Leeds United are leaning into the chaos.
There is no other way to do it at times in the Championship and the 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers was exactly the game for it. It saw them score their worst goal in a long time in a slapstick sequence of swings and misses, blocks and dives to reach the ball as Jayden Bogle prodded home — a goal so bad it was good.
Bogle prodded home with defenders strewn across the box and Mateo Joseph, Manor Solomon and Willy Gnonto all in varying degrees of suspended mid-air animation. It was art and it was farce.
This is all deeply unserious, of course, in a match that threatened to be the opposite for Leeds if they had allowed QPR to find an equaliser. As the ball was launched into the box and United did their best headless chicken defending, it could so easily have brought an outcome like the midweek defeat to Millwall.
As is so often the case when Leeds have needed breathing room in a game, Joel Piroe was Daniel Farke’s man for the moment, wrapping up the points with a finish that was equal parts clumsy and deft. A collective sigh of relief, a nervous giggle at full time and Leeds head into the international break with a smile and the gap to Sunderland at the top of the table closed to just two points.
Farke’s four substitutes all came on and made a point by adding to the havoc of the final 15 minutes, so The Athletic has ranked their impact and what it means for Leeds…
Joel Piroe – why can’t he do this when he starts?
Understanding the mystery of the most relaxed man in football is a task for Mensa. When Piroe starts, he puts in a shift but does not score. When he comes off the bench, he finds the net every time. Or at least that is how it feels with the way the Dutchman and Joseph have shared the goals this season. It is a point that Farke made himself a few weeks ago after Piroe started three games and failed to score and it immediately led to calls for Joseph to start.
The numbers actually show that Piroe, as Leeds’ top scorer, has scored four of his six goals in seven appearances off the bench.
Hapless or heroic, Piroe divides opinion but has shown he is a man who can do both. A clunky touch to take the ball wider than any striker has a right to score from? He can do that. A precise chip from that angle to lift it over the keeper? He has got that too.
Piroe’s zen energy is off the charts, so sometimes it is hard to know if he is awake. Put that man in front of goal and the 25-year-old’s eyes snap wide awake. He is an enigma and is still the best finisher in Farke’s squad.
Off the bench, got the job done and as such he gets an A+.
Josuha Guilavogui – class or chaotic? We don’t care
Leeds’ new free agent signing had barely kicked a ball before gaining cult status among fans last month. His efforts in cameo roles as a replacement for Joe Rothwell have not dented that love for him.
Guilavogui popped up all over the pitch against QPR like a whack-a-mole and, more often than not, was further forward than even Farke might have anticipated. More Zinedine Zidane than Claude Makelele in that respect, according to the German.
Is he a loveable giraffe with a surprising voice — joining fellow Frenchman Illan Meslier in that trait — or a hardy and experienced defensive midfielder? Guilavogui could be the player that Leeds need to get stuck in and see out tricky matches. A nuts cameo in a hard-to-explain match and with the benefit of knowing the result = deeply enjoyable.
That’s a B+ for a man with limbs long enough to challenge Mr Tickle.
Dan James – delivers more regularly than Royal Mail
A man for every occasion, James whipped in a delicious cross within about 30 seconds of entering the fray. After Solomon slowly faded out of the game, James came on with a Red Bull-inspired burst of energy to get things going again out wide.
The Welshman’s deliveries into the box can be so good that he will be wasting transferrable skills if he does not start up his own courier firm when his football career is over. Luckily for Leeds, that should be a while off yet.
James gave Leeds wings and for that, he gets a B-.
Isaac Schmidt – isn’t this guy a left-back?
A player with so many positions on his Transfermarkt bio map that James Milner must be nervously waiting to see if Schmidt could take his crown as the most versatile player in England. Luckily for Milner, Schmidt’s minutes under Farke have been seriously limited in quantity, as well as by position.
On again as a replacement for Gnonto with the Italian having run himself into the ground, Schmidt got involved and was in the right place in the build-up to Piroe’s goal. With Junior Firpo suspended for another two games after touching heads with Danny McNamara at the end of the defeat to Millwall, Schmidt must be hoping for a chance in his primary position.
Not given long enough to impress but still involved when it matters, Schmidt gets a C on his report card.
(Top photo: Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)
