Leeds monster who was better than Okafor & Calvert-Lewin is now undroppable

Leeds United took another giant step towards securing their place in the Premier League for another season by beating Burnley 3-1 at Elland Road on Friday night.

Goals from Anton Stach, Noah Okafor, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin sealed the three points for the home team under the lights in West Yorkshire.

The Whites are now nine points clear of the bottom three before the rest of the teams below them play and have a chance to eat back some ground over the weekend.

One of the players whose form has propelled the club clear of the relegation zone in recent weeks and months is Switzerland international Okafor, who scored his eighth Premier League goal of the season on Friday night.

The £18m signing from AC Milan last summer has been a revelation at Elland Road, and Daniel Farke deserves huge credit for the attacker’s form this year.

How Daniel Farke’s tactics have unlocked Noah Okafor

Since the start of February, Okafor has scored six goals and provided three assists in ten appearances in all competitions, with the sixth of those goals coming against Burnley.

The Swiss star scored his goal against the Clarets by arriving into the six-yard box. Seven of his eight Premier League goals have now been scored within 15 yards of the box.

Okafor has great instincts in the box and brilliant timing in his movements from crosses, which is why Farke’s switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation has unlocked his goalscoring potential.

Playing the 25-year-old closer to Calvert-Lewin means that he can link with the striker and make runs off the back of him when the England international draws attention from centre-backs, creating space at the back post for him to do his damage.

Calvert-Lewin has also benefitted from Okafor playing closer to him in the 3-4-2-1 formation, as he has scored three goals in his last six matches for the club, and they currently look unplayable as an attacking duo.

Farke, therefore, should be applauded for his decision to move to a 3-4-2-1 formation to get the Swiss attacker closer to goal, after he was left too isolated out wide in a 4-3-3 earlier this season.

The Leeds star who was better than Calvert-Lewin & Okafor against Burnley

Whilst Okafor and Calvert-Lewin both scored and delivered impressive performances against Burnley, Leeds United’s best player on Friday night played in the back three.

Jaka Bijol was a monster for the Whites at the heart of the back three and must be considered undroppable for the remaining three games of the campaign.

The Slovenia international was even better than central defensive partners Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon, as he produced a dominant defensive display for Farke, winning 100% of his ground duels and 71% of his aerial battles on the night.

He put up better defensive numbers than Rodon and Struijk combined, despite all three of them playing the full game, which speaks to how much of a standout he was at the back.

On top of his defensive brilliance for the West Yorkshire outfit, Bijol’s use of the ball was a joy to watch. His pass for Stach’s goal was sublime and not something that you see from every Premier League centre-back, as he avoided several safe options to pass between the lines.

The former Serie A star, therefore, was crucial to the performance in all aspects because he stood out defensively, physically, and in possession for Leeds.

Whereas, Calvert-Lewin lost 11 of his 18 duels and Okafor lost seven of his eight duels and did not create any ‘big chances’ for their teammates or record any assists.

Bijol registered as many goal contributions as each of them (one), yet was more important to the defensive side of the game with his outstanding work in duels and when clearing balls into the box.

The £15m signing from Udinese has proven to be a fantastic addition to the squad over the course of the campaign, starting 18 of his 22 league matches, and he should be considered completely undroppable.