Daniel Farke decision vs Cardiff City questioned as 'biggest' Leeds United issue identified
Leeds United enjoyed a comfortable afternoon in south Wales but their dominance was not fully reflected by the scoreline.
Former Leeds United defender Tony Dorigo has questioned the timing of Daniel Farke’s substitutions at Cardiff City - but maintains the ‘biggest issue’ still lies with taking chances.
Leeds secured their third 2-0 win of the season at the Cardiff City Stadium thanks to goals from Largie Ramazani and Joel Piroe, although travelling fans were made to wait for that two-goal cushion with the latter’s effort coming on 87 minutes. Farke’s side were dominant against a Cardiff outfit who were down to 10 men for over an hour, but failed to take a hatful of golden chances to increase their advantage sooner.
A slightly pedestrian second-half showing was met with frustration among sections of the away end, with Farke holding off on any changes until the 84th-minute, eventually bringing on goal-scorer Piroe. But while Dorigo believes the Whites boss could have switched things up a little earlier, the former left-back was more concerned at those missed chances.
“I think the options were plentiful from the bench, and some of them could certainly have come earlier,” Dorigo told The Square Ball. “If there was ever a game to not have two holding midfielders, and put on [Ao] Tanaka or [Joe] Rothwell, then surely that was it. They came on eventually but it took a little while.
“For me, the biggest issue is not taking our chances, that's becoming a theme. You look back at the Burnley game and the chances we had there - [Mateo] Joseph in the first minute, [Wilfried] Gnonto - you can't keep missing those chances, the higher level of football you watch, those chances end up in the back of the net.
“We at the moment are playing some really good stuff but that last bit is not good enough. If we just start taking an average amount of chances, we’ll be absolutely flying.”
‘Raw’ Joseph will get goals
Ramazani, Brenden Aaronson and penalty-taker Pascal Struijk were guilty of missing big chances on Saturday but escaped from any major criticism after contributing to three points. But that lack of clinical edge did prove costly the weekend prior, with Mateo Joseph among those to fluff their lines in the 1-0 defeat at home to Burnley.
Joseph has been excellent in leading the line at Leeds this season and evidently retains Farke’s trust, having started every league game, but the striker has just one goal to his name and would certainly have liked more. But at 20-years-old, there is plenty of room for improvement and Dorigo expects potential to be fulfilled.
“I was about to say, of course he is raw! He is just a young player starting out his career,” the former Whites man added. “I think he has got a lot of talent, I really do. We saw that when [Manor] Solomon crossed it and he got across the near post [vs Hull City].
“He has had a few chances where he has snatched at them, and he’ll admit that. But he’s a young boy, is raw and once that calms down a bit we are going to see him score plenty of goals.”