
Leeds United earned a valuable point away from home against one of their promotion rivals Burnley on Monday night. The result helped the Whites maintain their grip at the top of the Championship standings and have a two-point lead over Sheffield United in second. A win could have helped them take a giant stride towards achieving automatic promotion but a draw was still a good result. However, Joel Piroe provided more reasons for Daniel Farke to worry about his form. The Dutchman looked listless and struggled to make any impact against a Burnley defence that has conceded just nine goals in the league this season. It is time for the Leeds boss to seriously consider replacing him as the leader of their forward line in the upcoming games.
The Yorkshire giants came into the game knowing they had a massive chance to build a proper lead at the top of the table following Sheffield United’s home defeat against Hull City.
However, the two sides played out a 0-0 draw with neither team doing enough to win the game. The shots on target stat more or less defined how the game panned out at Turf Moor.
Burnley didn’t have one shot on target at home but Leeds didn’t do much as well and only had one shot on target from eight attempts against the best defence in the league.
The two sides never looked like scoring and while Burnley are not known for being the most entertaining side, Leeds are the top scorers of the Championship and could have done a bit more.
Joel Piroe, the leader of the Leeds forward line, struggled against the Burnley centre-backs and did little to threaten the home side’s defence on Monday night.
Joel Piroe got dominated and looked ineffective
Piroe is Leeds’s top scorer this season, with ten goals in the Championship, but his form is now a real concern for the Whites fans.
He has scored just three times in his last 12 Championship appearances, and his overall performance has also been downhill over the last few weeks.
His performance against Burnley was particularly concerning. The centre-backs completely dominated him, and he offered no threat up front for Leeds.
This was Piroe’s chance to show that he could perform against the toughest defence of the Championship but he was poor and looked more or less listless.
The Dutchman completed just 50 percent of his passes and offered absolutely no physical threat as a number 9 to the two Burnley centre-backs CJ Egan Riley and Maxime Esteve.
He didn’t win any of his physical duels until he was substituted in the 70th minute and it is nothing new for Leeds this season. Piroe has lost a whopping 75 percent of his duels in the Championship this season.
The Dutchman only had 17 touches of the ball and had just one attempt on the Burnley goal. It illustrates how uninvolved and ineffective he was as the number 9 of the team on Monday night.
Piroe has scored just six goals in 19 starts in the league this season with his other four goals from the substitute’s bench. The Dutchman is neither providing a physical presence up front for Leeds nor is he scoring regularly for everyone to ignore that part of his game.
Leeds will need better quality than him if they get promoted this season
Leeds have 60 points from 29 games this season in the Championship and look to be on course to break the 90-point barrier for the second season running.
If the Whites breach the 90-point barrier again, they are almost certain to get promoted to the Premier League this time around unless something drastic happens.
Piroe is their top scorer but it is clear that he has not been doing enough and the only reason he is still starting games is because the striker cupboard is bare for the Whites.
It remains to be seen whether Leeds sign a forward before the transfer deadline on 3rd February but they will definitely need an upgrade on Piroe if they are in the Premier League next season.
It is not going to get any easier against Premier League centre-backs if he is struggling physically against Championship defences this season and is not scoring enough.
Leeds need to find someone to replace him in the team this season but they almost certainly need a striker of far better quality if they are in the Premier League next season.
