"Unable to do the basics" - Leeds United: Daniel Farke urged to make player u-turn ASAP | OneFootball

FLW's Leeds United fan pundit has urged Daniel Farke to drop Joel Piroe for Mateo Joseph

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Daniel Farke has been urged to hand the starting striker spot back to Mateo Joseph over Joel Piroe, who has received a fair share of criticism from Leeds United supporters as of late.

Recently, the Whites have endured a somewhat inconsistent spell in the Championship and one which perhaps doesn't quite reflect their ambitions of a top-flight return after narrowly missing out on promotion at the end of the 2023/24 campaign through the play-offs.

They've won just two of their last five league matches and Saturday afternoon's frustrating 0-0 draw at eleventh-placed Bristol City was a timely reminder of what many fans believe Farke must address in order to inspire his side to its touted success despite having come away with maximum points from their two encounters beforehand.

Of course, the German boss has been dealt a rather harsh hand on the injury front and midfield duo Ilia Gruev and captain Ethan Ampadu were both struck down by consecutive long-term set-backs earlier this month.

That's bound to be a significant factor behind Leeds' recent slump of sorts, although the decision to haul young hotshot Joseph out of the starting line-up in favour of Piroe will hardly be helping matters either, at least according to supporters.

Daniel Farke urged to drop Joel Piroe for Mateo Joseph at Leeds United

We asked our resident Whites fan pundit, Kris Smith, to name one Leeds player who isn't currently starting matches but needs to be doing so on a more consistent basis.

Kris opted to name Joseph, who led the line in the early throes of the season and displayed signs of real promise before being dropped for Piroe in a decision which simply hasn't gone to plan.

"Mateo Joseph looked like he had wrestled control of that number nine spot during pre-season, he looked amazing in July and at the start of August." Kris explained to Football League World.

"After a lively start [in the Championship], where he looked good in those opening few games, the lack of goals became too much of an issue for Farke, which is fair enough.

"He turned to Joel Piroe, who was scoring off the bench fairly often. But since he's become a starter, Piroe is not doing it for me.

"He's unable to do the basics that we need from a lone striker that Joseph was doing so well. Ignoring the goals, Joseph was doing everything else miles better.

"The two have complemented eachother quite well previously, though, when Joseph was starting he was doing the ugly work as a striker and ensuring that Leeds were dominating in every game that they played. Then Piroe would come off the bench and he'd finish the job when the game got stretched, killing games off and sealing the points for us.

"But Joseph just has to be starting again for Leeds. He's just an all-round better striker than Piroe outside of the finishing, and having watched Piroe's shockers against Watford and Bristol City, the fact he hasn't been able to contribute to Leeds' overall play should be a real red flag for Farke, and it should force his hand with putting Joseph back in.

"Joseph might not be nearly as good as taking chances at Piroe, but Leeds aren't going to get as many chances when Piroe is on the pitch instead of Joseph."

Leeds United and Daniel Farke must have patience with Mateo Joseph

Kris' admission of Joseph's lack of goals is justified, and many would likely admit that ex-Swansea City hitman Piroe is indeed the more seasoned and refined goalscorer than his teammate.

However, Joseph, who only turned 21 earlier this month, has the luxury of time on his side and he's bound to utilise that to better develop his finishing ability in the months and years to come.

The Spanish youth international is still raw, admittedly, and that's surely a key reason why Farke didn't hand him one league start last season - rightly or wrongly - but he's only going to get to the level that the Leeds boss desires by playing consistently.

That's exactly what Joseph should be doing and Kris' argument pertaining to Piroe's insufficient all-round impact on Leeds' attacking dynamic is bang on the money. Piroe is a remarkably talented finisher, that much is never in doubt, but his profile is wholly different to Joseph's and you could quite reasonably argue that it's beginning to hold Leeds back.

Piroe had been prolific from the bench against tired defences, but, when starting, you do feel as though his flaws are exposed to a greater extent, as he doesn't run the channels, press high or link play half as well as Joseph does.

The redeeming quality is his finishing in-front of goal. However, when the strikes aren't flowing, he fails to add all that much either in or out-of-possession.

Leeds should not only start Joseph because of that, but also because he's at a stage of his career where he needs to be starting matches and leading the line - sitting on the bench behind another striker struggling to such an extent is only going to be counterproductive for his development.