Leeds United were unable to record a third straight win in the Championship as they were forced to settle for a point against Norwich City at Carrow Road.
The Canaries started strong and took the lead in the first half after Joe Rodon brought Josh Sargent down in the box, with the striker beating Illan Meslier from the spot.
A second half strike from Largie Ramazani, who was assisted by Wilfried Gnonto, secured a point for the Whites, who have now lost once in eight league matches.
However, Leeds could have pushed on to secure all three points as they began to gain momentum after the equaliser in the 60th minute, but they were derailed by Daniel Farke’s substitutes – including Joel Piroe.
Joel Piroe's cameo against Norwich
The Dutch forward was brought on to replace Ramazani as part of a double change that also saw Mateo Joseph go off for Patrick Bamford, as Brenden Aaronson moved out to the flank.
That move turned out to be a clanger by the Leeds head coach because the former Swansea centre-forward put in a dismal display in his cameo.
The Whites had been finding joy in transition from Norwich’s loose passes, with the likes of Gnonto, Aaronson, and Ramazani causing problems with their pace, but that threat was neutralised by those changes.
Minutes played
19
Accurate passes
0/2
Duels won
0/1
Possession lost
3x
Dribbled past
1x
As you can see in the table above, Piroe did not complete a single pass and lost 100% of his duels, whilst losing possession three times, in 19 minutes – plus four minutes of stoppage time – on the pitch.
The Dutch lightweight lost the ball three times from four touches and one of his first involvements in the match was to misplace a pass straight out of play near the dugout as Leeds looked to break the Norwich press.
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His lack of mobility and pace meant that the away side could not break as quickly as they had been doing before his introduction, which is what allowed the Canaries to take control of the final 15-20 minutes of the game.
What Farke could have done instead
It remains unknown as to whether or not Joseph and Ramazani needed to come off when they did, due to fitness issues, but the latter staying on could have helped Leeds to win the match.
The former Almeria winger was causing Shane Duffy and Jack Stacey, who had come on at half-time due to an injury to Jose Cordoba, all sorts of problems down the right side of the pitch for Norwich.
His clean first touch and pace, both in running and movement of the ball, created plenty of dangerous situations for Leeds, whilst he completed 89% of his attempted passes.
Instead of removing him from the field to bring Piroe, who endured a difficult 23 minutes or so off the bench in Norfolk, Farke could have kept Ramazani on for another ten or 15 minutes to push for a second goal before, then, handing some of his stars a rest.
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