Leeds United made it three defeats in succession in the Premier League when they were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon.
The Whites had the lead at half-time thanks to a goal from Lukas Nmecha, who bundled the ball in from close range after Anton Stach competed with Emi Martinez for a high ball.
Unfortunately, though, the away side struck twice in the second half, both goals coming from Morgan Rogers, and walked away from West Yorkshire with all three points.
Daniel Farke only made one change to his starting line-up from the side that lost 3-1 to Nottingham Forest before the break, and it backfired on the Leeds boss.
The Leeds change that backfired on Daniel Farke
The German head coach opted to take Jaka Bijol out of the team, after he won four of his six duels against Forest, and brought Pascal Struijk back into the side, possibly to have a natural left-footer in that position.
Whilst the Dutchman certainly opens up more passing angles as a left-footer on the left side of the defence, his defensive work left far too much to be desired against the Villans, and that is why the change backfired on the manager.
Per Sofascore, Struijk only won three of his eight duels, losing both of his ground duels, and did not complete a single tackle in the game, which shows that he struggled with the physicality of the match.
The one tackle that the former Ajax man did attempt was his late lunge on Ross Barkley, which resulted in the free-kick from which Rogers scored the winning goal.
Struijk was far from the only poor performer on the pitch, though, as Brenden Aaronson is another player who should be ruthlessly ditched from the starting line-up.
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The USA international had delivered a goal and an assist in the three Premier League matches prior to the international break, which made his inclusion in the side an understandable call from Farke.
However, the return to fitness of Dan James has thrown his place in the line-up into doubt, and their respective performances against Aston Villa on Sunday suggest that the Wales international deserves a chance from the start.
Aaronson, who was awarded a 4/10 player rating by LeedsUnitedNews, lower than Struijk’s 6/10 rating, failed to create a single chance for his teammates in 80 minutes on the pitch, per Sofascore, as he came inside and got crowded out all too often.
Minutes
80
19
Shots
3
3
xG on target
0.15
0.15
Crosses attempted
1
5
Key passes
0
1
Big chances created
0
0
Dribbles completed
1/5
1/1
Possession lost
12x
6x
As you can see in the table above, James offered more to the team on the right flank in 19 minutes than the American lightweight did in his 80-minute outing against the Villans.
The fact that the Welshman attempted five times as many crosses as Aaronson, in roughly an hour less on the pitch, speaks to the difference Leeds could make to their attack by bringing him into the starting XI.
Aaronson, for all his hard work, is not a natural winger who is going to hug the byline and test teams consistently with runs in behind and crosses into the box.
James, however, is that player and almost made an instant impact when his brilliant run and ball across the box led to Dominic Calvert-Lewin finding the back of the net, only for the goal to be ruled out for a handball by the striker.
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The Welshman deserved an assist for his play. Now, he deserves a place in the starting line-up because Aaronson was even worse than Struijk in the defeat to Villa, as he offered little to the team in or out of possession, whilst Struijk, at the very least, completed 95% of his passes and made five clearances, per Sofascore.