Leeds United can turn their attention away from the fierce battle to secure promotion to the Premier League as they prepare to take on Harrogate Town in the FA Cup this evening.
The Whites are set to take on the League Two outfit at Elland Road in the third round of the competition, before returning to Championship action next weekend.
Daniel Farke’s side head into this match off the back of a 3-3 draw with Hull City in the league and the German head coach could make a few changes to his team from the game.
The former Norwich boss could rest some players, including the likes of Pascal Struijk and Illan Meslier, to provide others with an opportunity to shine, and one star who could with a rest is Joe Rodon.
Why Joe Rodon should be dropped
As the only natural, senior, right-footed centre-back option in the squad, the Wales international has been depended on by Farke week-in-week-out this season.
Rodon is the only outfield player to start all 26 Championship matches and only Illan Meslier has played more minutes than him, which illustrates the workload that has been put on his shoulders.
Appearances
26
Tackles + interceptions per game
1.4
Ball recoveries per game
4.0
Error led to shot/goal
2
Penalties committed
1
Aerial duel success rate
54%
As you can see in the table above, the Welsh centre-back has not been without his faults this season, as he has made three big errors that have led to shots, goals, or penalties.
This suggests that Rodon could do with having a break from action this weekend against Harrogate, and that is why Farke should bin him from the team to finally unleash academy talent James Debayo.
Why James Debayo should be unleashed
Whilst the Leeds boss could bring Ampadu into a centre-back role and use other options in midfield, this is the perfect opportunity to unleash the 19-year-old defender from the start for the first time in his career.
His only senior appearance to date came in the 95th minute of the 4-3 win over Swansea earlier this season, which means that the youngster is yet to start a match at first-team level.
Debayo has been an unused substitute in 17 other Championship games this term and that shows that he is on the fringes of the team, as Farke has deemed him good enough to be an option if required in the second tier.
The 19-year-old centre-back, who was once hailed as “brilliant” by former U21 boss Michael Skubala, has played 30 times for the club at U21 level and been capped six times by England’s U18s, which shows that he is experienced at the high end of academy football.
There is no telling, given his zero senior starts to date, how Debayo would get on from the start against Harrogate, but Rodon’s minutes and mistakes suggest that this is the right time for Farke to take a gamble and see how the academy teen gets on against lower league opposition.
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A strong performance from the young ace could, then, convince the manager to hand him more opportunites throughout the second half of the campaign.
