Arguably nothing sums up Leeds United’s improvement over the Daniel Farke tenure than the performances of full-back duo Jayden Bogle and Junior Firpo.
Brought in on a £5 million deal from Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United last summer, Bogle has finally answered Leeds’ wait for someone capable of replacing the prime-era Luke Ayling.
The Spanish press labelled Junior Firpo ‘world-class’, meanwhile, in between his well-taken headers in successive matchdays against Sheffield United and West Brom. For the first time in his Leeds United career, the £13 million acquisition looks like a footballer with Barcelona on his CV.
To think, there were some who felt Cody Drameh was worthy of an opportunity to nail down a place in Farke’s starting XI. Particularly on the back of some impressive loan spells.
Drameh turned down a contract at Leeds before joining Hull City on a free transfer. But as Bogle and Firpo establish themselves as the Championship’s stand-out full-back pairing, Drameh is warming the bench as a back-up to another former Leeds defender on Humberside.
Cody Drameh has lost his Hull City spot after Leeds United exit
While Joe Gelhardt continues to go from strength-to-strength at Hull, Drameh does not appear likely to get his place back any time soon.
Across the last six Championship matches, Drameh has played a grand total of 15 minutes. With the experienced Lewie Coyle comfortably entrenched as Ruben Selles’ number one since the former Southampton coach arrived at the MKM Arena, a season that was supposed to see Drameh announce himself as one of the Championship’s premiere performers has not exactly gone to plan.
The former Birmingham City and Cardiff man has featured in Selles’ XI only twice since the 2-1 home defeat by Queens Park Rangers in January. Given the runaround on the flank, Drameh was left embarrassed as Koki Saito skipped past him before rattling into the top corner.
“It can not happen,” Selles fumed at full-time. “Cody can get beat in that situation but we were not ready for that quick throw-in.
“I think that it was more about the level of attention for the team. Those situations are the kind of situations we are trying to remove from our game.”
Jayden Bogle and Junio Firpo key to Leeds remarkable season
Drameh has just one goal and one assist in 26 Hull appearances. In contrast, Bogle and Firpo have 14 between them.
Junior Firpo became the first Leeds player in over 20 years to provide a hat-trick of assists in the same match, meanwhile, during the 7-0 thrashing of Cardiff City.
“[Leeds’ forwards] are all so narrow,” former Elland Road hitman Michael Bridges pointed out. “The reason that allows them to be in a position to score the goals is the quality and the understanding of the full-backs, giving us the width.
“And when you’ve got three players narrow [and the full-backs causing havoc on the flanks]… Absolutely incredible. It’s a defender’s nightmare.”
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