Joe Rodon’s message to Leeds United teammates shows why Joel Piroe needs to be dropped 

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Joe Rodon has explained exactly what Leeds United need to be to get back to the Premier League and Joel Piroe is not fitting the mould.

Just as it appeared that Leeds United were about to throw all their excellent work away in the bid to return to the Premier League, they finally got back to winning ways on Tuesday.

Daniel Farke’s side threw away their eight-point lead after winning just one in six but returned to the top of the Championship table after defeating Middlesbrough 1-0.

Dan James’ strike after just two minutes proved decisive and slips-ups from Sheffield United and Burnley mean Leeds are back in the driving seat.

However, though they did see two goals from Ao Tanaka and Patrick Bamford wrongly disallowed, the win was only narrow as Leeds missed several good chances, with Joel Piroe once again a main culprit.

Joe Rodon told his teammates they have to be ‘ruthless’ in their remaining fixtures if they want to secure promotion and that’s something Piroe just isn’t at the moment.

Joe Rodon wants Leeds United to be ‘killers’

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Rodon explained what Leeds need to get over the line and back to the top flight.

He said: “That’s what we’ve got to show, you’ve got to be killers out there, you’ve got to be ruthless.

“I thought the boys tonight we didn’t stop going, we kept pushing.

“Of course, the goals disallowed, I thought we still kept going and the mentality has to be like this until the very end.”

Joel Piroe has proved he isn’t ‘ruthless enough’

Though a lot of Leeds players were back on form on Teeside, it was yet another awful display from Piroe.

Though slightly better than his effort against Luton, the striker was far too sloppy and wasteful on the ball and couldn’t take his chances when they materialised.

There was one moment when James delivered a flash ball across the face of goal that was begging to be diverted over the line by a sliding attacker’s foot, but Piroe either didn’t anticipate the chance or didn’t want to throw himself at it.

Either outcome is bad and displays the lack of ruthlessness that Rodon wants to see from the side.

It’s understandable why Farke has kept the faith with him given he’s the club’s top scorer and Leeds had no viable alternatives.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	41	24	13	4	80	28	52	85
2	BurnleyBurnley	41	23	16	2	55	12	43	85
3	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	41	26	7	8	56	31	25	83
4	SunderlandSunderland	41	21	13	7	57	37	20	76

But that’s no longer the case after Patrick Bamford’s return from injury.

Bamford has shown more threat and work rate in two substitute appearances than Piroe has in either match from the off and only an errornously raised flag denied him a fantastic first goal of the season.

As well as looking sharp going forward, Bamford won more duels in 18 minutes than any other Leeds player, showing just how hard he worked in the opposite direction as well.

Rodon described Bamford’s performance as ‘absolutely outstanding.’

Maybe a start is too much to ask after so long on the sidelines but, based on performances, Bamford absolutely deserves to get the nod over Piroe against Preston on Saturday.

Piroe has become a luxurious passenger who is too expensive to carry when he isn’t even scoring. It’s time he was dropped.