Good Morning. It's Thursday 26th September, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Farke to discuss new terms with Firpo During a recent interview, Leeds gaffer Daniel Farke admitted that after a 'difficult Summer', he did not have time to sit down with Junior Firpo, and discuss new terms, which run out at the end of the season. After an inconsistent start to his Elland Road career, the 28yo has finally found his feet. His attacking play in particular has won over large sections of the Elland Road faithful, who only two years ago were calling for his exit. In particular Farke praised his professionalism and leadership qualities, after his performance against Burnley, having just arrived back in the Country 24 hours previously after International duty with the Dominican Republic. Whether he's what we're looking for if and when we reach the Premier League is up for debate, but for the time being at-least, Firpo has been outstanding this season, proved by his overall Whoscored stats of 7.15, joint top with Ethan Ampadu. "If I'm honest, I haven't thought about this scenario so far because it was such a difficult summer and we had to speak about other things. "There will be the time when we speak about the future. "You also know how much I really rate Junior and Sam, how important they are for us. Also from their personality. When we speak about Junior, especially also the game against Burnley, after a long travel, he also played a really good game. "I was pleased with this and he's growing more and more, also into a leader role. He improves, also, his defensive skills. "This is also what I like because he's outstanding in this league in going forward, you all know this, but also to be able to improve further on his defending behaviour." please log in to view this image Stats show reasons for optimism The latest stats from 'Whoscored' indicate there's plenty of reasons for Whites fans to be optimistic despite a shaky start to the season. Leeds top the Championship in both possession (63.9%) and passing (87%), are third on shots per game (15.2) and joint 7th on goals scored (9). Interestingly, the two clubs above Leeds with shots have both scored three less. Aerially, Leeds have improved drastically too. Leeds like to play the short passing game, keep possession and move their opponents about. We were towards the bottom of the pile last season, but are currently 13th with 14.7 header's won on average per game, a massive improvement on their last three campaigns. Struijk, Rodon, Bogle, Ampadu and Firpo have all performed well this season aerially! All in all, when every individual players stats from each Championship outfit are averaged out, Leeds are fourth, behind Sunderland (top), West Brom and Sheffield Utd. Once the new players have settled in, you'd image an even more dominant demographic! Lefty Leeds Continuing on the stats theme, no Championship club attacks down the left flank more than Leeds, whilst the opposite could be said from the right! Leeds are top of the Championship charts with 45% of their attacking play coming down the right wing, but are bottom on the opposite flank (28%), with 27% coming through the middle (joint 5th). It's fair to say that had Dan James been fit, the results would be a little different, but does it raise questions regarding Jaiden Bogle's contributions?
Good morning everyone Wow that's a lot of stats, of course i won't believe them, until Askey has given them the once over, and approved them.
If we go up I think we’d need a first team LB signed and then have Firpo on the bench for cups and injuries as we’d let go Byram, makes sense to resign him. If we do happen to stay in this division then we’d be able to get some money for him or use him as he’s very good at this level.
Morning all It makes sense to offer Firpo a new deal, he is okay at the level and he is decent back up at PL level if we go up and make it a position of priority
Lol I won't argue with the figures Ell posted too much, as WhoScored is one of numerous sites I use to collate my own personal stat records, so my numbers will always be out when compared to a specific site, due to the nature of averages. Milky has already spotted that Ell is unsure of what the left wing and right wing is, so I need say no more about that I disagree with Matt about aerial duels having improved. Whilst indeed the average number of headers won per game is better than last season (14.83 this season v 13.2 last season), that stat in itself is meaningless on its own. We have actually lost more headers this season than last, so has our heading become worse (14.33 headers lost per game this season, compared to 11.54 last season). So far this season we have won 50.86% of aerial duels, compared to winning 53.34% of headers last season. Our goals scored from shots on target per game has so far increased by 0.5 per game this season, however our shots per game and shots on target per game is virtually identical. Our passing is not as good when compared to last season, but our possession has improved As for the wing stats, the same was true last season, no side attacked more down the left side than ourselves. Whilst on the right side, only Leicester attacked less than ourselves. So yes possibly Bogle has not been as productive as we hoped, and this possibly has been hampered by Dan James not being available, and Gnonto playing more of free role and not just sticking out of the wing. Also last season we were bottom of the table when it came to shots outside of the penalty area with 28%. This season 35% of our shots are from outside the penalty area. So far this season, only 8 teams in the Championship have a higher % than ourselves, with Burnley being the only 1 of those 8 to have scored more goals than ourselves.
Ipswich signed 14 players this season and they are still waiting for their first win. It's a tough one to call as to who can make the step up to PL level. Ipswich took a gamble and went for predominantly the best the Championship had to offer, that's excluding Rutter, Summerville and Gray who they probably could not afford. It looked a bit of a scatter gun approach, similar to Forest a few seasons back, Forest survived and they kept the better players so it might work for Ipswich as there are some real poor teams around them. I think I will worry about our chances in the PL when and if it comes a bit nearer
A bit off topic reply, I don’t really keep track of ex-players but I don’t know how they are being received by their new fan base but the West Ham lads at the con club have said that Summerville is “bang average at best”
Brighton fans aren't exactly excited by Rutter either. They say he is ****e in front of goal and tries too many tricks and flicks. Harrison had been labelled far too inconsistent at Everton. As for loanees out there, only Gyabi at Plymouth and strangely Kristensen in Germany are getting positive reviews. Kristensen is playing right wing back in a team that plays a back three and is doing really well.
Big surprise there. Some of our best players who’ve left are not pl standard. Doesn’t say a lot for what’s left behind
I know a few of the Ipswich fans were getting excited about their signings, I smiled thinking they’re in for a bit of a shock, the step up is huge. If you need 10 new players for the PL and you have £100m to spend you need to unearth some gems from abroad. If a Championship player has a genuine chance of making it in the PL then one of the established will be in for them. The three promoted teams last season, 15 games between them and none have won a game yet
