Daniel Farke has to use ‘electric’ Leeds player more in second half of season, he could be key to promotion

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Leeds United head into the second half of the season in yet another mightily close battle for automatic promotion.

Sheffield United, Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland all look as though they could be fighting for a place in the Championship’s top two right until the end.

Daniel Farke‘s side have been hugely impressive at Elland Road so far this term, winning each of their last nine home league matches.

However, it is their form on the road which is preventing Leeds from pulling away, with dropped points at Millwall, Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End coming over the last two months.

All of those matches have followed the pattern of Leeds conceding early in the first half, and only in the latter were they actually able to find an equaliser late on.

Why Largie Ramazani is the player Farke needs to use more

In each of those away games, Farke has opted for a front four consisting of Wilfried Gnonto, Brenden Aaronson, Dan James and Joel Piroe.

With the exception of James, those players have been struggling for form as of late and it is clearly a dynamic that doesn’t work away from Elland Road.

Gnonto, Aaronson and Piroe all like the ball into feet, which makes it easier for opposition defences to sit back and soak up the pressure Leeds put on them.

With that in mind, there is one change that Farke could make to overcome that problem, which is simply starting Largie Ramazani more.

The ‘electric‘ Ramazani has started just six matches since joining from UD Almeria in the summer, with the ankle injury he picked up in late-October really stagnating his momentum.

However, Ramazani has been back for well over a month now and Farke has still opted to use him only sporadically.

Farke has acknowledged Ramazani is a player who can create something out of nothing and that trait has desperately been missing from many of Leeds’ recent away performances.

Ramazani can quicken up the play with both his dribbling and interplay in tight spaces, and isn’t afraid of getting shots off from range.

If Farke can find a way of getting him into the team, whether centrally or out wide, it could be the key to improving Leeds’ away form, and therefore promotion.

Leeds away record with vs without Ramazani

Leeds are actually unbeaten away from home in matches Ramazani has started, all be it the sample size is small.

One of the two matches Leeds drew with Ramazani in the line-up was also that night at Sunderland, when the three points were wrapped up until Illan Meslier’s horrendous 97th minute howler.