Brenden Aaronson was dropped from the Leeds United starting eleven on Saturday at Luton Town after a sustained run of poor performances. However, he still managed to attract criticism when he came on in the second half, and his cameo performance has been heavily panned for lacking any impact or spark, which could have helped the away team at Kenilworth Road.
Leeds United dropped more points on Saturday when they only managed a 1-1 draw at Luton. The Whites have now dropped to third in the table and are in desperate need of a turnaround in the remaining six Championship games.
Daniel Farke made a few changes to the team, including dropping the goalkeeper Illan Meslier and number 10, Brenden Aaronson, but the team failed to get their previous rhythm back.
Aaronson came on in the second half but failed to make any impact. In fact, the returning Patrick Bamford, who had not played since New Year’s Day, looked more dangerous than the American.
Aaronson had no idea what to do in possession – Former Leeds United star
Former Leeds star Jon Newsome reserved special praise for Bamford, who came on for a cameo, in the second half, and felt that he did make an impact through his runs and stretching the Luton defence.
He would have liked to see the striker get more minutes together with Joel Piroe in the team at Luton.
The ex-White insisted Aaronson looked clueless when he came on from the bench and insisted that he had no idea what to do with possession in the final third.
“When he came on, I thought Patrick looked really lively, he made loads of runs in behind, stretched the game”, Newsome said on BBC Radio Leeds.
“It was just a bit damning that Patrick came on at a time when Joel Piroe went off. They only played together for maybe five or 10 minutes.
“As soon as Brenden Aaronson came on, we saw there were two or three occasions he got possession in forward areas and just, I think I said it in commentary, hoicked it away, just gave the ball away, no idea what to do with it.”
Aaronson has become a big problem for Farke
Leeds supporters have been calling for Aaronson to be dropped for months because, as a number 10, he neither scores nor creates enough goals.
His work rate is an admirable quality to have, but ultimately, an attacking midfielder is judged by how many goals he scores or creates, and not by his running stats.
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Farke admires the player, but Aaronson provided little evidence on Saturday that he deserves to get his place back in the starting eleven against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.
The American has turned into a major liability for the Leeds boss that he cannot do much about until the dust on the season settles in the summer.
