Centre-back Joe Rodon has often resembled a right winger in Leeds United pre-season.

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has explained the thinking behind Joe Rodon suddenly resembling a right winger with an ex-Liverpool star quip and Whites formation stance.

Centre-back Rodon has impressed in pre-season but at both ends of the pitch, the Wales international star often taking up a noticeably advanced position down the right wing as the right-sided centre back in a back three.

His positioning led to United’s first goal in the 2-0 victory at home to RB Leipzig, the defender storming forward down the right flank to a through ball from Jayden Bogle and crossing for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to convert from close range.

Rodon made several other forays forward down the flank against Leipzig and again in Saturday’s final friendly at home to FC Augsburg in which Farke’s side concluded preparations for the new season with a comfortable 4-0 success.

Speaking to the media post match, Farke quipped that Rodon looked more like ex-Liverpool star Mo Salah than a centre-half at times but explained that his flexible positioning was important for a hybrid team and also in keeping with a flexible stance to the team’s formation.

Leeds began with a three-man centre-back axis of Rodon, Jaka Bijol and Tarik Muharemovic flanked by two wing backs against Augsburg but switched to a back four midway through the second half when Bijol was substituted for Noah Okafor in the 67th minute.

That led to Rodon partnering Muharemovic at the heart of the defence following his earlier exploits down the right flank.

“We need also a player who can be flexible in their positioning”

Asked about Rodon taking a very advanced role down that side of the pitch, Farke quipped: “At times he looked a bit like Joe Salah, I would say!

"So we want to be also sometimes like a hybrid team, and for that we need also a player who can be flexible in their positioning.

“And of course, he didn't play today like a typical old school centre-back in a back three, a bit different, but this is also what we need.

“We also need intelligent football players who can adapt to different demands and Joe has shown this more or less during the whole last season and also pre-season right now, he's quite impressive.

“But I need this in all positions anyhow so we want to be flexible during the game, and our players have to be ready to fulfil different roles during the game and in between games you can switch and swap.

"And Joe definitely was excellent in the last games.”

"I like that we are flexible and also difficult to predict for the opponents”

Pressed on how he was feeling about the two different systems deployed against Augsburg, Farke said: “Well, it's important that we stay flexible.

"I mentioned this also more or less in my first meeting to the players, and we have done this once or twice in the US and also today against Augsburg.

“In the three-man formation we always wanted to bypass their pressing and even the first half was good, 3-0. We had good goals and good chances, but sometimes they blocked our build up too much and mirrored us and wanted to change us and with the back four we had a bit more calmness in our game.

"Of course, it didn't lead in the final third to more clear-cut chances, apart from a few situations and, of course, also a good fourth goal with a perfect pass from Ao Tanaka and ice-cold finish from Lukas [Nmecha].

“I’m happy with this and also happy with the players who came in and influenced the game.

"I like that we are flexible and also difficult to predict for the opponents, so we need this during the whole season and we feel comfortable in both systems."