Leeds United ended their pre-season tour in the US by defeating Liverpool 4-2.
Daniel Farke’s men rallied after being two goals down, and there were plenty of positives to take from the game.
In his first pre-season appearance, Dominic Calvert-Lewin netted two goals during his second-half cameo. Brenden Aaronson and Sean Longstaff were also on the scoresheet as the pair impressed.
However, this was not the case for every player and at this point, Farke will surely be worried about one of his players’ struggles in pre-season.
Ao Tanaka continues poor run of form against Liverpool
In his player ratings article, Graham Smyth gave Ao Tanaka a four out of ten. This was the lowest rating he handed out to any Leeds player.
When analysing Tanaka’s performance, Smyth said, “Dallied on the ball and was sloppy with it a few times in the first half. Tried to get a foot in but it wasn’t a good performance.”
This comes after he recently gave the ball away in pre-season against Wrexham and the Championship side scored as a result.
It’s also worth noting that prior to pre-season, Tanaka’s costly mistake against Brazil led to Japan conceding a late goal which knocked them out of the World Cup.
So taking all of this into account, Farke will surely be concerned with his midfielder’s run of form. But luckily for Leeds, Tanaka still has a handful of pre-season games to get back to his best before the Premier League season kicks off.
Sean Longstaff may have leapfrogged Ao Tanaka in the pecking order at Leeds
Whilst there’s still plenty of time for things to change, you’d imagine that if our opening Premier League game against Forest was this weekend, Longstaff would be ahead of Tanaka in the pecking order when it came to potentially starting.
Longstaff’s performance against Liverpool earned him an eight out of ten in Smyth’s player ratings. A stark contrast to the four Tanaka was given.
“Helped change the game with his aggression and willingness to run. Deserved his goal, scruffy as it was,” Smyth said regarding Longstaff’s performance against Liverpool.
Longstaff’s debut season in West Yorkshire did not go to plan. Next season, however, could be the midfielder’s coming-out party at Leeds.
The 28-year-old will be hoping to start more than the 10 Premier League games he managed last season. But if he continues to impress whilst Tanaka struggles, he won’t be doing his chances any harm when it comes to being a regular part of the starting XI next season.
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