Daniel Farke already has several members of his Leeds United squad walking a suspension tight rope in the Championship this season.
Players have until the 19th game of the campaign to avoid picking up a one-match ban for the accumulation of five bookings, with a quartet of Leeds stars already close.
Both Joe Rodon and Jayden Bogle are currently one away having picked up four yellow cards already, with Wilfried Gnonto and Junior Firpo one further back on three.
As such, they now have another 10 matches to get through if they want to escape picking up a suspension, starting with a fiery Yorkshire derby against Sheffield United on Friday.
All four of those players have started every one of Leeds’ nine league matches so far this season, and are clearly very important parts of Farke‘s side.
Farke on what he will tell referees about Rodon
One player from that list who Leeds can ill afford to lose right now, even if for just one game, is Rodon.
Leeds currently have no senior backups at centre-back with both Ethan Ampadu and Max Wober out injured, meaning the untested James Debayo would be next in line.
Rodon can actually consider himself a little unfortunate to already be sitting on four bookings, considering he has only actually committed eight fouls in total all season.
In three of the four matches he has picked up yellow cards, they have actually come as a result of his only foul across the entire 90 minutes.
Speaking in his pre-Sheffield United press conference, Farke joked he will now be telling referees to stop booking Rodon for his first foul before each and every game as he looks to prevent him from picking up a suspension.
He said: “Yes I will speak from now on definitely to the referees before a game for the one foul that Joe Rodon has in his game, is not always straight away a yellow card. All jokes aside, sometimes there are yellow cards for defensive players.
“For one game, it’s always possible to be a bit creative, it’s more of a problem if a key player is out several months and this is what we have with Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev.
“If there were a ban or suspension due to yellow cards, then we will get on with it and find some creative solutions. Don’t want to search too much for excuses. You never know, maybe he will come out of the next games without one.”
Rodon foul record compared with other Championship players
When you actually compare the number of fouls Rodon has committed and his yellow card record to other Championship players, it is actually a bit of a joke.
Of course, some fouls are worse than others, but the stats certainly tell a story that he is punished more harshly than others in the division.
| Player | Fouls | Bookings |
| Joe Rodon (Leeds) | Eight | Four |
| Vinicius Souza (Sheff Utd) | 21 | Four |
| Elijah Adebayo (Luton) | 20 | One |
| Marlon Pack (Cardiff) | 20 | Two |
| Luca Koleosho (Burnley) | 19 | One |
| Josh Brownhill (Burnley) | 18 | Two |
| George Saville (Millwall) | 18 | Two |
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