Leeds United frustrated Spurs and came away with a deserved 1-1 draw on Monday night, having secured our Premier League safety prior to kick-off.
The past few weeks has seen the public perception of Leeds and Daniel Farke’s squad completely U-turn. An unbeaten run of seven games sees us on 44 points with two games left to play.
While many wrote off Leeds’ squad as being capable of Premier League survival, they’ve emphatically proved the doubters wrong.
Gabby Agbonlahor makes shocking claim about Leeds United’s Joe Rodon
In my opinion, the standouts from Leeds’ performance were Ethan Ampadu and the centre-backs. In particular, Joe Rodon was imperious against his former employers.
The Wales international will no doubt have felt last night was a chance to show Tottenham how far he’s come since being cast aside on loan from North London to West Yorkshire.
Now, a £10million fan favourite at Elland Road, he comfortably dealt with the ‘threat’ posed by hapless Spurs striker Richarlison. His only mark left on the game was an unpunished elbow on Jaka Bijol.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Tuesday morning, Gabby Agbonlahor was slating the Brazilian, but briefly let slip a shocking claim on the Leeds centre-back Rodon.
“I would have a bet with anyone, Richarlison is the slowest player in the Premier League,” the ex-Villa wind-up merchant said.
“The amount of times he ran through, and Rodon is not a quick centre-half, straight in and got the ball out of him. Horrendous.”
“Not a quick centre-half” – Joe Rodon is actually one of the fastest players in the Premier League
You don’t need me to tell you that Agbonlahor is wide of the mark here. It’s typically been par for the course when he’s discussing Leeds in the Premier League.
However, this is an all-timer bad take on Rodon. Not only is Rodon quick, he’s probably one of the fastest centre-backs in the Premier League right now.
According to UEFA.com, Rodon’s top speed while playing for Wales was a staggering 36.67km/h. Compared with top speeds for Premier League players this season, that would have Rodon fourth out of everyone in the league.
It’s been a core facet of the Welshman’s game ever since joining Leeds. Playing on the right side of the defence, he’s been the perfect complement to the somewhat slower Bijol and Pascal Struijk. His shifts as a wing-back in certain games are a testament to the speed and power Rodon has when he gets up to full pace.
Richarlison did look incredibly sluggish on the turn, but to be outpaced by Rodon is not an embarrassing feat. Back in March, four of the Leeds squad were asked by Red Bull UK who the fastest Whites player is over certain race distances.
“Joe would back himself,” Ampadu said of Rodon in an 800m. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson and Gabi Gudmundsson agreed.