-must-drop-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds flop must drop now"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/07\/leeds-flop-must-drop-now\/#Leeds_did_poorly_against_Liverpool\" >Leeds did poorly against Liverpool<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/07\/leeds-flop-must-drop-now\/#Leeds_stars_need_to_leave_after_Liverpool\" >Leeds stars need to leave after Liverpool<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Leeds United came from behind to win 3-3 against Liverpool at Elland Road last night, taking their tally to four points against the Big Six in a week.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<p>Manager Daniel Farke&#8217;s team fell behind by two points immediately after the break thanks to a double by Hugo Ekitike, but it only seemed to give them momentum as they prepare for a return to Premier League play.<\/p>\n<p>Goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Anton Stach got them back on level terms, and an 80th-minute goal from Dominik Szoboszlai seemed to have finally secured them the three points.<\/p>\n<p>    However, this was not their intention, and in the 96th minute, Ao Tanaka scored a stunning volley from a corner kick, and Los Blancos&#8217; never-give-up attitude earned them a point.<\/p>\n<p>Despite an impressive fightback against the Reds in Yorkshire, a number of players have struggled to impress throughout the game, which could put their starting roles at great risk.<\/p>\n<p><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"leeds-rsquo-poor-performers-against-liverpool\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Leeds_did_poorly_against_Liverpool\"><\/span>\n                        <strong>Leeds did poorly against Liverpool <\/strong><br \/>\n               <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Jayden Bogle has been Leeds&#8217; number one right-back so far this season, but his performance against the Reds was probably one of his worst of the season so far.<\/p>\n<p>The English player was sent off with a minute left in the game after losing the ball 11 times, including two attempts at opponents.<\/p>\n<p>    He also failed to win a tackle against Kodi Gakpo and only topped in 25% of his ground and aerial battles against the defending champion.<\/p>\n<p>Bogle wasn&#8217;t the only one struggling in the back five, with centre-back Joe Rodon having a rare lackluster performance in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>A misplaced pass by the Wales international put the ball into the bat of Ekitike, helping the home side build a two-goal cushion early in the second half.<\/p>\n<p>He also only won 50% of his aerial battles in the defensive third, but thankfully he was rescued by Tanaka through his efforts in stoppage time.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-leeds-star-who-needs-to-be-dropped-after-liverpool\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Leeds_stars_need_to_leave_after_Liverpool\"><\/span>\n                        <strong>Leeds stars need to leave after Liverpool<\/strong><br \/>\n               <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If Leeds are to remain in the Premier League this season, his ability to come off the canvas on a regular basis could play a huge role in their successful bid to survive.<\/p>\n<p>    Few teams in the league can recover to come within striking distance of a team of Liverpool&#8217;s quality, and Farke deserves a lot of credit for achieving such a result.<\/p>\n<p>The Germans were not afraid to make important substitutions at key parts of the match, with Tanaka scoring in a triple change in the 65th minute and Calvert-Lewin&#8217;s shot giving Wilfried Gnont a penalty.<\/p>\n<p>Brenden Aaronson was also on hand to provide the goods, with the American assisting Stach&#8217;s attack, his first equal performance in this conference.<\/p>\n<p>However, Noah Okafor was just one of the players sacrificed for the aforementioned trio, and the attacker could now find his starting role at Yorkshire in jeopardy.<\/p>\n<p>    The Switzerland international took just over an hour before being substituted, but his on-pitch stats show just how lackluster his performance was at Elland Road.<\/p>\n<p>He completed just five passes in 65 minutes, averaging one every 13 minutes, but his small size made him unsuitable for counter-attacking in the first half.<\/p>\n<div class=\"table-container\">\n<table border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"1\" cellspacing=\"1\" style=\"\" align=\"\" summary=\"\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th colspan=\"2\" scope=\"col\" style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>Noah Okafor &#8211; Statistics against Liverpool<\/p>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>statistics<\/p>\n<\/th>\n<th style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>tally<\/p>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>Play time (minutes)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p><strong>65<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>touch<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p><strong>14<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>pass completed<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p><strong>5<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>Dribbling completed<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p><strong>1<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>aerial won<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p><strong>0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>shot on target<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p><strong>0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>loss of ownership<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p><strong>4 times<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>Number of fouls committed<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p><strong>1<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th colspan=\"2\" style=\"text-align:center\">\n<p>Statistics by FotMob<\/p>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<p>The 25-year-old tried his best to influence the transition but struggled mightily against the Reds&#8217; backline, as evidenced by just one successful dribble.<\/p>\n<p>Okafor also failed to win in the air, which is not surprising considering his height, but he also found himself up against the likes of Virgil van Dijk.<\/p>\n<p>    To make up for the disappointing result, he recorded just 14 total touches during the draw, while goaltender Lucas Perry had nearly three times that amount with 43 touches.<\/p>\n<p>After such a performance, Falke was left with no choice but to drop the Swiss international, and the trio certainly deserve to start after impressing in the second half and coming off the bench.<\/p>\n<p>This is not a bad decision on the part of the manager, especially given the competition for rankings in the recent system, and it will be extremely important to ensure survival.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leeds United came from behind to win 3-3 against Liverpool at Elland Road last night, taking their tally to four points against the Big Six in a week. Manager Daniel Farke&#8217;s team fell behind by two points immediately after the break thanks to a double by Hugo Ekitike, but it only seemed to give them [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5237,1114,40,87],"class_list":{"0":"post-31380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-drop","9":"tag-flop","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-leeds"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}