Since joining Leeds on loan from Tottenham on August 10th, the Wales international has started six of Leeds’ ten Championship contests.
Rodon received a red card against Hull City two weeks prior and was consequently omitted from the starting lineup for the 3-1 loss at Southampton on Saturday, September 30.
Rodon made a strong return to the team in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over QPR, but Farke is still looking for more from the left-back. “I was pleased with him overall, as he has been involved in a number of good results and clean sheets,” Farke said in a statement released by Leeds Live, “although not every game has been perfect in every detail, such as the red card which was unnecessary.
I also had a conversation with him about how he can improve on the training field, and we have spoken about it in the past few days. This was the occasion to give him another chance, and he has responded with a very good performance.” Despite six clean sheets in a row, Rodon was left out of the squad against Southampton, and was sent off against Hull when Leeds were reduced to ten men for half an hour in a goalless match.
Rodon has now contributed to six straight clean sheets for club and country dating back to the beginning of September, which is very amazing.
Rodon has been putting in a shift when it matters, despite Farke’s perception that he hasn’t been giving his all throughout training.
Farke, the manager of United, is obviously difficult to please, but based on the team’s performance thus far, it seems to be working.
In a related development:
QPR supporters set up petition to get Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford banned from football
In response to the Leeds United striker being charged with diving in a match against Queens Park Rangers, a petition titled “ban Patrick Bamford from professional football” has been created.
Asmir Begovic, the goalkeeper for QPR, was dismissed for tripping over Bamford in stoppage time on Wednesday [4 October] as Leeds won 1-0 at Elland Road.
Despite being called out by Tim Sherwood and others for collapsing without being touched, Bamford went down when through on goal.
On Thursday, 5 October, the change.org account “QPR Fanbase” started a petition asking for Bamford to be suspended for “constantly diving and simulating fouls to attempt to get his opponents sent off.”
The petition continued: “On October 4th, when Bamford dove beyond the area, Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Asmir Begovic was sent off and given a three-game suspension.
“I urge the EFL to uphold the integrity of this league by prohibiting Patrick Bamford from ever playing football again.”
Move on
The replays are quite conclusive, which is unfortunate for Bamford because Begovic, who will now serve a suspension, did not make any touch with him.
It is unclear why Bamford would go to the ground when there was a chance to score.
A section of QPR supporters have gone even farther than journalist Darren Witcoop, who said that Bamford should be the one to serve a ban for his acts.
Currently, Bamford is not a popular figure in that area of West London, and truthfully, the same would be true if it were the other way around and a QPR player had tried to send off a Leeds player.
But as is always the case in these situations, by the weekend, everyone will have likely forgotten about the episode.