Leeds United’s lack of a clinical edge let them down once more at Elland Road on Saturday as Tottenham Hotspur scraped a 2-1 win in West Yorkshire.
The Premier League newcomers accumulated a hefty 16 shots on the Spurs goal, but only found the back of the net via Noah Okafor.
On the contrary, the North Londoners amassed just three shots on target all afternoon, but broke hearts in the second half when Mohamed Kudus delivered a killer blow.
It was, arguably, another afternoon to forget for Dominic Calvert-Lewin as Leeds’ main threat up top, as the ex-Everton marksman remains on just the one strike since leaving Merseyside behind in the summer.
Calvert-Lewin's goalscoring woes
It was always going to be a risk bringing the 28-year-old attacker into the building, with his last few seasons with the Toffees exposing some obvious weaknesses to his game.
Away from being regularly out of the side with injury niggles, Calvert-Lewin’s once red-hot ability to finish off chances for fun – which saw him bag 16 Premier League strikes during the 2020/21 season – is also not that visible anymore, with just three top-flight goals coming his way last season, ending his long stay with Everton in forgettable fashion.
Thankfully, he has broken his Leeds duck when putting his lofty 6-foot-2 frame to good use away at Wolverhampton Wanderers, but it was undoubtedly another frustrating afternoon for the hit-and-miss 28-year-old against Thomas Frank’s men last weekend.
Indeed, while Calvert-Lewin has gained some plaudits for his hold-up play already, he will – of course – be judged mostly on his output, with another goalless game passing him by.
Just 23 touches of the ball would come the goal-shy number nine’s way at Elland Road against Spurs, and while he did amass three key passes, yet another big chance was spurned, with a costly three big chances missed against AFC Bournemouth too.
It could well be that Daniel Farke needs to experiment a bit more with his forward players moving forward, with a different deadly finisher on his day, perhaps, getting the nod to start over Calvert-Lewin very soon.
Leeds must unleash the "best finisher" Farke has ever worked with
Farke has worked with many a clinical attacker during his managerial career in England to date, having managed to get 70 goals out of Teemu Pukki when the pair were together at Norwich City.
His time at the Canaries also saw him work closely with Emiliano Buendia and James Maddison, but, despite these illustrious names catching the eye, Farke has actually labelled one of his current Leeds personnel the “best finisher” he has ever worked with recently, even as early Premier League opportunities evade the attacker in question.
There is plenty of logic behind the German’s praise, though, even if Joel Piroe hasn’t been handed regular top-flight appearances so far, with this 20-minute hat-trick towards the close of last season by the ex-Swansea City striker pushing Leeds ever closer to the Championship title.
Labelled by journalist Josh Bunting as “dangerous”, he certainly demonstrated that during the 2024/25 campaign.
In total, last season, a blistering 19 league strikes came the golden boot winner’s way with now perhaps being the apt time to gamble on the EFL sharpshooter to finally come good in the top division, after bagging 33 strikes across 101 games under Farke’s wing so far.
25/26
4
0 + 0
238
24/25
48
19 + 7
3204
23/24
48
14 + 3
3104
He has hardly any experience of the bright lights of the Premier League, but with Calvert-Lewin spurning gilt-edge chances consistently, there are certainly worse shouts than trying to throw Piroe into the first-team mix right now, especially when Farke rates him so highly.
Ideally, down the line, both Piroe and Calvert-Lewin might well line up alongside each other, with the 26-year-old actually well accustomed to lining up as a right winger or as a number ten.
But, with the current system in play not having a number ten, and Okafor shining on the right channel, Piroe’s only way into the first-team picture looks to be up top, with Calvert-Lewin dropping out subsequently.