Leeds United picked up their third win of the Premier League campaign on Friday night with a much-needed 2-1 victory over West Ham United at Elland Road.
Daniel Farke’s side bounced back from their disappointing 2-0 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor last time out thanks to goals from Joe Rodon and Brenden Aaronson early on in the first half.
The Whites owed some of their win to the performance of Rodon at the heart of their defence, as he earned Sky Sports’ official Player of the Match award.
Why Joe Rodon was crucial for Leeds against West Ham
The Wales international produced a solid display at centre-back for the West Yorkshire outfit against the Hammers, without his usual defensive partner in Pascal Struijk next to him.
Rodon, per Sofascore, completed 92% of his attempted passes, showing his composure on the ball, whilst he also completed 100% of his attempted tackles and made nine clearances throughout the game.
On top of his impressive all-around performance at centre-back for the Championship champions, the former Spurs man also scored from Sean Longstaff’s excellent corner.
Rodon was, therefore, crucial to the team’s result with his excellent display. However, it is his centre-back partner, Jaka Bijol, who deserves the applause.
Why Jaka Bijol should be undroppable for Leeds
The £15m summer signing from Udinese made his Premier League bow against West Ham on Friday, having watched on as Struijk played in his position in previous games, and showed why the club splashed so much money on him.
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It was as assured a performance as you could get from a centre-back making his Premier League debut, particularly against an experienced campaigner and former England international centre-forward in Callum Wilson for most of the match.
Wherever Wilson was, Bijol was. His marking of the former Newcastle United marksman, who Transfermarkt notes has scored 89 top-flight goals, was immaculate throughout the night. In fact, there was one brilliant clearance when it looked like the striker was about to get a shot away in the box in the right channel in the second half.
Pass accuracy
92%
95%
Clearances
9
11
Interceptions
0
2
Tackle success rate
100% (1/1)
100% (2/2)
Ground duels won
2
3
Aerial duels won
2
3
Ball recoveries
4
5
As you can see in the table above, the Slovenia international made more clearances, more tackles, more interceptions, and more recoveries than Rodon, whilst he also won more duels on the deck and in the air.
This shows that the former Udinese colossus was even better than the Welshman defensively, as he made more defensive interventions to prevent Lucas Perri from being worked more than he was.
Neither centre-back could do too much to prevent the goal that was scored, by Mateus Fernandes, as the midfield failed to track the Portuguese star’s run into the box between the two defenders, who both had other men to mark.
Overall, though, it was a brilliant performance from Bijol and one that may make supporters wonder why he has been an unused substitute in every match before Friday night, because he already looks undroppable after just one game.
The 26-year-old star will be hoping that Farke now keeps him in the starting XI moving forward and he can string together a run of performances in the Premier League to form a formidable partnership with Rodon, after they both excelled against the Hammers.