Five key passes, three tackles… One Leeds player was superb yesterday until Daniel Farke’s baffling decision

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Leeds United’s loss to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday felt like one of our lowest moments since the Whites became promotion contenders back in 2018.

Leeds had the chance to capitalise on Leicester’s defeat on Friday and put pressure on Ipswich. In the end, the Tractor Boys drawing with Middlesbrough meant that Saturday was not quite as bad as it could have been.

What was particularly alarming against Blackburn was how Daniel Farke seemed to make Leeds so much worse with his substitutions during the second-half.

Daniel James was arguably the only player to come off the bench and make anything like a positive impact. Admittedly, neither Mateo Joseph and Jaidon Anthony had enough time to do a lot.

Willy Gnonto a rare positive in Leeds defeat

The most baffling decision came when he decided to take off Willy Gnonto when he brought Joseph on.

Farke suggested that he was wary of pushing Gnonto too much as he continues his comeback from injury. However, the decision came moments before Blackburn took the lead.

And it is surely fair to say that no Leeds player looked more dangerous than Gnonto – as his statistics show.

As shown by Whoscored, Gnonto made five key passes. That was three more than anyone else on the pitch. The rest of the Leeds squad managed nine between them.

Meanwhile, no player managed to win more tackles than the three Gnonto won. And it was a similar story with his three strikes on goal.

There was one attempt which definitely lifted the rightfully-concerned Elland Road crowd in the second-half.

Daniel Farke must surely regret baffling decision

Of course, there was a risk to keeping Gnonto on. But Leeds now have more than a week before their next game. And, at this stage of the season, there are gambles which need to be taken.

Gnonto has been Leeds’ best player in 2024. And his statistics on Saturday very much backed up that he was our most dangerous option against a Blackburn side which gave away so little.

It was a baffling call when the likes of Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray and Georginio Rutter looked so tired so much earlier.

Gnonto was the one player who threatened to drag Leeds to victory. Without seeing out the full 90 minutes, the 20-year-old still led the way on the statistics.