Pascal Struijk found himself on the bench at the weekend after starting the first 21 Championship games of the season for Leeds United. The centre-back remained an unused substitute as Leeds romped to a 4-0 win over Oxford United at Elland Road. The Dutchman had done nothing wrong to get dropped from the starting eleven but someone had to make way for club captain Ethan Ampadu to get into the team and Struijk was the fall guy.
The debate was raging on who would get dropped from the Leeds team once Ampadu returned to fitness following a layoff due to a knee injury earlier in the season.
A couple of substitute appearances in the full-back positions suggested that the club captain could be in for a new role in the latter half of the season and we even argued for him to return to his natural midfield slot.
However, Farke answered most of the questions on Saturday when Ampadu revived his old centre-back partnership with Joe Rodon with Struijk getting dropped to the bench.
The Dutchman has arguably been Leeds’ best defender in Ampadu’s absence but is now facing a fight to get into the team. It says a lot about the strength of the Leeds squad that Struijk can’t get into that team but that is no solace for him.
With games coming thick and fast, the defender would back himself to get game time soon but it appears, Farke has identified his top centre-back pairing and Struijk is not in it.
The numbers back up Pascal Struijk this season
Pascal Struijk was a constant in the Leeds team regardless of whether Ampadu was fit until the Oxford United game rolled out on Saturday. He was at the heart of the defence until Farke decided to put his captain back into the team.
Rodon has done nothing to get dropped as well but Struijk can say the same thing and the underlying numbers do show how good he has been this season.
The Dutchman is not one of the top tacklers in the Leeds team but his reading of the game is so immaculate, he gets away with it just fine. Apart from Junio Firpo, he is the top defender in the Whites team who leads the charts in interceptions made.
The centre-back also commits very few fouls and is only 12th on the list of Leeds players with the most fouls committed per game in the Championship this season.
However, Struijk is a solid defender inside the penalty box and alongside Rodon, he has cleared the most number of loose balls per game for Leeds this term.
He also doesn’t shy away from putting his body on the line and only lies behind Rodon in the number of blocks committed per game for Leeds.
Struijk’s ball-playing abilities have also come to the fore this season and he is one of the top five passers in a Leeds team filled with players who have top-notch accuracy when it comes to circulating the ball.
Does he get back into the team?
Leeds have a busy run of games in the next ten days and Ethan Ampadu can’t play all four fixtures after just returning to full fitness from a knee injury.
Farke will have to rotate his squad in the next week or so and Struijk will get a couple of starts at least, especially with three of the next four being away from home.
Leeds will need the Dutchman’s assurance and defensive nous in the away games and he will get his opportunities to play in the next ten days.
However, further along, a lot will depend on whether Farke has made up his mind about who is his top centre-back pairing for the rest of the season.
Ampadu and Rodon were brilliant last season and until the injury this season, the Welshman was almost undroppable from the squad.
Rodon has been matching Struijk’s numbers and has done little to suggest that he will be dropped from the starting eleven any time soon. It appears the Dutchman has to start from scratch to regain his place in the eleven.
With Firpo out injured, Struijk may have to accept playing left-back if he is to get a run of games for Leeds in the coming weeks and months.
