Leeds United closed the gap on leaders Sunderland to just two points at the top of the Championship table, following Saturday’s deserved 2-0 victory over a struggling Queen’s Park Rangers side at Elland Road.

It wasn’t all plain-sailing for Daniel Farke’s men – with it taking until the 95th minute for the victory to truly be sealed – yet the Yorkshire side’s quality simply shone through in the end, having bounced back impressively following the midweek defeat to Millwall.

Goals from Jayden Bogle and Joel Piroe proved the difference in the end, with the Whites heading into the international break in a strong position in their desperate pursuit of automatic promotion.

With a two-week break now on the cards, Farke can reflect on this latest showing, with a number of performances – both good and bad – having given the German plenty of food for thought moving forward.

Leeds' best performers vs QPR

A word must, of course, be said for the man who opened the scoring, with Bogle firing home off the crossbar following a chaotic, penalty box scramble after just 19 minutes.

That early strike set the tone for who was a standout, all-round display for the former Sheffield United man, as he provided a real outlet in his advanced, right-back berth, having also provided three key passes and completed five of his seven attempted dribbles, while winning eight ground duels to boot, as per Sofascore.

Elsewhere, it proved another fine day in the midfield ranks for the pairing of Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell, with the duo both taking over 90 touches of the ball as they sought to dictate proceedings, while also enjoying a 94% and 93% pass accuracy rate, respectively.

Key stats – Leeds vs QPR
Stat	Highest ranking
Most touches	Struijk (109)
Highest pass accuracy	Rothwell & Solomon (94%)
Most key passes	Bogle & Aaronson (3)
Ground duels won	Bogle (8)
Aerial duels won	Sam Field (4)
Most tackles	Jimmy Dunne (6)
Successful dribbles	Bogle (5)
Shots on target	Bogle (2)
Possession lost	Byram & Nardi (19x)
Stats via Sofascore

While things didn’t quite click into gear ahead of those two new arrivals, the aforementioned Piroe did make the most of his late cameo after producing a delightful, poked finish past the onrushing Paul Nardi – the Dutchman taking his tally to six for the season in the second tier.

For all those positives, however, one player who deserves to come under the microscope is Manor Solomon, with the on-loan winger again flattering to deceive down the left.

Leeds' worst performer vs QPR

Aside from a brief spell at Fulham in which he once scored in five successive games for the Cottagers while on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk, life in English football hasn’t been particularly kind to the Israeli international so far.

After a season wrecked by injury at Tottenham Hotspur in 2023/24 – in which he was restricted to just six appearances under Ange Postecoglou – the 25-year-old has since endured a mixed beginning in Yorkshire, with just one assist to show for his efforts.

Again, a hamstring injury earlier in the campaign may have been a factor in his lowly return, yet as CBS’ Jake Winderman stated, the diminutive talent simply “does not look sharp”, whether he is carrying an injury or not.

Perhaps, Farke and co will be questioning the wisdom of bringing in the winger on a temporary basis from Spurs, with it having been yet another ineffectual attacking display, as he failed to provide a single key pass, while also failing to successfully complete a single dribble.

The struggling star did enjoy a 94% pass accuracy prior to being replaced by Daniel James in the closing stages, although he also lost the ball on nine occasions from his 45 touches, with Leeds Live’s Beren Cross – who awarded him a 5/10 match rating – writing that he ‘did not do a huge amount to hurt QPR’.

There was, of course, his well-taken strike that was ultimately disallowed for offside, yet Solomon seemingly did not do enough to warrant keeping his starting berth ahead of that man James.

In truth, his performance may be somewhat overshadowed by the eventual scoreline and heroics of Bogle and Piroe, but that’s not to say he shouldn’t still find himself out of the starting lineup for the trip to Swansea City on 24 November.

Journalist shares what he's heard out of Leeds on Manor Solomon's future

He’s yet to score for the club…

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By
Tom Cunningham

Nov 8, 2024