Daniel Farke still critical of 14-goal Leeds star despite his Watford contribution | OneFootball

Things are heating up at the top of the Championship, and despite a 4-0 win for Leeds at Watford, Daniel Farke was critical of one of his players.

The all whites are really setting the pace now and on current form, it will take a performance of real quality to beat them.

Leeds’ fixture congestion next month could well be the one thing that trips them up as they head into the business end of the 24/25 campaign.

Daniel Farke not happy with one of his Leeds strikers

Joel Piroe of Leeds United shoots during the Sky Bet Championship match against Watford at Vicarage Road on February 11, 2025 in Watford, England. (Photo by Cameron Howard/Getty Images)

Farke has also been coy on new signings when asked, perhaps keen to downplay the promotion issue at this point with a number of games still to go.

The fact of the matter is, however, that sooner or later the German will have to start making plans for the summer and beyond, which may include selling a few players and bringing others in.

One player that the manager doesn’t appear to be unhappy with though still isn’t overly happy about either is Joel Piroe.

“He (Piroe) comes into good situations. We have to make sure that he stays on it,” Farke said in his post-match press conference after the game, attended by representatives of CaughtOffside.

Piroe needs to do more to placate Daniel Farke

“I’m not happy with his goal tally so far. I want him to get close to 20 goals this season. So far, so good.”

As transfermarkt note, Piroe has 14 goals so far in the current season, meaning that he’ll need to get at least another four or five, preferably more, to satisfy the demands of his manager.

Those demands will only increase if Leeds were to get promoted back up to the Premier League, so Farke letting his striker know now that he isn’t happy should prove to be a motivating factor for the 25-year-old Dutchman.